Jokers:
.................50 points
Players:
May be played with two and as many as six, but with four or six, you can play partners, (two and two or three and three).
Cards:
Two regular decks, with two jokers each deck.(108 cards), You may want to use an extra deck with six players.
The Deal:
Cut for deal. High card deals first, clock-wise and eleven cards to each player, leaving the balance of the stock in the middle with a discard placed face-up. If this card is a “wild” (two) card, it must be buried in the deck and another turned up.
Card Count Values:
Queen of spades 100 points
Jokers:
.................50 points
Deuces (twos) ( used as wild cards) 20 points
Aces.................... 20 points
Nine through King .10 points (except the queen of spades)
Three through eight 5 points
The Play and Scoring:
The player next to the dealer starts by drawing one card off the stock or the discard pile, melding some cards, laying off cards on the melds of the partnership and discarding to end the turn. As the game progresses, a player, after the partnership has melded, may pick up the discard pile with two matching cards or one matching card and a wild (deuce) card, but, must meld (or lay off) the top card with the pick-up cards from the hand, prior to taking the remainder of the pile. It is always the choice of a player to take the top card from either the stock or the discard pile in their turn.
A partnership must have a set of three to start a meld, either three regular or ( two regular and one wild (two) card), and then, a player may continue playing on the melds, or starting new ones in their turn. The meld has no "meld" value, such as in hand and foot and is only a means of playing cards onto the table. If a player has the queen of spades in their hand (or draws it) they should lay it off or meld it as quickly as possible. If one has a pair of queens they should get them down in a meld the first chance they get so as to perhaps aid a partner in laying off the queen of spades. Jokers are not wild and may be used in sets exactly the same as the regular cards and should also be melded or layed off as soon as possible. (see strategies below).
When one partner goes out (plays all the cards in their hand) the other partner(s) do not count their hands (just toss them in). Only the opposition is required to count the cards they have in their hands at this time, including the queen of spades and any jokers. Note card values above, and deduct this amount from their "melded" card count.
Each side then adds their "melded" card count values to their total on the score sheet. The game is usually played to 1500 points.
Strategies:
Naturally, with the Queen of spades bearing a count of 100 points, it is important that a player try to get it "melded" as soon as possible to avoid being caught with it in their hand and also, it is an excellent count for score if it is down on the table. Therefore; If a player has three regular queens, or a couple of regular queens and a wild card it is deemed wise to get them down right away, as their partner(s) may have the Queen of spades with nowhere to play it and if they can play it on a meld, it then counts 100 points on the plus side. Relatively the same scenario would apply to the Jokers, as they have a significent count of 50 points. With three of them down in a meld they would then count 150 points in the player's favor. There is a dissimilarity with the Jokers, in that you may be able to discard one safely and there is also the chance that your partner(s) may have two Jokers or a Joker and a wild (two) card and may be able to pick up the discard pile and thus meld your Joker. As a rule, it is not considered prudent to discard a queen at any time, lest you give the opposition a chance to meld queens.
You will develop your own strategies as you play, I am sure. I hope you have as much fun with the game as we do. I do not know where the game originated and I can't find any rules for it in any hoyle book that I have looked at. Enjoy