Last Card

Goal

Be the first to get rid of all your cards. The winner of the round scores the points of the cards left in their opponents’ hands. The game is played over several rounds up to 500 points (or 200), or as a single round.

The deck

108 cards: four colours, red (the flame), yellow (the sun), green (the leaf) and blue (the moon), each with one 0, two copies of every digit from 1 to 9, two Skips, two Reverses and two Draw Twos, plus four Jokers and four Joker Draw Fours. Each colour carries its own symbol on the card, so you never get it wrong, even without telling colours apart.

How it works

• Each player is dealt 7 cards. A numbered card is turned over to start the discard pile.
• On your turn, play a card of the same colour or the same value (same digit or same special symbol) as the top card, or a joker.
• If you cannot play, or do not want to, draw a card: if it is playable, you may play it straight away; otherwise your turn ends.
• When the draw pile is empty, the discard pile (except the top card) is reshuffled to form a new draw pile.

Special cards

• Skip: the next player misses their turn.
• Reverse: the direction of play is reversed. With two players, it acts like a Skip: you play again.
• Draw Two: the next player draws two cards and misses their turn. With the stacking option (on by default), they may instead play another Draw Two: the penalty passes to the next player, increased by two (4, 6, 8 cards…).
• Joker: can be played on any card; you choose the colour.
• Joker Draw Four: you choose the colour, and the next player draws four cards and misses their turn. By default, it can only be played if you have no card of the colour in play (option “Any time”).
• A special card played as your very last card ends the round immediately, with no effect.

Last card

Before playing your second-to-last card, tap the “Last card!” button. If you forget and an opponent catches you out, you draw two penalty cards. It is also up to you to watch the others: a “Catch out” button appears when an opponent forgets to announce. Online, forgetting is penalized automatically.

Scoring

The winner of the round scores the value of the cards left in their opponents’ hands: digits at face value (0 to 9), 20 points for Skip, Reverse and Draw Two, 40 points for Joker and 60 points for Joker Draw Four. The first player to reach the chosen total wins the game.

The modes

Against the AI (one to three opponents), two players on the same device (a “Pass the device” screen hides the cards between turns) or online with 2 to 4 players: the host deals and referees, and nobody sees the others’ cards.

About the AI

Level 1 plays almost at random. Level 2 follows simple rules: it attacks when you get close to going out and imposes its dominant colour. Level 3 saves its jokers and remembers the colours already played. Level 4 deduces the colours each opponent is missing from their draws and simulates short round endings. Level 5 simulates hundreds of possible rounds on every move, including opposing hands consistent with what it has observed, and sometimes bluffs about its colour: it draws on purpose to make you believe it has none. No AI ever sees your cards.