Spoons Card Game Rules

Spoons is a fast, noisy card game for three to thirteen players. Everyone passes cards round the table trying to collect four of a kind, and there is one spoon fewer than there are players in the middle of the table. The moment someone takes a spoon, everyone else can grab one too – and whoever is left without a spoon loses the hand. It is the same game as Pig and Donkey with a different ending, and it works for any age from about seven. This guide covers the Spoons card game rules (with and without a stock pile), scoring, the best variations and what the numbers say about how to win.

Spoons Rules at a Glance

How to Play Spoons

1. Set out the spoons. Put one spoon fewer than the number of players in the middle of the table, within everyone’s reach: three spoons for four players, five for six.
2. Deal four cards each. Put the rest of the pack face down next to the dealer as the stock.
3. Start passing. The dealer takes the top card of the stock, so they have five, and passes one card they don’t want face down to the player on their left.
4. Keep it moving. Each player picks up the card passed to them, then passes one card on to the left, so you hold five cards only for a moment. (Some groups play that you must pass a card before you pick one up, so nobody ever holds more than four.) The last player, on the dealer’s right, discards onto a face-down trash pile.
5. No waiting. There are no turns: pass as fast as you can. When the stock runs out, the dealer shuffles the trash pile and carries on.
6. Four of a kind? Take a spoon. As soon as you hold four cards of the same rank, take a spoon – quietly, if you like.
7. Grab! Once the first spoon has gone, anyone can take one, whether or not they have four of a kind.
8. The loser. The player left without a spoon loses the hand and takes the next letter of S-P-O-O-N-S (some groups use S-P-O-O-N). Spell the whole word and you are out. Take one spoon away and deal again; the last player still in wins.

Spoons without a stock pile

The older way to play uses only as many sets of four as there are players, so every card is in someone’s hand and nothing goes to waste. Everyone passes at the same time, in a circle, and hands come round much faster:

When a player is knocked out, take out one set of four cards and one spoon.

Spoons Variations

Spoons Odds and Strategy

Spoons comes down to two things: getting four of a kind first, and noticing when somebody else has. The numbers below are for the no-stock game, from 20,000 simulated games for each line.

• Hands are short. With four players all keeping their pairs, someone has four of a kind after about 4 passes on average; with eight players, about 7. With a full pack and a stock it takes much longer – around 19 passes with four players – because there are 13 ranks in play instead of four.
• Keep your pairs. A player who always passes a card from their smallest group – never breaking up a pair unless they hold three of a kind – got four of a kind first 88% of the time against three players passing at random (96% with eight).
• A four of a kind at the deal is rare: about 1 deal in 115 with four players and no stock, and 1 hand in 20,825 from a full pack.

Tips for winning at Spoons

• Count the spoons, not just your cards. A quiet player can take the first spoon without anyone noticing. Glance at the middle every few passes.
• Watch your left-hand neighbour. If they keep the cards you pass and never pass that rank back, they are collecting it.
• Block in a small game. With four players and four ranks, if you hold one card of each rank nobody can complete four of a kind until you let one go.
• Fake it. Reaching towards the spoons is allowed as long as you don’t touch them, and it can make others grab too soon. (Check your house rules: some groups count a false grab as a lost hand.)
• Keep passing after you take a spoon. Carry on passing and picking up as normal, keeping your four of a kind together, and others may not notice the spoon is gone.
• Use spoons. Forks and knives versions exist, but spoons are the only safe choice when everyone grabs at once.

Where Spoons Comes From

Spoons belongs to a family of four-of-a-kind passing games. The earliest relative is Vive l’Amour, recorded in Germany in 1821, in which players swapped cards to collect a whole suit. Pig, the nose-touching version, is first recorded in the United States in 1911, and Donkey, with tokens in the middle, by the 1940s. A version called spoof, played with spools or spoons, was described in 1946, and the name Spoons first appears in print in 1990.

More Card Games

For more family card games, try Go Fish, another four-of-a-kind game, Old Maid, Cheat, Switch or President.

Another game of quick reactions: Spit (Speed), the two-player race to play one higher or one lower.

Another slap-the-pile party game: Irish Snap, where everyone counts from Ace to King and the last hand down picks up.

For quick hands: Egyptian Rat Screw, where the first hand on the pile takes it.

Another game for a big group: Screw Your Neighbor (Chase the Ace), where everyone gets one card and the lowest loses a life.

Another grab-from-the-middle game: Kemps, where teams of two collect four of a kind and pass secret signals.

Spoons card game: frequently asked questions