Five Crowns

Five Crowns is the card game we hand people who say they do not like card games, and it works almost every time. It is a set-and-run family game with one cruel twist: the wild card keeps moving, and somebody at the table always forgets which number is wild this hand. We gave it 5/5 Bamboo for how quickly it teaches and 4/5 Pandas for fun, and everything we have written about it is collected here.

If you have never played a hand, how to play Five Crowns walks through the rules and the full scoring chart, including the part where the wild climbs from 3s up to Kings over eleven hands. Our honest review is the one to read if you are still deciding, because it is direct about who should skip it.

Once the rules are settled, the wilds decide most games. What the wild cards are worth covers when to hold one and when to dump it before that twenty-point penalty lands on you. How to Win at Five Crowns goes after go-out timing and the discard reads most players never pick up on. And if your drawer already has a family card game in it, we put all three side by side in Five Crowns vs Phase 10 vs Rummikub.