One of my very favorite social card games to play is Trash (sometimes called Garbage.) This is the type of card game that you can sit down together and play while also holding a conversation. It’s doesn’t require a lot of focus or brain power. It’s great for all ages and one everyone can learn in just a few minutes and get right to playing.
What You Need
- 1 standard deck of cards (jokers removed)
- 2-5 Players
- 2-3 Players use 1 deck
- 4-5 Players use 2 decks
- 6+ Players use 3 decks
Set Up
- Shuffle the deck thoroughly.
- Deal each player 10 cards face down. Players arrange these cards into two rows of 5 cards.
- Place the remaining cards into the center of the table as the draw deck.
Goal of Trash
Be the first player to complete a layout of cards in order from Ace through 10 and eventually narrow your layout down until you only need one final card to win the game.
How to Play Trash (Garbage)
The ten cards in front of you form your layout. Each card represents a numbered position. The top five cards are Ace(1)-5 and the bottom row of five cards are 6-10. You want to replace each of these face down cards with a card of the matching rank for each individual position.
Jacks are Wild and can be placed in any location in the tableau.
Queens and Kings are “trash” and end your turn. These cards are discarded to the discard pile when drawn or revealed.
How a turn works
- Draw a Card
- On your turn draw the top card of the deck or discard pile.
- Place the Card if You Can
- If the car matches of of your numbered positions, remove the face down card from that spot.
- Example: If you draw a 5, remove the face down card in the #5 location in the top row and place the drawn five there.
- if you draw a Jack it is wild and can be placed in any unfilled spot in your rows.
- Reveal and Repeat
- When you place a card in a slot, flip over and reveal the face down card that was in that spot.
- If that card can also fit somewhere in your layout, place it there and repeat steps two and three.
- If you reveal a card who’s spot is currently occupied by a Jack, you may replace the Jack with the card and move the Jack to a new location.
- Keep going until you draw a card that doesn’t fit because you either have already filled or you have revealed a Queen or King card.
- Discard
- When you draw a card that can’t be placed, discard it to end your turn. Play passes to the next player.
Winning the Round and the Game
Once a player successfully fills all 10 spots in their layout, t hey win the round and get an advantage for the next.
When dealing the next round and all future rounds, that player now is only dealt 9 cards instead of 10. They now only need to fill their layout with Ace through 9. If they draw a 10 it ends their turn like a Queen or King as that spot does not exist in their layout anymore.
Each round you win reduces your layout by one card until you only need one final card. The first player to complete a layout of just one card, filling that spot with an Ace wins the entire game.
Popular Variants for Trash (Garbage)
Special Rules for Face Cards and Jokers
There have been a wide variety of fun alternate rules for face cards that families have come up with over the years. Here are a few you can try in your next game of Trash:
Kings = Replay
Rather than ending your turn, some play where a King lets you immediately take a second turn, like a bonus.
Jokers = Wild
Instead of Jacks or even in addition to, Jokers act as wild cards. Often in this variant only the Jokers are able to be swapped out and moved around the layout, the Jack is permanently placed in the location you choose for it.
Queens = Swap A Card
This forces a player to swap one of their face up cards with your face down card in that same location.
Friendly Neighbor Variant
If you flip over a card you have already revealed you must give it to a player who needs it. (this helps move the game along if the player beside you doesn’t need the card that you are discarding, you can give it to someone who does.)
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