Kings in the Corner scoring
When a player goes out, everyone else scores the cards still in their hand: 10 penalty points for each king, 1 point for every other card. The running totals carry across rounds, and the match ends the moment any player reaches 25 points — the LOWEST total wins. This page has the full scoring rules and a free printable score sheet.
Penalty values
Only two numbers matter: a king costs 10, everything else costs 1. The winner of the round scores nothing.
| Cards left in your hand | Penalty points |
|---|---|
| Each king | 10 |
| Each queen, jack, or number card (A–Q) | 1 |
| The player who went out | 0 |
| Blocked round — every player | Their full hand, at the values above |
- The 10-to-1 ratio is the engine of the whole game: one stranded king outweighs nine ordinary cards, so corners get used the moment they open.
- The worst single hand we have ever recorded in simulation cost 34 points — a hand that had grown through repeated draws and still held kings when an opponent went out.
- An average losing hand costs about 3 points (measured over 5,000 simulated rounds between two strong players — see the strategy page for the full dataset).
Keeping score across rounds
Kings in the Corner is scored like golf: points are bad, and the match ends when someone accumulates too many.
Score each round as it ends
When a player goes out, every other player counts their hand — 10 per king, 1 per other card — and adds it to their running total.
Re-deal and rotate
The deal (and with it the first turn) passes one seat clockwise, all 52 cards are gathered and reshuffled, and the next round begins.
End at 25
The moment any player’s total reaches 25 or more, the match is over and the player with the LOWEST total wins. Agree 50 instead for a longer game. A tie goes to whoever won the final round.
Printable score sheet
One US-letter page, two matches of twelve rounds for up to four players, with the penalty values and a quick-rules reminder printed on the sheet. Free to print and share.
- Kings in the Corner score sheet (PDF) — US letter, two 12-round matches for 4 players, penalty chart included. CC BY 4.0 — print and share freely with attribution.
Scoring questions
How do you keep score in Kings in the Corner?
- When someone goes out, every other player adds up the cards left in their hand — 10 points per king, 1 point per other card — and adds that to a running total. When any total reaches 25, the match ends and the lowest total wins.
Do you play Kings in the Corner to 25 or 50 points?
- 25 is the standard target and gives a match of roughly five to eight rounds. Playing to 50 roughly doubles that. Either works — agree the target before the first deal.
Who wins if a round is blocked?
- Nobody wins a blocked round. Every player scores the hand they still hold, at the usual values, and the next round is dealt. Blocked rounds are rare — under 2% of rounds in our simulations.