Kalooki Rules
The rules of this game vary based on the version you play. Thee rules discussed in this article are based on the North American version of the game of Kalooki. Kalooki is played with a deck of 108 cards, including all 4 Jokers. The Jokers are used as wild cards. Kalooki can be played with 2 to 5 players.
Points of Each Card
Joker – 25 points
Aces – 15 points
Numbered Cards - Points depend on the number in the card.
Face Cards – 10 points
To choose a dealer, the cards A, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are shuffled together. Each player draws one card. The player who draws an A is the dealer. The players take turns to deal the cards.
Each player is dealt with 15 cards for 2, 3 or 4 players. For 5 players, each player is dealt with 14 cards. The remaining deck of cards is placed face down. This is called the Stock Pile. The top card is placed face up.
The players should sort their cards in the following ways
Run or Sequence – Sorting 3 or more cards with the same sign in the sequential order. Example: Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts.
Set or Group – Sorting 3 or more cards with the same numbers but different signs. Example – 6 of Hearts, 6 of Diamonds, 6 of Clubs.
Playing the game
The objective of Kalooki is to meld all the cards in Sets and /or Runs.
The 4 main steps involved in a player's turn are
Draw – The player draws the displayed card or from the stock pile. The player adds this to the existing cards in hand to sort in Sets or Run.
Meld – The player discards 3 or more cards if they belong to a Run or Set. The initial meld should total 51 points.
Lay-Off (Optional) - The player can add more cards from their hand to the meld on the table.
Discard – The player discards the card that does not form a Set or Run. If there are 6 or more cards in a Run, the player can discard them in a single or multiple turns.
The game ends when a player melds all the cards in hand and discards the last card face down. This is called Calling Up. At this point, the other players will score penalty points on their remaining cards. The player to accumulate 150 penalty points is eliminated.
