Poker Squares
Poker Squares Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Materials
- A shuffled standard (French) 52-card deck.
- A pen and Poker Squares grid for each player.
Rules
Each turn, a card is drawn from the deck and announced. Each player must then privately write the card rank and suit (e.g. "10C" for 10 of Clubs, "AH" for Ace of Hearts) in any empty cell of their 5-by-5 grid.
Once written in the grid, cards may not be moved.
After all players have written the card, the next turn begins.
When player grids are full after 25 cards, grids are scored.
Scoring
The 5-card hand of each grid row and column is scored according to a point system. The American point system scores hands as follows:
| Poker Hand | Points | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 100 | A 10-J-Q-K-A sequence all of the same suit | 10♣, J♣, Q♣, K♣, A♣ |
| Straight Flush | 75 | Five cards in sequence all of the same suit | A♦, 2♦, 3♦, 4♦, 5♦ |
| Four of a Kind | 50 | Four cards of the same rank | 9♣, 9♦, 9♥, 9♠, 6♥ |
| Full House | 25 | Three cards of one rank with two cards of another rank | 7♠, 7♣, 7♦, 8♥, 8♠ |
| Flush | 20 | Five cards all of the same suit | A♥, 2♥, 3♥, 5♥, 8♥ |
| Straight | 15 | Five cards in sequence; Aces may be high or low but not both |
A player's total score is the sum of the hand scores for each of the 10 row and column hands.
Scoring Example
The designer's sheet scores the following finished grid. Each row and column is scored as a hand, and the total is the sum of all ten hand scores.
| Col. 1 | Col. 2 | Col. 3 | Col. 4 | Col. 5 | Row Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | AH | AD | JS | JC | JH | 25 |
| Row 2 | 9H | 7D | 9S | 9C | 7H | 25 |
| Row 3 | 8H | 8D | 8S | 8C | 4D | 50 |
| Row 4 | QH | 10D |
- Rows 1 to 5 score 25, 25, 50, 10 and 5 (Full House, Full House, Four of a Kind, Three of a Kind, Two Pair).
- Columns 1 to 4 each score 20 (Flush); Column 5 scores 2 (One Pair, from the two 4s).
- Total: 115 from the rows + 82 from the columns = 197.