🎴 5 Card Steal

A Strategic Game of Memory, Theft, and Poker Hands

Players: 3–5    Deck: Standard 52-card deck (no jokers)    Time: 15–25 minutes    Ages: 12+

🔥 Objective

Build the best 5-card poker hand by the end of the game.
Use strategy, memory, and timing to draw, steal, or swap cards while keeping your hand secret and in order. The twist? You’re allowed to steal cards — and they’re allowed to steal them back... eventually.

🧹 Contents

🎯 Setup

  1. Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards face down to each player.
  2. Cards should be placed left to right in a straight line, face down in front of each player.
  3. Each player may look at their cards privately and rearrange them once before the game begins.
  4. Once the first player starts, card positions may not change.
  5. Place the remaining cards in the center of the table as the draw pile.
  6. Leave space next to the draw pile for the discard row — a line of up to five face-up cards.

🔁 Gameplay Overview

Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, choose one of the following actions:

1⃣ Draw from the Deck

2⃣ Steal from Another Player

3⃣ Take the Top Card from the Discard Row

⛔ Game End

🔐 Special Rules

🔒 Card Order

❌ Steal-Back Rule

❓ Forgetting a Card

🧠 Optional Hard Mode (Memory Challenge)

For a more advanced version of the game:

🧰 Optional Accessory: 5-Card View Mat

💡 Strategy Tips