Ball Four

Rules overview

Ball Four

Overview

Ball Four is a set-based climbing shedder. Players lead combinations, beat them with higher combinations of the same type, or pass. The first player to empty their hand ends the inning and scores runs for cards left in opponents’ hands.

The twist is Ball Four. When the current high hand contains exactly three cards of a rank, another player may play the fourth card of that rank to threaten control of the play.

Players and Deck

3 to 5 players. Ideal: 4 players. Use a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Rank order, low to high: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A 2 Suits do not matter except to identify the first leader.

Game Length

Play until one player reaches 50 runs, or until 9 innings have been played. If 9 innings are completed before any player reaches 50 runs, the player with the most runs wins.

Deal

Shuffle and deal all cards as evenly as possible. With 4 players, each player gets 13 cards. With 3 or 5 players, set aside any undealt cards face down.

In the first inning, the player with the 3 of clubs leads and must include it in their first play. In later innings, the player with the highest score leads first. If tied, the tied player closest to the previous inning winner’s left leads.

Legal Hands

There are no straights or flushes.

A hand may only be beaten by a higher hand of the same type. Example: 5555 may beat 4444. A full house may not beat a triple.

Play Structure

Each inning is one deal.

Each inning contains a series of plays. A play begins when a player leads a legal hand.

Moving clockwise, each active player chooses one action

1. Beat the current high hand with a higher hand of the same type.
2. Play Ball Four, if allowed.
3. Pass.

If you pass, you are out until the play ends.

If you play a hand or play Ball Four, you remain active even if your play is later beaten.

When the play ends, the winner clears the played cards and leads the next play.

Ball Four

A hand exposes Ball Four when it contains exactly three cards of a rank.

Hands that expose Ball Four

Hands that do not expose Ball Four

On your turn, if the current high hand exposes Ball Four, you may play the fourth card of that rank face up in front of you.

Ball Four is pending. It succeeds only if the current high hand is not beaten before the play ends.

If the current high hand is beaten, all pending Ball Four cards on it fail. Return those cards to their owners’ hands. No runs are lost.

If multiple Ball Four cards are pending on the same current high hand, the higher completed rank wins. Losing Ball Four cards return to their owners’ hands with no penalty.

A successful Ball Four

1. wins the play

2. gives that player the next lead

3. stays face up in front of that player

1. is no longer in that player’s hand
2. is worth minus 2 runs to that player at the end of the inning

Ending the Inning

The inning ends immediately when a player has no cards in hand.

A player may end the inning by successfully playing Ball Four with their last card. If Ball Four fails, the card returns to their hand and the inning continues.

Scoring Runs

When a player ends the inning, they score 1 run for each card remaining in opponents’ hands.

Then each player subtracts 2 runs for each successful Ball Four they played that inning.

Successful Ball Four cards stay face up in front of each player so they can be counted.

Example: Alice ends the inning. Bob has 4 cards, Clara has 6 cards, and David has 2 cards. Alice scores 12 runs. If David played Ball Four twice, David subtracts 4 runs from his own score. Alice does not score runs for David’s Ball Four cards.

Examples

Alice plays 999. Bob plays the fourth 9 as Ball Four. If no one beats Alice’s triple, Bob wins the play, keeps the 9 face up, subtracts 2 runs at inning end, and leads next.

Alice plays 999. Bob plays Ball Four with the fourth 9. Clara plays JJJ. Bob’s Ball Four fails and returns to his hand. Clara’s JJJ is now the current high hand.

Alice plays 999 888. Bob plays Ball Four on the 8. Clara plays Ball Four on the 9. If the double triple is not beaten, Clara’s Ball Four succeeds because 9 beats 8. Bob’s 8 returns to his hand.

Alice plays 9999 888. Only the fourth 8 may be played as Ball Four. The 9s are already four of a kind.