Doofer

Doofer is a variation of rummy for two to five players, originating in Ireland and Malta.

Overview

It is played with one standard deck of cards, not including jokers.

Each player is dealt eight cards. During each hand, the object is to complete meld sets and get rid of as many cards as possible. When one player gets rid of all of their cards, the cards remaining in the rest of the players hands score penalty points. There are fourteen rounds starting and ending with Aces wild, in-between progressing with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q and K wild.

Rules
Melds

As in most rummy games, melds consist of either sets of equal cards, or runs of consecutive cards. Wild cards may be substituted for any number of cards in a set or run. In a run, a "normal" use of a card must separate any wild cards used. Hence *-4-* is allowed but &#-5 not. A player using wildcards must declare what they represent if it is not clear.

Sets

A set consists of cards of equal rank – for example three or four queens. Five of a kind (i.e. using wildcards) is not permitted.

Runs

A run consists of cards of the same suit in sequence, such as 2-3-4-5 of hearts. Aces can be high (J-Q-K-A), low (A-2-3-4) and both (K-A-2-3)

Wild cards

Wild card progress through the fourteen rounds starting with ace low through 2, 3 etc. to ace high. Once played they can be replaced at any time with the card which they represent and re-used.

Gameplay

The player to the left of the dealer begins, and the turn to play continues clockwise. A turn consists of drawing, melding/adding to others' melds and discarding. There are no initial melding restrictions - a player may add to other melds before playing their own.

Drawing

There are two options:

#If you do not want the discard pile, take a face down card from the top of the undealt stock cards.
#If you want the discard pile, you must take the whole pile. The current cards making up the discard pile may be inspected by any player at any time.

Melding

Once you have drawn, you may place your meld set down if you are able. On subsequent turns, players may add to existing melds, either their own or other players' melds.

Discarding

The final part of each player's turn is to discard one card from their hand face up onto the discard pile.

The objective is to meld or discard all of one's cards, and the play continues until one player manages to “go out” by getting rid of all the cards from their hand. You must always end your turn by discarding.

Empty stack

If the undealt cards are finished, the discard stack is placed face down in its place and play resumes.

Scoring

As soon as a player goes out, the hand is scored. The player who went out counts nothing for this hand. The opponents count the total value of the cards remaining in their hand. The value of the individual cards is a follows:

* Each 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (Face Value)
* Each 10,J,Q,K (10 points)
* Each ace (1 point)
* Each wildcard (15 points)

The value of their hand is added to their running total.

The player that completes all fourteen rounds with the lowest score wins.

Main Menu

See Also

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