How to Play Kings in the Corners

Kings in the Corners is one of those games that gets taught at a grandparent's kitchen table and then played for the rest of your life. You may know it as Kings Corner or Kings Corners. It plays a little like solitaire with company: everyone builds on the same piles in the middle of the table, and the first person to get rid of all their cards wins. The rules take about five minutes to learn. This page explains them step by step, exactly as our free online Kings in the Corners game plays them.

What You Need

• Players: two to four. Online, you play against one, two or three computer players.
• Cards: one ordinary 52-card deck with the jokers taken out.
• Card order: King is high, then Queen, Jack, 10, 9 and so on down to the Ace, which is low.
• Scoring: paper and pencil at home. Online, the game keeps score for you.

The Aim of the Game

Be the first to play every card in your hand. When someone does, the hand ends at once and everyone else takes penalty points for the cards they are still holding. Over several hands, the player with the fewest points wins.

The Deal and the Layout

The dealer shuffles and deals seven cards to each player, one at a time. The rest of the deck goes face down in the middle of the table. This is the stock, the pile you draw from.

The dealer then turns up four cards and lays them around the stock like the points of a compass: one above, one below, one to the left and one to the right. These four cards start the four side piles.

That leaves four gaps at the diagonals, between the side piles. These are the corners, and they start out empty. Picture a tic-tac-toe grid with the stock in the center square:

The player to the dealer's left goes first, and play moves around the table to the left. The deal also passes to the left after each hand. In the online game, the first dealer is chosen at random.

Your Turn

Start every turn by drawing one card from the top of the stock. (Online, the game draws for you and marks the new card.) Then you may make as many plays as you are able to, in any order. There are four kinds of play.

1. Play a card onto a pile

You may put a card from your hand on top of any pile if it is one rank lower than the pile's top card and the opposite color. Hearts and diamonds are red; spades and clubs are black.

• A red 7 goes on a black 8.
• A black Queen goes on a red King.
• A red Ace goes on a black 2. Nothing can go on an Ace, so an Ace finishes its pile.

Lay each card so that it overlaps the one below, and everybody can see what the pile started with and what is on top. The online game shows the bottom card and the top card of each pile, with a count of the cards.

2. Put a King in a corner

The corners are reserved for Kings. If you hold a King, you may place it in any empty corner. That starts a new pile, and from then on anyone may build on it in the usual way: a Queen of the other color, then a Jack, and so on down.

Sometimes a King is turned up as one of the four starting cards. Any player may move it to a corner on their turn, which opens up a side spot.

3. Move a whole pile onto another pile

You may pick up an entire side pile and place it on another pile, as long as the bottom card of the pile you are moving fits on the top card of the pile it is going to. The same rule applies: one lower, other color.

For example, if one side pile is a single black 9 and another has a red 10 on top, you can move the 9 onto the 10. The whole pile travels together, however many cards it holds. Corner piles never move, because they start with a King and a King cannot go on anything.

4. Fill an empty spot

When you move a side pile away, its spot beside the stock is left empty. You may fill an empty side spot with any card from your hand. This is the most useful play in the game, because it lets you get rid of a card that fits nowhere else. Empty corners are different: only a King may start a corner.

Ending your turn

When you have made all the plays you can, or all you want to, your turn is over and the next player draws. Online, tap End My Turn. You are never forced to make a play, although it is hard to think of a reason to hold a card back. If you cannot play at all, you simply keep the card you drew.

A Sample Turn

Suppose the four side piles show the 10 of hearts, the 9 of spades, the 4 of diamonds and the Queen of clubs, and the corners are empty. You draw a card, and your hand is now:

King of diamonds, Jack of hearts, 8 of diamonds, 7 of clubs, 5 of clubs, 3 of spades, 2 of hearts, 2 of clubs.

1. King of diamonds to a corner. A King can always start an empty corner, and it is your most expensive card.
2. Move the Queen of clubs onto your King. A black Queen fits on a red King. The whole side pile moves to the corner, and its old spot is now empty.
3. Jack of hearts onto the Queen of clubs. Red Jack on black Queen.
4. Move the 9 of spades onto the 10 of hearts. Black 9 on red 10. A second side spot is now empty.
5. 8 of diamonds onto the 9 of spades, and then the 7 of clubs onto the 8 of diamonds.
6. 3 of spades onto the 4 of diamonds, and then the 2 of hearts onto the 3 of spades.
7. Fill the two empty spots with your last two cards, the 5 of clubs and the 2 of clubs.

That is all eight cards in one turn, and the hand is yours. It does not usually go that well, but it shows how one play makes room for the next. Notice that you did not play the 5 of clubs or the 2 of clubs until the very end: they fitted nowhere until the pile moves opened two spots.

When the Stock Runs Out

If the stock is used up, play simply carries on without drawing. Each player in turn makes whatever plays they can. In the rare case that the stock is empty and nobody is able to play, the hand is blocked. It ends there, nobody goes out, and every player takes penalty points for the cards they hold.

Scoring

As soon as a player plays their last card, the hand is over. That player scores nothing, which is exactly what you want. Everyone else adds up the cards left in their hand:

So a player caught with a King, a 9 and two 4s takes 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 13 points. A player caught with five small cards takes just 5.

The points are added to each player's running total, the deal passes to the left and a new hand is dealt.

Winning the Game

Keep playing hands until at least one player's total reaches the target score. The standard target here is 25 points. At the end of that hand, the player with the lowest total wins the game. If two players are tied for the lowest total, another hand is played to break the tie.

You can choose a target of 10, 25, 50 or 100 in Settings. See choosing a target score for how each one changes the game.

Rules People Often Ask About

Do I have to play a card if I can?

No. Plays are optional unless you have agreed on the house rule about Kings. In practice you nearly always want to play everything you can.

Can I play more than one card on my turn?

Yes, as many as fit. A turn can be one card, a dozen, or none at all.

Can a pile be moved into an empty side spot?

There is no point, since it would just swap one empty spot for another, so the online game does not offer it. A pile that starts with a King, though, may move to an empty corner.

Can I put a King in an empty side spot?

Yes, an empty side spot takes any card. But a corner is always free for a King, and a King in a corner does not use up a side spot, so the corner is the better place.

What goes on an Ace?

Nothing. The Ace is the lowest card. A pile with an Ace on top is finished, unless the whole pile can be moved onto another one.

Do I draw on the very first turn?

Yes. Every turn starts with a draw while there are cards in the stock, including the first.

Playing Online

In our game you tap a card and then tap the place it should go. Every legal place is outlined and labeled, so you never have to wonder whether a play is allowed. The Hint button suggests a play and explains it, and the Why? button beside each computer play shows its reasoning. When you are comfortable with the basics, have a look at the strategy guide. If you enjoy building down in alternating colors, you will feel at home with Klondike Solitaire as well.