How to Play Kings Corner: Rules and Tips

Kings Corner looks like solitaire, but it plays like a race. Everyone builds on the same cross of cards in the middle of the table, and the first player to empty their hand wins. This guide covers the full Kings Corner rules, from the deal and a normal turn to moving whole piles, putting Kings in the corners and the common ways to keep score.

What Kings Corner is

The Kings in the Corner card game is an American family game that borrows the building rules of solitaire and turns them into a multiplayer race. Wikipedia lists it for two to four players (its infobox allows five) and classes it as a patience-style shedding game. The pagat.com rules site files it under layout games and notes that it is popular in North America but rarely appears in American card game books.

Because the game spread mostly by word of mouth, house rules differ from table to table. This guide gives the standard version first, then flags the common variations.

What you need

• Players: two to four. Pagat notes the game is said to be good for four.
• Cards: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
• Card order: King is high and Ace is low. The full order from top to bottom is K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A.
• Scoring: pen and paper if you play the points game. A single hand needs nothing.

Setup and the deal

Pick a first dealer at random (Wikipedia’s version has the highest card deal). The deal passes to the left after each hand.

The dealer gives each player seven cards, one at a time. The rest of the deck goes face down in the middle as the stock. The dealer then turns four cards from the stock face up and places them on the four sides of the stock, to the north, east, south and west. These are the foundation piles. The four diagonal spaces between them, the corners, start empty.

If a King or a fitting card is dealt face up

Sometimes one of the four face-up cards is a King. Under the pagat.com rules, the first player may move that King to a corner and fill the empty side spot with a card from their hand. The same applies if one dealt foundation card already fits on another (one rank lower and the opposite color): the first player may move it across and refill the gap from hand. House rules for this moment vary, so agree on it before you start.

How a turn works

Play goes clockwise. The player to the dealer’s left goes first, and in a two-player game that simply means the non-dealer starts. On your turn you can make as many of these plays as you like, in any order:

1. Build on a pile. Play a card from your hand onto any pile, as long as it is one rank lower and the opposite color of the top card. A red 6 goes on a black 7, and a black Jack goes on a red Queen.
2. Start a corner. Put a King from your hand into an empty corner.
3. Move a pile. Move a whole foundation pile onto another pile when its bottom card fits on the other pile’s top card.
4. Fill an empty side spot. Play any card from your hand onto a north, east, south or west spot that has been emptied.

Suits never matter, only colors. Because the Ace is the lowest card, nothing can be played on a pile once an Ace is on top of it.

Cards on the table stay there. Wikipedia’s rules state that cards already laid down cannot be picked back up, even during the same turn, so there is no taking a play back.

When you draw

Here is the biggest split between rule sets. In the written rules on pagat.com and Wikipedia, you make your plays first and then draw one card from the stock, which ends your turn. If you cannot play, or choose not to, you simply draw.

Some tables play it the other way round: draw one card at the start of the turn, then make your plays. Pagat lists this as a variation. Both work, as long as everyone agrees before the deal.

When the stock runs out, play carries on without drawing.

Do you have to play?

Under the pagat.com rules, no: you may hold cards back. Wikipedia’s version says a playable card must be played. Pick one rule and stick to it.

Moving piles

Moving piles turns Kings Corner into a puzzle. You can pick up an entire foundation pile and set it on top of another pile if the bottom card of the pile you move is one rank lower and the opposite color of the top card on the other pile.

Say the North pile runs from a black 9 down to a red 8, and the East pile has a red 10 on top. The black 9 fits on the red 10, so the whole North pile moves onto East. East now runs from the red 10 all the way down, and the North spot is empty.

That empty spot is the real prize. Any card from your hand can go there, so a pile move gives you a free place to dump an awkward card or start a new run. Corner piles never move, since their bottom card is always a King and nothing sits above a King.

Kings in the corners

The corners belong to the Kings. A corner can only be started by a King, and once it is, the pile builds down in alternating colors just like the side piles. A full corner runs from King to Ace in thirteen cards.

Kings are the hardest cards to shed, since a King can’t go on any pile and waits in your hand until a corner opens. The written rules do let any card fill an empty north, east, south or west spot, Kings included. A King on a side spot is legal, but it blocks that spot for a long time, so the corner is almost always the better home.

Winning the hand

The first player to play their last card wins the hand. If you draw at the end of the turn, you go out the moment your hand is empty and do not draw.

A hand can also get stuck. If the stock is empty and nobody can (or will) play, the hand ends in a block. Players then count the cards left in their hands as below, and the lowest count does best.

Scoring variants

Many people play one hand at a time. For a longer game, these are the common scoring systems.

System	How it works	Source
Penalty points	1 point per card left in hand, 10 per King. Totals add up over several hands until someone reaches an agreed target, such as 25 or 50, and then the lowest total wins.	pagat.com
Face cards cost more	Face cards 2 points each, Kings 10, others 1. A player who reaches the target, often 25 or 50, drops out, and the last player left wins.	Wikipedia
Card values	Aces 25, picture cards 10, number cards at face value, with a higher target such as 100 or 250.	pagat.com
Chips	Everyone antes a chip, and drawing without playing costs another. The first player out takes the pot plus chips for cards left in other hands.	pagat.com
Corners	Players collect each corner they complete, and the most corners wins.	Wikipedia

Other house rules

• Draw two: some tables draw two cards per turn instead of one.
• Draw until you can play: Wikipedia mentions a version where a player who cannot play keeps drawing until they can, plays, then draws once more.
• Suit piles: one pagat variant builds the corner piles down in suit instead of alternating colors.
• Four-card deal: another deals only four cards each, and players who run out while the stock remains draw and keep going.
• Jokers: two jokers can be added as wild cards that stand for any card.

Kings Corner tips

• Look for pile moves first. Before you play anything from your hand, check whether one side pile can go onto another. A free spot takes any card.
• Get Kings out early. When a corner is open, put your King there. In the penalty game a stuck King costs as much as ten ordinary cards.
• Fill empty spots with run starters. If you hold a black 9, a red 8 and a black 7, putting the 9 in an empty spot lets you shed all three.
• Don’t leave gifts. An empty side spot you leave behind is free for the next player. Fill it yourself if you can.

Play Kings Corner online

You can play Kings Corner online free on dinogame.gg against one, two or three computer players. Choose Easy or Smart opponents, a single hand or a penalty-points game to 25 or 50, and whether you draw at the end of your turn (the standard rule and the default) or at the start. Cards and piles you can move glow, and you can drag them or tap to select and tap to place. It works on phones too.

If you like racing to empty your hand, Crazy Eights is another quick shedding game to try next.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards do you deal in Kings Corner?

Seven cards to each player. Four more go face up around the stock to start the north, east, south and west piles. Pagat also lists a variant with only four cards each.

Can you put a card on a King in Kings Corner?

Yes. Once a King is in a corner, you build down on it with a Queen of the opposite color, then a Jack, and so on down to the Ace. You just can’t put a King on top of anything, because nothing ranks one higher than a King.

Do you draw at the start or end of your turn?

The written rules on pagat.com and Wikipedia have you play first and draw one card to end your turn. Drawing at the start is a widespread house rule. Agree on one before you deal.

What happens when the stock runs out?

Play continues without drawing. If nobody can play, the hand is blocked and players score the cards left in their hands.

Conclusion

The Kings Corner rules fit on an index card: build down in alternating colors, start corners with Kings, move piles to open spots, and go out first. The fun comes from spotting the pile move that frees a spot at the right moment. Deal a hand against the computer, and when you need a break, jump over to the Chrome Dino game for a quick run.