How to Play Spoons

Michael Kintzinger, Gary Schwartz, Megan Sherrill, Danial Ali,

and Oren Briggs
University of North Texas
October 24th, 2014
Technical Writing 1700:007

How to play spoons

Spoons is a card game played with three or more players typically. The game will take
about five to thirty minutes to play depending on the number of players. Materials used to
play this game are a full deck of cards, spoons or some type of token for the players to pick
up. This game can be played by anyone seven years and older.

Table 1Picture of a full deck of playing cards (left) and pens being used as spoons/tokes"(right).

Objective
The objective of the game is to be the first to get four of a kind. Or be faster than the other
players trying to get spoons, for each round. Until the last round, then the winner is
determined by the player who gets four of a kind first.

Steps
1. Set up materials.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Set up spoons equal to the number of players minus one.

Make sure the spoons are relatively the same distance from each player.
Shuffle the cards.
Deal four cards face down to every player, be sure to keep the face of the cards to
yourself throughout the entire game.
e. Place remaining cards in a deck.
f. Place the deck next to the oldest player.

Picture of setup of the game with three players.

2. Beginning the game.

a. Have the oldest player draw a card.
b. This card will be added to his or her hand.
c. That player will then discard one card from his or her hand.

Pictures of a hand of cards switching cards from card draw.

3. Card exchange.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

The discarded card will then be passed to the player to the left of them faced down.
The next player will then add that card to his or her hand.
The second player will discard one card from his or her hand.
This will continue until the last player gets a card.
The last player will begin a discard pile once cards are placed in the discard pile they
will no longer be in play.
f. Repeat until all of the cards are used up or until someone gets four of the same card.
g. If all cards are used up and no know has gotten four of a kind shuffle the discard pile
and begin to use these cards as the deck.

Pictures of the draw deck and discard deck (left) and setup of card game with three players (right).

4. Elimination.
a. After any player gets four of a kind, he or she will grab a spoon from the center.
b. Once one person grabs a spoon, everyone must try and grab a spoon before the
other players in order to avoid elimination.
c. The player left without a spoon at the end of a round is eliminated.
d. Do NOT continue to play the round after the first spoon is taken from the center. As
soon as the first spoon is gone, the rest are fair game.

Picture of two of the final players after a player has been eliminated.

5. Final round.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

There will be two players left in the final round.

They will each get four cards.
The oldest player of the final two will have the deck of cards.
The player will draw a card and add it to his or her hand.
This player will discard one card from his or her hand and pass it to the other
player.
f. The second player will pick up that card and add it to his or her hand.
g. He or she will then discard one card into a discard pile.
h. The first player to get four of a kind will grab the one remaining spoon.
i. This player is the winner.

Pictures of the winning hand (right).

Conclusion
Spoons is a fun game for all to play, and can be played in a relatively short amount of time.
Remember to keep your cards hidden from the other players and try to get four of a kind.