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150 Card Game Rules — the complete ruleset

150 is an original Karooty memory card game for 3–6 players. Lowest score wins — but you can only see two of your four cards at the start, and after that your memory is all you have. These are the full official rules of the game as played on karooty.com.

What is 150?

150 is a low-score-wins memory and bluffing game played with one standard 52-card deck (no jokers). Each round you try to finish with the fewest points in front of you; round scores accumulate across the game. The moment any player's cumulative total reaches 150 points or more, the game ends immediately — that player is the "first loser," and the player with the lowest total wins. There is no fixed number of rounds: the game runs until someone hits 150.

Card values

Cards are scored only at the end of a round, when all hands are revealed. Low is good.

Setup

1. Shuffle the deck and deal each player 4 cards, face-down in a 2×2 grid. You may not rearrange them or look at them freely.
2. At the start of every round, the bottom two of your four cards are revealed to you to memorize — you don't choose which two, and opponents don't see them. Once memorized, they flip face-down again.
3. From that point, all four of your cards are face-down and you may not look at any of them for the rest of the round. The only exception is a Queen's peek power.
4. The rest of the deck becomes the face-down draw pile, with space beside it for a face-up discard pile.
5. The player with the lowest cumulative score starts each round (the first round's starter is random).

Your turn: do exactly one thing

Play moves clockwise. On your turn you take exactly one of these actions:

1. Match the top discard

If you believe one or more of your face-down cards share the rank of the card the previous player left on top of the discard pile, you may dump them. Matching is your whole turn — you do not also draw. Full matching rules are below.

2. Take a card

Choose one source:

• Draw from the draw pile (unknown card). A number card (A–10): swap it face-down into one of your grid positions and discard the card it replaces, or discard it directly. A face card (J/Q/K): discard it to activate its power, or swap it in as a 20-point card and forgo the power.
• Take the top discard (a known, face-up card). You must swap it into your hand — you can't take it just to re-discard it. The classic use: an opponent discards a red ten (0 points) or an Ace, and you grab it to ditch a high card. A face card taken this way grants no power — just 20 points.

3. Call "END"

Instead of taking a card, declare END to trigger the end of the round. You may also call END right after taking a card or matching — but only on your own turn.

Face-card powers

Powers fire only when you discard a J/Q/K you just drew from the draw pile:

• Jack — Trade: give one of your cards to another player and take one of theirs. You pick both positions blind, then you see the card you took; your opponent does not see the card they received. Hand sizes stay the same.
• Queen — Peek: secretly look at one of your own cards, then it flips back face-down. This is the only way to see one of your own cards mid-round.
• King — Draw Again: draw another card and resolve it as a normal draw. If it's another face card, its power can chain.

Matching the discard pile

Matching is the only way to shrink your hand and shed points — and it's a pure memory gamble. It happens on your turn only, against the top card the previous player left:

1. Select the card(s) you believe equal the top discard's rank. You can dump several at once — say, two 9s onto a discarded 9.
2. Correct: every selected card matches → they're discarded for good, and you don't refill. Your hand shrinks.
3. Wrong: any selected card isn't that rank → you take it back and draw one penalty card. Your hand grows by one.

Matching ends your draw/take for the turn — afterwards you can only call END or pass. Matching is by rank, face cards included (two Kings match), and both red and black tens count as rank "10" even though they score differently. If a match empties your hand, the round ends instantly for everyone and you score 0.

Calling END and finishing a round

1. A player calls "END" on their turn — instead of taking a card, or right after their action.
2. Every other player takes exactly one final turn; play stops when it returns to the caller (who doesn't act again). On these final turns players may match or take a card, but can't call — a call is already in progress.
3. All players reveal their cards and the round is scored.

Scoring a round

Each player sums the points still in their hand. The round winner adds 0. The caller's fate depends on whether the call was right:

• Caller strictly lowest: the caller adds 0; everyone else adds their hand total.
• Caller NOT strictly lowest (a tie also fails): the caller adds double their hand. Everyone with a strictly lower hand than the caller adds 0; everyone else adds their hand total.
• No caller (someone emptied their hand by matching): the lowest hand(s) add 0; everyone else adds their hand total.

Example with four players and hands of 12 / 9 / 25 / 30 where the first player called: the call fails because 9 beats 12 — the caller adds 24 (double), the player on 9 adds 0, and the others add 25 and 30.

Winning the game

After each round, check cumulative totals. If anyone is at 150 or more, the game ends on the spot — no extra rounds. That player is the first loser; final ranking is by cumulative score and the lowest total wins. If nobody has hit 150, deal a new round: peek at your bottom two, and the lowest cumulative score leads off. When the draw pile runs out mid-round, the discard pile is reshuffled into a new draw pile.

Frequently asked questions