How to Play Tonk: The Rules

Tonk (also spelled Tunk) is a five-card knock rummy game for two to four players. You try to get your hand down to a low count by putting down spreads and adding cards to spreads on the table, and you win a hand by getting rid of all your cards or by dropping with the lowest count.

These are the rules as most people play them, following the typical version recorded by Pagat, the standard reference for card game rules. Pagat notes that Tonk has “numerous variations”, and that players are often sure their own way is the only correct one, so agree the house rules first. The common ones are at the end of this page, and how Rare Pike’s online game scores has its own section.

Players and Cards

• Players: two to four. Two or three is the most popular.
• Deck: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
• Card values:

A five-card hand is worth from 6 points (four Aces and a 2) up to 50 (five cards worth 10 each).

The Deal

1. Cut for the deal. The player who deals passes to the left after each hand.
2. Deal five cards to each player, one at a time.
3. Turn the next card face up to start the discard pile.
4. Put the rest face down beside it as the stock.

49 or 50 on the deal

Look at your hand before anyone plays. If it is worth 49 or 50 points, show it straight away. The hand is not played, and you win a double stake from each other player.

If two or more players are dealt 49 or 50, the hand is a draw: nobody pays, and the next player deals.

A high hand only counts like this on the deal. Once play starts, 49 or 50 in your hand is just a bad count.

Your Turn

The player to the dealer’s left goes first, and play passes to the left. At the start of your turn you choose one of two things.

Drop (at the start of your turn only)

You may drop (also called knocking or going down): lay your hand face up and claim you have the lowest count at the table. You can only do this at the start of your turn, before you draw. The hand ends at once; see Dropping and getting caught.

Or play the turn

1. Draw the top card of the stock, or take the top card of the discard pile.
2. Put down spreads if you can, and hit spreads already on the table (both optional).
3. Discard one card face up on the discard pile. Only the top discard may be seen.

Spreads

A spread is a set of cards you put face up on the table. Cards in a spread no longer count against you.

• Book: three or four cards of the same rank, such as 7♠ 7♥ 7♦.
• Run: three or more cards in sequence in one suit, such as 4♥ 5♥ 6♥.

Aces are low: A-2-3 is a run, but Q-K-A is not.

In the usual rules you may keep a spread in your hand instead of putting it down. Some groups make you put a spread down as soon as you have one.

Hitting

Hitting means adding one of your cards to a spread already on the table, yours or anyone else’s: a fourth 7 to a book of 7s, or a 3♥ or 7♥ to a run of 4♥ 5♥ 6♥. You may only hit on your own turn, after you draw and before you discard.

How a Hand Ends

Running out of cards

If you get rid of every card in your hand, you win.

• If you do it by putting down a second spread or by hitting, with no card left to discard, that is a tonk (you “tonk out”). Each other player pays you a double stake.
• If your last card goes on the discard pile, each other player pays you the basic stake.

Dropping and getting caught

When someone drops, everyone shows their hand and counts it.

• The dropper has the lowest count: the dropper wins, and each other player pays the basic stake.
• Someone has an equal or lower count: the dropper is caught. The dropper pays a double stake to every player with an equal or lower count. The player with the lowest count also collects the basic stake from each of the other players.

A tie goes against the dropper, so only drop when you are sure.

The stock runs out

When the stock is empty, play can go on while each player is willing to take the previous discard. As soon as a player wants to draw from the empty stock, the hand ends. The lowest count wins, and each other player pays the basic stake.

Payments at a Glance

The Tonk scoring guide works through example hands.

How Rare Pike’s Online Game Scores

Rare Pike’s Tonk game plays these rules for two to four players, with points instead of money:

• Each hand, the losers add penalty points equal to the count left in their hand. Lower is better.
• A hand dealt 49 or 50 wins at once, and the other players add double their counts.
• Going out, or dropping with the lowest count, makes the other players add their counts.
• If you drop and you are caught, you add double your own count; nobody else adds anything that hand. A tie counts as caught.
• If the stock and discard pile run out, the lowest count wins.
• The game ends when someone reaches 100 points, and the player with the lowest total wins.

Common House Rules

Pagat lists many local rules. The ones you are most likely to meet:

• No upcard. No card is turned up after the deal; the discard pile starts with the first player’s discard.
• Spreads must go down. You may not hold a spread in your hand.
• Waiting after a spread or a hit. After you put down a spread you may not drop for your next three turns; if someone hits your spread, you must wait a turn before you drop. Some groups use different numbers of turns.
• Low hands on the deal. Some groups also pay out at once on a very low dealt hand, such as 15 or fewer, 13 or fewer, or 9 or fewer, sometimes for a double or triple stake.
• 50 beats 49. Some pay double for 50 on the deal but only a single stake for 49.
• Different catch penalties. For example, the dropper pays double only to the lowest player, or pays a double stake to everyone.
• Seven cards. Some groups deal seven cards each instead of five.

More versions are on the Tonk variants page.

Quick Rules Summary

1. Two to four players, one 52-card deck, five cards each.
2. Kings, Queens and Jacks count 10, Aces 1, other cards their face value.
3. A dealt hand of 49 or 50 wins double at once (two of them: a draw).
4. At the start of your turn, drop, or draw from the stock or the discard pile.
5. Put down books and runs of three or more, and hit any spread on the table.
6. Discard to end your turn.
7. Empty your hand by a spread or a hit for a double win (a tonk); with a final discard, a single win.
8. Drop with the lowest count for a single win; if you are caught, you pay double.
9. Agree the house rules before the first deal.

Ready to try it? Play Tonk free on Rare Pike: no download, and the computer players will wait while you learn.