May I?
Players
The game is best played by three to five players; there’s no real limit.
Cards
“May I?” is played with one deck of cards per 2 people playing, including both jokers from each deck of cards.
The Deal
There are seven rounds altogether. The first dealer is chosen randomly, and thereafter the turn to deal rotates clockwise. The deal itself is clockwise, one card at a time. In the first three rounds, the players receive 10 cards each; in the last four they receive 12 cards each.
The cards remaining after the deal are placed face down on the table to form the stock pile, the top card of which is turned face up and placed alongside to start the discard pile.
Object of the Game
The object of each round is to dispose of all your cards by a combination of melding, laying off, and discarding. In order to do any
melding or laying off, you must begin by fulfilling your contract for the round currently being played.
There are two kind of melds, sequences (also called runs) and groups (also called sets or books).
A sequence or run, in this game, consists of at least four consecutive cards of the same suit, such as
4c, 5c, 6c, 7c
An ace can count as low or high but not both at the same time. So
Ad, 2d, 3d, 4d
and
Jc, Qc, Kc, Ac
are both valid sequences, but
Qs, Ks, As, 2s
is not valid.
A group, set or book consists three cards of the same rank, irrespective of suit, such as
5d, 5d, 5s
Once it has been melded, a sequence can be extended by adding further consecutive cards at either end, as far as the ace in either direction; the longest theoretically possible sequence being 14 cards long with an ace at each end. A group can be extended by adding further equal ranking cards.
When a player goes out, by disposing of all their cards, the other players score penalty points for all the cards remaining in their hands. The object of the game is to be the player with the lowest score at the end of the series of seven rounds.
The Contracts
The contracts in each successive round are as the following.
* Two Groups of 3 (6 cards)
* One Group of 3 and One Sequence of 4 (7 cards)
* Two Sequences of 4 (8 cards)
* Three Groups of 3 (9 cards)
* Two Groups of 3 and One Sequence of 4 (10 cards)
* One Group of 3 and Two Sequences of 4 (11 cards)
* Three Sequences of 4 (12 cards)
The Play
The player to dealer’s left takes the first turn. A turn consists of:
1. The Draw
The player must either draw the top card of the stock pile or take the top card of the discard pile. A player who chooses to draw a card from the stock pile must first give any other player who wishes the opportunity to take the discard (see below).
2. Melding
The player may place groups or sequences from hand face up on the table. This can only be done once by each player during each round. When melding, the sequences or groups you lay down may contain more than the minimum number of cards. However, you cannot lay down one group if you need two, or if you need a sequence also.
Melding is optional - you are not required to meld as soon as you are able to.
3. Laying off.
Laying off is adding cards to groups or sequences which have already been melded - both your own and those melded by your opponents. You may lay off only if you have already melded in some previous turn of the current round. You may not lay off before or on the same turn in which you meld. There is no limit as to how many cards you may lay off in one turn. Laying off is optional - you are never obliged to lay off cards if you do not wish to.
4. The Discard.
At the end of your turn, you must discard one card from your hand and
placed it face up on top of the discard pile. Play continues with players taking turns clockwise around the table until one person has got rid of all the cards from their hand.
It can occasionally happen that the stock pile runs out of cards. If a player wishes to draw a card when there are no cards left in the stock pile, then you take all the cards of the discard pile except the top one, shuffle them together, and place them face down to make a new stock. The top card of the old discard pile remains face up to start the new discard pile. Play then continues as before.
If there are a lot of “May I?”’s (see below), it is just conceivable that both the stock pile and the discard pile might run out of cards. In that case the play ends. There is no winner and everyone scores penalty points according to the cards that they have in their hands (see scoring).
Taking the Discard Out of Turn (the “May I?”)
If at the start of your turn you choose to draw from the stock rather than take the discard, any player who desires the card on the top of the discard pile may ask for it (hence the name “May I?”. If several people want the discard, it goes to the earliest in turn to play after the person who is about to draw from the stock. The player who takes the discard in this way must take in addition the top card from the stock as a penalty card.
After someone has taken the discard out of turn, it is possible for a different player to take the next card of the discard pile in the same way, also taking a penalty card from the stock pile along with it. There is no limit as to how many times this can be done, but the same player is not allowed to take two successive cards from the discard pile in this way.
Only when the other players have had the opportunity to take any cards they want from the top of the discard pile does the person who was about to play draw from the stock and continue their turn. Note that the play resumes from its original point - the turn to play does not jump to the person who takes the discard.
Note also that if the player whose turn it is to play wishes to take the card at the top of the discard pile they may do so, without taking a penalty card from the stock pile, and no one else then has the chance to take any discards.
Jokers
Jokers may be used in either sequences or groups, to substitute for any missing card.
Once a joker is tabled, it cannot return to any players hand.
Special Rules for Particular Rounds
Rounds 1,2,3
Dealer deals 10 Cards.
Rounds 4,5,6,7
Dealer Deals 12 Cards.
Scoring
When someone goes out by getting rid of all their cards, play ends and the other players score penalty points for all the cards remaining in their hands, the cards scoring as follows:
Face cards (K,Q,J) - 10 Points
Ace - 15 Points
Joker - 25 Points
Number Cards are worth their spot (index) value.
At the end of the seventh and last round, the player with the lowest total score wins.
Variation
The game can be played without jokers.
