Hockey is a fun, easy-to-learn, social card game played with four players divided into two teams.

Players try to score goals by matching the card an opponent plays before them.

Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play the card game hockey below.

Hockey Tutorial

Needed

52 card deck; four players; pen and paper for scorekeeping

Deal

Each player is dealt 13 cards

Objective

Score goals by matching the card played in the middle, and have more goals than your opponents after three periods.

Game Play

The game starts with the player left of the dealer playing the first card into the middle. Play continues clockwise. When a card is matched in the middle, the middle pile is collected by the team that played the matching card. Play continues until all cards have been played.

Score

Each pile won represents a goal. Each team adds up their goals (piles), and the team with more goals is awarded the difference between their goals minus their opponent's goals.

Rules

A jack is a block card and cannot be matched for a goal. A block card cannot be played on another block card. A block card cannot be the first card played in a period.

Variations

The game can be played with the eights also being block cards. Remember that block cards cannot be played on top of each other.

The game can be played with automatic scoring cards. When a 2 is played, it is an automatic point, and the middle pile is collected.

The game can be played where each period begins with the 4 of clubs instead of the player left of the dealer.