Peanuts is a fast-paced card game that can be enjoyed by two or more players.
Move your cards to the middle foundation piles, and get rid of your peanuts pile to score the most points.
Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play the card game peanuts below.
Peanuts Tutorial
Needed
Two or more players; 52 card deck per player (with different back designs); pen and paper for scorekeeping
Setup
Each player needs a pile of 13 cards face down, and four cards face up in a horizontal line
Objective
The objective of the game is to score points by playing cards into the middle foundation piles. Each round is over when a player plays all the cards from his/her pile of 13 and announces peanuts.
Game Play
Foundation Piles
The foundation piles are formed in the middle of all players, with each pile being open to any player. The foundation piles are started with aces and can be built on with the next card in rank of the same suit. Cards are ranked from ace to king. Once a foundation pile reaches the king, it can be flipped over.
Building Piles
The four cards faced up in a horizontal line are known as the building piles. Each player can only play on his/her building piles. Building piles can be played on by a card with one less rank and opposite color. For example, a black 8 is played on a red 9. The top card of a building pile can be used to play onto a middle foundation pile throughout the game. When a building pile is empty, a card from the peanuts pile or the deck can be moved to the open space.
Deck Play
The remaining deck for each player is also used to play cards from. Every third card is revealed and, if possible, can be played onto a middle foundation pile or a player’s building piles. Once the deck is exhausted, the waste pile can be picked up and flipped through again.
Peanuts Pile
The pile of 13 cards is known as the peanuts pile. At the start of the game, the top card of each player’s peanut pile is flipped up. The top card can be played onto a middle foundation pile or the player’s building piles. Once a player has played all the cards from his peanut pile, he/she can announce “peanuts.” This stops all play, and the round is over.
Scoring
After each round, the cards in the middle are sorted by each deck. Each card a player was able to play onto a middle foundation pile is worth one point, and two points are subtracted from that total for each card still in a player’s peanut pile at the end of a round.
The first player to 150 points wins the game. If two players break 150 points on the same round, the player with the higher overall score wins.
Rules
Players do not take turns during game play but rather play their cards as fast as they can.
A player is only allowed to move one card at a time.
Although a player may have an open move, that player is not required to make a move.
A player may continue to make moves after his peanuts pile has been played. The round is only over when a player with an empty peanuts pile announces “peanuts.”
If multiple players play the same card onto a foundation pile, the player who got his card to the pile first wins the tie. The other player must return his card to its origin.
If all players in the game are stuck with no available moves, the top card of each player’s deck is moved to the bottom of the deck, and play continues.
The more players in the game, the more difficult the game play becomes. If there are an even number of players, teams of two can be formed with teammates making moves from the same deck.