How many players can play All Fives?

All Fives can be played with 2 to 4 players.

How to Play All Fives

A 19th-century development of All Fours where the winner of each trick immediately scores the pip value of any trump captured (Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1, Ten 10, Five 5). Match target 61 points, usually pegged on a cribbage board.

How to Play

All Fives is a 19th-century development of the English game All Fours, distinguished by immediate scoring during trick play of the pip value of any trump captured in a trick, plus a large bonus (5 points) for capturing the Five of trumps. It keeps the standard All Fours end-of-deal scoring (High, Low, Jack, Game) and usually adds the Ten of trumps at its pip value (10), so the Five of trumps and Ten of trumps together become the two most valuable cards in the deck. Players (typically 2, or 4 in partnerships) receive 6 cards each, a trump is turned up, and players have the usual begging option to reject the turn-up. After the deal is played out, totals are tallied including the end-of-deal High-Low-Jack-Game point plus the immediate trump-point scores accrued during play. The match target is 61 points, almost always pegged on a cribbage board rather than written down, and matches are typically played best-of-three.

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Quick Reference

Goal

Score trump-capture points during play plus end-of-deal High, Low, Jack, and Game points. First to 61 wins.

Setup

2-4 players (best at 2 or 4 partnership). Deal 6 cards each from a 52-card deck.
Turn up the next card for trumps. Non-dealer may accept or beg.
Beg response: gift 1 point or run the cards for a new trump.

On Your Turn

Lead a card. Follow suit if able (or trump, in permissive-trump rule sets).
Highest trump or highest of led suit wins the trick.
Winner immediately scores the pip value of any trumps captured.

Scoring

Immediate trump-capture: A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, 10=10, 5=5.
End-of-deal: High 1, Low 1, Jack 1, Game 1 (most total pip value).
Match target: 61 points, pegged on a cribbage board.

Tip: Lead high trumps early to clear the path for your Ten and Five to win later tricks undisturbed.

Players

2 players head-to-head is the classical form. 4-player partnership play (North-South vs East-West) is common in the American South and the Caribbean. Occasional 3-player cutthroat variants exist. Deal rotates after each hand. A match to 61 points typically lasts 15 to 25 minutes.

Card Deck

One standard 52-card French-suited pack, jokers removed. Card ranking within a suit (high to low): A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Trump ranking is the same. Card point values for all scoring (in trumps during play, and end-of-deal Game calculation): Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1, Ten = 10, Five = 5. All other cards (9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2) are worth 0 card points. Total card pip value in one full deck is 80.

Objective

Be the first player or partnership to reach 61 total points across one or more deals. Points come from (a) immediate capture of trumps during tricks (pip value per trump, plus 5 extra for the Five of trumps), and (b) the traditional four end-of-deal points: High, Low, Jack, and Game.

Setup and Deal

Each pair or team sets up a cribbage board (for pegging scores) or a written scorepad. All scores are tracked as a single running total per side.
Shuffle the 52-card deck thoroughly.
Deal 6 cards to each player, 3 at a time in two rounds, clockwise starting with the player to the dealer's left.
Turn the next card face up to propose the trump suit.
The non-dealer (elder hand in 2-player; player to dealer's left in 4-player) then decides whether to accept or beg the trump.
Begging: If the non-dealer begs, the dealer must either gift 1 point and play on with the same trump ('I give you one'), or 'run the cards' by dealing 3 more cards to each player, discarding the turn-up, and turning a new card for trumps. If the new turn-up is the same suit as the first, the dealer must run again. A maximum of 2 runs is permitted in most rulebooks.
If the new trump is established, play begins.

Gameplay

Leading: The player to the dealer's left leads any card to the first trick.
Follow suit or play anything (permissive trumping): Players must follow suit if able. A player may trump even if able to follow suit (this is the All Fours-family permissive-trumping rule), except in strict rule sets where following suit is mandatory unless void.
Winning the trick: Highest trump in the trick wins, or highest card of the led suit if no trump was played.
Immediate trump scoring (defining rule): The winner of a trick that contains any trumps immediately scores the pip value of each trump captured. Aces score 4, Kings 3, Queens 2, Jacks 1, Tens 10, Fives 5. Example: winning a trick with the Trump King and Trump 10 scores 13 points on the spot (3 + 10).
Five of trumps bonus: In addition to its 5 pip value, capturing the Five of trumps earns a further bonus in some rule sets (the '5 for 5' variation); in the classic All Fives, the Five of trumps is simply worth its standard 5 pip value. Agree before play.
Play continues: Winner of each trick leads the next. All 6 cards are played out (6 tricks per deal).
End-of-deal tally: After the 6th trick, add the four traditional end-of-deal points: High, Low, Jack, Game (see Scoring).

Scoring

Immediate trump-capture points (during play): Each trump's pip value to the trick winner at the moment of capture. A = 4, K = 3, Q = 2, J = 1, 10 = 10, 5 = 5. Non-scoring trumps (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9) give 0.
End-of-deal: High. 1 point to the player (or side) who was dealt the highest trump in play this deal.
End-of-deal: Low. 1 point to the player who was dealt the lowest trump in play this deal. Some rule sets award Low to whoever captured it in a trick rather than the original holder.
End-of-deal: Jack. 1 point to the player who captured the Jack of trumps in a trick. If the Jack was not in play this deal (e.g. it was the turn-up and is no longer in any hand after begging), no point is awarded.
End-of-deal: Game. 1 point to the side with the most total card pip value in their trick piles (using the A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, 10=10, 5=5 scale, counting all suits, not just trumps). A tie awards no Game point.
Match target: 61 points. First side to peg 61 wins. In the rare case that both sides reach 61 on the same deal, the side that scored last (in order of scoring events during the deal) wins.
Skunk / double game (optional): A side that reaches 61 before the opponent reaches 31 wins a 'skunk' worth 2 games in match play.

Winning

The first side to reach 61 total points wins the match. Matches are traditionally pegged on a cribbage board, which makes All Fives' immediate-scoring flow visible and dramatic; each captured trump causes a peg movement, not just a written note. In tournament play the standard is best-of-three matches.

Common Variations

Classic All Fours (no trump-capture scoring): The original game from which All Fives derives. Only the 4 end-of-deal points (High, Low, Jack, Game) are awarded. Match target 7 or 11 points.
All Tens: Adds the Ten of trumps as a 10-point immediate-capture bonus on top of the All Fives rules, highlighting the Ten alongside the Five.
Pitch (Setback): Trumps are determined by a bid-and-pitch auction; the winner leads and their first card's suit is trump. Popular in the American Midwest.
California Jack: Trumps are the top card of a face-up stock; players draw from the stock after each trick. The stock remains visible, adding information to the play.
Strict-follow variant: Remove the permissive trumping rule so players must follow suit whenever able. More restrictive; common in modern Caribbean All Fours tournaments.
Partnership All Fives: 4 players in two partnerships; all deals, scoring, and melds are shared within teams.
Five for Five: In some Southern US variants, the Five of trumps also awards a separate 5-point bonus at end-of-deal, making it worth 10 points total to capture.

Tips and Strategy

The Ten of trumps (10 points) and Five of trumps (5 points) are the two most valuable cards in the deck. Plan every trick around them: win them yourself or force the opponent to waste high trumps capturing them.
Lead high trumps early in deals where you hold the Ace or King of trumps. This flushes out opponent trumps so your own Ten and Five can sail through later.
The permissive-trump rule (in rule sets that use it) lets you trump in to steal a Ten even when you could follow suit; decide on each trick whether the pip gain justifies the trump cost.
Track card points accrued during the hand. Game (1 point) is awarded to the higher pip total, and even 1 or 2 extra Tens or Fives in tricks can swing the end-of-deal bonus.
When begging, evaluate your hand: a hand with 3+ trumps including at least one 10/5/J is often worth keeping; a 1-trump hand should beg without hesitation.
Peg defensively when ahead. At 50+ points, avoid taking the Five into a trick you will lose; capturing opponents' scoring trumps while denying them yours is more valuable than pushing for the Game point.

Glossary

All Fours: The parent game, from which All Fives derives. Scores the same 4 end-of-deal points but without trump-capture immediate scoring.
High: 1 end-of-deal point to the player dealt the highest trump.
Low: 1 end-of-deal point, either to the player dealt the lowest trump or to the trick-winner who captured it (house rule).
Jack: 1 end-of-deal point to the player who captured the Jack of trumps in a trick.
Game: 1 end-of-deal point to the player with the most total pip value captured across all trumps and off-suit cards (A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, 10=10, 5=5).
Begging: The non-dealer's option to reject the turn-up trump. The dealer may gift 1 point or run the cards for a new trump.
Running the cards: Dealing 3 extra cards each and turning a new trump after a beg; repeats if the new turn-up matches the old suit.
Permissive trump: Rule allowing a player to trump in even when able to follow suit.
Peg / pegging: Moving the cribbage board's pegs as points are scored, the standard way to track All Fives scores.
Five for Five: Optional rule awarding a 5-point bonus for the Five of trumps at end of deal, in addition to its 5-point pip value captured during play.

Tips & Strategy

Every trump captured moves the peg; the Five (5 points) and Ten (10 points) of trumps are by far the biggest prizes in the deck, so plan each trick around them. Lead high trumps early to strip the opponent's trump holdings before pushing your Five or Ten through. When begging, evaluate trump count: a singleton-trump hand almost always begs; a hand with 3+ trumps and a scoring trump can usually accept. Track pip totals for the end-of-deal Game point; even 1 extra Ten decides it.

All Fives' immediate-scoring structure means every trick is a scoring event, not just a setup for end-of-deal tallies. Skilled players think in terms of expected pip value per trick: playing a low trump to win a trick with an opponent's Ten is often better than preserving the trump for later, because the 10 points are locked in immediately. The begging decision is essentially a risk trade: give up 1 point (accept the gift) or accept variance (run the cards). In close matches, the 1-point gift is usually taken; in opening deals, run the cards for more information.

Trivia & Fun Facts

All Fives is one of the few trick-taking games where scoring happens continuously rather than at deal-end, which makes matches visually dramatic when played on a cribbage board: the pegs leap forward every time a trump is captured. The Five of trumps is worth 5 pip points during capture, giving the game its name; some rulebooks add a further 5-point bonus for a total of 10 on the Five alone. The Ten of trumps, worth 10 pip points, is in most hands actually the single most valuable card.

01In All Fives, how many points does capturing the Ten of trumps in a trick score, and how does this compare to the Five of trumps?

Answer The Ten of trumps scores 10 points on capture and the Five scores 5; the Ten is therefore the single biggest single-card prize in the deck, though the Five gives the game its name.
02What is the match target in All Fives, and how is the score traditionally tracked?

Answer 61 points, pegged on a cribbage board so each captured trump produces a visible peg advance during play.

History & Culture

All Fives was devised in the 19th century as a scoring enhancement to the older English game All Fours (17th century), which is first documented in Charles Cotton's 'The Compleat Gamester' (1674). All Fives' innovation of immediate trump-capture scoring anticipates the scoring flow of modern Pitch and Setback, and the game's 61-point target and cribbage-board pegging tie it to the broader cribbage-tracked trick-games of British card-game tradition. The family remains strongest today in the Caribbean (especially Trinidad and Tobago, where All Fours tournaments are national-level events) and in the rural American South.

All Fours-family games, including All Fives, are a cornerstone of Caribbean and American Southern card culture. In Trinidad and Tobago the related All Fours is a national sport with televised tournaments; in the Carolinas and Georgia, Pitch (a close cousin) is a fixture of small-town social play. The use of the cribbage board to track All Fives scores links the game to the wider English-speaking pub-cards tradition.

Variations & House Rules

All Fours strips out the immediate trump-capture scoring and keeps only the 4 end-of-deal points. Pitch adds a bidding phase for the right to name trumps. California Jack uses a visible stock rather than a turned trump. Strict-follow variants remove permissive trumping. Partnership All Fives adds 4-player team play. Five for Five adds a further end-of-deal bonus for the Five of trumps.

For beginners, drop the permissive-trump rule and enforce strict follow-suit: it makes the game tighter and easier to read. For short sessions, play to 31 points rather than 61. For educational play with children, skip the begging phase and always play the turn-up; this simplifies the start of each deal without changing core scoring flow.