Sudoku Poker
Players: 2 | Age 6+ | Game Time: 15 mins | Learning Curve: Low
Sudoku Poker is a strategic game, with (not surprisingly) hints of both Sudoku and Poker.
Aim
To score higher than your opponent by forming strong poker hands in each column and row of a 5 by 5 grid.
Setup
The deck is shuffled and two 5 by 5 grids are arranged face down, one for each player. The two remaining cards are communal and placed face up between the two players.
Game Play
On your turn, flip one card in your grid face up. You can then choose to swap the flipped card with any other card in your grid or swap it with one of the communal cards. You are aiming to form the strongest poker hand possible in each row and column of your grid.
Take turns like this until all cards have been flipped face up.
Winner
Each row and column scores points as follows, and the player with the most points wins:
1 pair – 1 point
2 pair – 2 points
3 of a kind – 3 points
Straight – 4 points
Flush – 5 points
Full house – 6 points
Four of a kind – 7 points
Straight flush – 8 points
Royal flush – 9 points
The photos below show a grid being scored:
Aim
To score higher than your opponent by forming strong poker hands in each column and row of a 5 by 5 grid.
Setup
The deck is shuffled and two 5 by 5 grids are arranged face down, one for each player. The two remaining cards are communal and placed face up between the two players.
Game Play
On your turn, flip one card in your grid face up. You can then choose to swap the flipped card with any other card in your grid or swap it with one of the communal cards. You are aiming to form the strongest poker hand possible in each row and column of your grid.
Take turns like this until all cards have been flipped face up.
Winner
Each row and column scores points as follows, and the player with the most points wins:
1 pair – 1 point
2 pair – 2 points
3 of a kind – 3 points
Straight – 4 points
Flush – 5 points
Full house – 6 points
Four of a kind – 7 points
Straight flush – 8 points
Royal flush – 9 points
The photos below show a grid being scored:
To make scoring easier, you can click this image for a PDF printable score sheet:
or even better, click the link below for a Google Sheets editable score sheet:
Note
Straights do not need to be arranged in order
Variations
1) Try playing with a Straight being scored higher than a Flush and Full House, as they can be riskier to go for, and this will mix up the tactics for some variety.
2) On your turn you can choose to swap the card that you turn over with a card from your opponent’s grid. Your opponent can then swap the card that you inserted into their grid with one of the other cards in their grid, to get it into a more favourable position. They then take their turn as normal.
3) As per Variation 2, except that you can not steal from your opponent’s completed hand that is better than a 3 of a kind.
4) Score diagonals as well as rows and columns for an added challenge.
5) Alternative scoring method: compare your grid directly with your opponent’s grid row by row and column by column e.g. compare Row 1 vs Row 1, Row 2 vs Row 2, Column 1 vs Column 1, etc. The player that has the better hand for each row and column gets one point for a total of 10 possible points. The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the best overall hand wins.
6) Each player gets a joker mixed into their grid at the start, so there are four communal cards instead of two. Jokers are wild.
7) You score two points for every unique type of hand that you have in your grid. For example you score 2 points for your first pair, but after that pairs don’t score anything so you would want to aim for other types of hands.
Let Mr Cosmo know what you think of this game in the comments below, and make sure to tell us if you come up with any fun new variations!
