Keep the cards on the table.

Set up the hand

Nines is for 2 to 8 players.

• 2 to 4 players: use one 54-card deck: 52 standard cards and 2 printed jokers.
• 5 to 8 players: use two 54-card decks.
• Deal exactly 9 cards to each player.

Turn over the next card as the indicator. The rank after it is wild: a 9 makes every 10 wild, King makes Ace wild, and Ace makes 2 wild. If the indicator is a printed joker, shuffle it back and turn over another card. Leave the indicator face up and out of play for the whole hand.

Turn over one more card to start the discard pile. The rest become the face-down stock. Choose the first starter at random; play moves clockwise.

Take a turn

Everyone's first turn is draw, then discard. Nobody may lay, fill or swap cards until play comes back to the starting player for their second turn.

After that first round:

1. Draw exactly one card from the stock or the top of the discard pile.
2. Lay sets, fill sets already on the table, or swap wilds. You may make as many legal set plays as you like.
3. Discard one card to end your turn.

You may throw back the card you just took from the discard pile. You may also discard a wild, unless that wild is being held after a swap.

If the stock runs out, leave the top discard face up. Shuffle the rest of the discard pile into a new stock.

Runs and monkeys

Your first set must contain at least 4 cards. Several smaller sets do not add up to one opening. An opening run may be longer than 4 cards, and every card in it may be wild.

A run is a line of consecutive ranks in one suit. Ace may be low or high, so A-2-3 and Q-K-A both work; K-A-2 does not. Once you have opened, a new run may contain as few as 3 cards.

Only one run in each suit may exist across the whole table. Once a suit has been claimed, everyone adds to that run instead of starting another one in the same suit.

A monkey is 3 or 4 cards of the same rank in different suits. Monkeys appear only in two-deck games, and nobody may lay one until all four suit runs are on the table. An opening monkey needs all 4 suits.

Only one monkey of each rank may exist across the table. A 3-card monkey may take its missing suit. After you have opened, you may extend either end of any run or complete any player's monkey.

Wild cards

Printed jokers are always wild. Every card of the rank chosen by the indicator is wild too. A wild may stand in for any card needed by a legal run or monkey. A card of the chosen wild rank may also be played as its own printed rank and suit.

After you have opened, you may replace a wild in any table set with the exact natural card it represents. Take that wild into your hand. It stays held until the start of your next turn, so you cannot play or discard it straight away.

The indicator itself stays out of play. It points to the wild rank; it does not become a card in anyone's hand.

Close and score

Every turn finishes with a discard. You cannot play every remaining card into sets; keep at least one card that can be discarded legally. The hand closes when somebody discards their final card. That player scores 0.

Add each hand to the running totals. Move the starter one seat clockwise for the next hand. There is no fixed number of hands: when the group ends the session, the lowest total wins. Players tied for the lowest score share the win.