31 (Scat)

Overview

31 — also called Scat, Blitz, Ride the Bus or Cadillac — is a three-card draw-and-discard game for two to four players. Everyone holds exactly three cards and swaps one per turn, trying to gather points in a single suit. There is no busting and no bidding: the only question each round is who ends up holding the worst hand, because that player loses a life.

Rounds are short, often under a minute, and the pressure comes from knocking at the right moment. Play the computer at two, three or four seats, or challenge a live opponent from the lobby.

Card values

Ace = 11. King, Queen and Jack = 10 each. Every other card is worth its face value. Your three cards are always face up — in 31 you play your own hand in the open, and only your opponents' cards stay hidden until the showdown.

Scoring a hand

A hand only scores the cards it holds in a single suit. Three hearts add up together. Two hearts and a spade score just the two hearts. Three different suits score only your highest single card.

31 is the best hand there is: an Ace and two ten-value cards in one suit. Three of a kind — three Sevens, say — counts as 30.5, which beats any ordinary 30 but still loses to 31.

Taking a turn

Play passes clockwise from the dealer's left. On your turn you take either the top card of the stock or the face-up card from the discard pile, then throw one card away. You may not put straight back the card you have just picked up off the discard pile.

Knocking

Happy with your hand? Tap KNOCK. You can knock before you draw, or straight after you have discarded — so the card that just made your hand does not cost you a wasted turn. Every other player then gets one last turn, and all hands are shown.

Hitting 31

The moment you reach 31 it is declared and the round stops there — every other player loses a life at once, with no final go-round. A hand dealt 31 ends the round before anyone even plays.

Losing lives

At the showdown the lowest hand loses a life, and tied lowest hands each lose one. A knocker who turns out to be the sole lowest loses two lives instead of one — that is the price of calling it early. A knocker who only ties for lowest is safe, and the other tied players pay instead.

On the county

Everyone starts with three lives. Lose your last one and you are on the county — still in the game, but the next life you lose puts you out. The match ends when only one player is left standing.

Running out of cards

The discard pile is never reshuffled. If the stock runs dry, play carries on only while players still want the face-up card; the first player to PASS ends the round in a showdown.

Strategy and tips

• Commit to a suit early. Two cards of one suit plus a stray ten-value card is a worse hand than it looks.
• Watch what people discard. A player throwing hearts is not collecting hearts.
• Knocking on 27 or 28 is usually enough at two seats and usually not at four.
• An Ace is worth keeping even out of suit — 11 points is a respectable single-card score when nothing comes together.
• If you are on the county, knock earlier than you want to. Surviving beats optimising.

Ways to play

Play two, three or four seats against the computer, or open the lobby and challenge a live player. The browser lobby shares its matchmaking with the Android app, so a phone player and a browser player can sit at the same table.