Preparation
Four decks of cards including the jokers. Deuces and Jokers are wild. All others are natural. The sticks are placed in a bag or other receptacle from which they can be drawn without the player seeing which stick he is drawing. To start each round, each player draws a stick and places it face down on the table after looking to see what is written on it. If the “Free” stick is drawn, place face up and draw another.
Deal
Each player is dealt 15 cards face down. Remaining cards are placed in a stack in the middle of the table. The top card is turned face up beside the stack to start the discard pile.
Play
Each player, in turn, may draw the top card from the deck or the discard pile.
Object
To complete sets or runs as indicated on the stick drawn. The first player to complete seven sticks wins the game. Unless otherwise specified a run is a minimum of three cards of same suit in sequence and a set is a minimum of three cards of the same denomination (any suit). Each run or set must contain at least 1 natural card. Aces may be high or low (but not both). When a player has completed the requirements of his stick he lays these cards down and turns his stick face up. He may then play additional runs or sets or add to any other player’s runs or sets on the table. On his turn a player may take a wild card (deuce or joker) from any player’s cards already laid down, including his own, by replacing it with the natural card it represents. However, it must be played immediately either to complete the player’s stick or making a new run or set. Wild cards may be used alone to add to your runs or sets but may not be used alone to add to another player’s sets or runs. A wild card or any card which can be played on a set or run on the table may not be discarded by anyone.
A player’s turn starts with the draw of a card and ends with the discard.
At the start of a new round, each player who completed their stick in the previous round draws a new stick. Players who did not complete their stick must play the next round with the same stick.
Scoring Variant
The game is played as normal and ends as normal (when at the end of a round one or more players have seven sticks). The winner is not the player that has the most sticks but is the player with the most points. Players count up the minimum number of cards needed to complete each of their sticks. For convenience, the point values can be written on the sticks. In the case of the “Free” stick its point value is zero.