Players
2 to 4 players.
Deck
Standard 52-card deck.
Goal
To win all of the cards.
Setup
Shuffle the deck and deal the cards as evenly as possible. Players keep their cards in front of them, face down.
Gameplay
The player to the left of the dealer starts the game by turning up his or her top card and playing it in the middle of the table. If the card has a rank of 2 to 10, play passes to the left and the next player does the same. When a face card or an Ace (known as “court cards” in this game) is turned up, the next player must pay an “honor” according to the following:
If an Ace is played, the next player must turn over four cards, one at a time.If a King is played, the next player must turn over three cards, one at a time.If a Queen is played, the next player must turn over two cards, one at a time.If a Jack is played, the next player must turn over one card.
If all of the cards in the honor are number cards, the player who played the court card collects all of the cards in the middle of the table. However, if one of the cards in the honor is a court card, the player paying the honor stops immediately and the next player must pay an honor based on the protocol above. If that honor is paid with only number cards, the cards in the middle of the table are collected by the last player who played a court card. This continues until one player wins the pile. That player then puts the pile at the bottom of his or her stack, face down. When a player runs out of cards, he or she is eliminated from the game and the other players continue to play.
Winning
The first player to win the entire deck of cards is the winner. A game of Beggar My Neighbor can take a long time, so players may agree that the player with the most cards at the end of a pre-determined time is the winner.
