Tonk Rules

The goal in Tonk (also spelled Tunk) is to get rid of your cards, or to hold the lowest count when the hand ends. It is a five-card rummy game for 2 to 4 players and one 52-card deck. This page is the full rule set of the game on this site, with every way a hand can end and what it scores.

For a shorter start with a real deal, read how to play Tonk. The house rules you will meet at other tables are listed on the main Tonk page.

Players, Cards, and the Deal

Two to four players use one standard deck with no jokers. Deal five cards to each player, one at a time. Turn the next card face up to start the discard pile, and stack the rest face down as the stock.

Sixteen cards are worth 10, and the whole deck adds up to 340. Your count is the total of the cards in your hand, whether or not they would make a spread.

49 or 50 on the deal. Before the first turn, a player dealt exactly 49 or 50 wins the hand at once, and every other player takes double their count. Two or more such hands cancel out: nobody scores and the next hand is dealt. Only the dealt hand counts.

Who starts. In our game you play first in the first hand, and play passes to the left.

A Turn in Tonk

1. Drop or draw. At the start of your turn you may drop (see below). Otherwise take the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. Only the top discard can be taken.
2. Spread and hit, if you want. Lay down any books and runs you hold and add cards to spreads already on the table, as many as you like in one turn.
3. Discard. End your turn by putting one card face up on the discard pile. If it was your last card, you have run out and the hand is over.

If spreads and hits empty your hand before step 3, you have tonked out and there is no discard.

Spreads and Hits

• Book: three or four cards of one rank. There are only four of each rank, so a book never grows past four.
• Run: three or more cards in sequence in one suit, any length up to all 13. The Ace is low only: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A and K-A-2 are not.
• Hit: add one card at a time from your hand to any spread on the table, yours or anyone's: the fourth card of a book, or the next card at either end of a run. You do not need a spread of your own first.
• Holding: you may keep a finished spread in your hand. Held cards still count against you if someone drops or the stock runs out.

Dropping

Drop at the start of your turn, before you draw, by laying your hand face up. You may drop on your very first turn. Every other player then shows their hand.

• Lowest count: if your count is lower than every other hand, you win, and everyone else takes their own count as penalty points.
• Caught: if any hand ties or beats yours, you take double your own count, the lowest other hand wins, and nobody else scores.
• Timing: once you draw you cannot drop until your next turn.

How Each Hand Ends and Scores

Worked example, three players. You are dealt the Ace of spades, 2 of hearts, 3 of clubs, 2 of diamonds, and 4 of spades: 12 points. Player 2 holds 19 and Player 3 holds 34.

• Drop on your first turn: 12 is the lowest count, so you win. Player 2 takes 19 penalty points and Player 3 takes 34.
• Hold 19 instead and drop: you tie Player 2 and are caught. You take 38, Player 2 wins the hand, and Player 3 takes nothing.
• Tonk out against the same two hands: Player 2 takes 38 and Player 3 takes 68.

When the Stock Runs Out

Once someone draws the last stock card, the hand ends on that player's discard. Everyone shows their cards, the lowest count wins, and every other player takes their count. The discard pile is never turned over or shuffled into a new stock.

At some tables play goes on after the last stock card for as long as each player takes the previous discard. Our game stops at once.

Scoring Over a Game

Penalty points add up from hand to hand. Before the first deal, choose where elimination starts: 50, 75, 100 (the default), or 150. A player who reaches it is out, and later hands are dealt only to the players still in, so a four-player game can finish as a two-player game with a 41-card stock. The last player left wins.

Tonk is traditionally played for money, with each hand settled in stakes. Our game keeps score in points only.

Seven-Card Tunk Is a Different Game

Some rule books print a game called Tunk that shares the name but not the rules:

• Seven cards each instead of five.
• The 2s are wild, and a set must include at least two natural cards.
• You tunk, or knock, before you discard, once your unmatched cards total 5 or less. Every other player then gets one more turn to lay off on your sets.
• Unmatched cards score against their owner, and a tunker without the lowest count is charged double.
• A player who reaches 100 is out, and the last player left wins.

If a table says Tunk, ask which game it means. The game on this site is five-card Tonk as described above.

Tonk Glossary

Book

Three or four cards of the same rank laid face up, such as three 8s.

Run

Three or more cards in sequence in one suit, with the Ace low only, such as the 9, 10, and Jack of diamonds.

Spread

A book or a run on the table. Its cards no longer count against you.

Hit

Adding a card from your hand to any spread on the table, your own or another player's.

Count

The total of the card values left in your hand: Ace 1, 2 to 10 face value, pictures 10.

Drop

Ending the hand at the start of your turn, before you draw, by showing a hand you claim is the lowest. Also called going out low, and by some players knocking.

Caught

What happens to a dropper whose count is tied or beaten. In our game the dropper takes double their own count.

Tonk

A dealt hand worth exactly 49 or 50, which wins at once and doubles every other count.

Tonk out

Emptying your hand through spreads and hits with no final discard. Every other count is doubled.

Run out

Emptying your hand by discarding your last card. Every other player takes their count once.

Stock

The face-down pile players draw from. It is never rebuilt once it runs out.

Upcard

The card turned face up after the deal to start the discard pile.

Penalty points

The running total each loser adds after a hand. Reaching the limit puts a player out.

Quick Reference