The rules

Up to 9 is a contract-based card game in the same family as Phase 10, but with rules of its own and one defining twist: every 2 and 3 is a joker — while still being playable as itself. Here are the complete rules, exactly as they apply in the game at upto9.no.

The short version

Every player works their way through 9 levels. At each level you must manage, within a round, to lay down a specific combination of cards (the level's "contract"). Make it and you move up; the first player to complete level 9 wins.

The goal and winning

• The first player to complete level 9 (lay down a straight of 9) wins the game.
• If several players complete level 9 in the same round, the one with the fewest accumulated penalty points wins.
• Penalty points are only a tiebreaker at level 9 — they don't otherwise affect play (but they do count in the leaderboard on the website).

The heart of the game: 2s and 3s are jokers — or themselves

Every 2 and 3 has two identities at once:

1. It is a joker (wild) that can stand in for any card.
2. It is its own real card — ♥3 is also a perfectly ordinary three of hearts.

When does the card count as a joker? Only when it is used as a substitute for another card — another rank, or (in a straight) another suit than its own. Then it draws on the level's joker budget.

When is the card free (real)? When it is used as its own value in the right suit. The straight ♥3 ♥4 ♥5 ♥6 contains a real three in the three slot — 0 jokers used, and therefore a valid level 1 straight.

Note: once a joker has been laid down on the table, it locks to the card it represents — which matters for donating (see § 7).

The meld types

Aces in straights: The ace can be used both low (position 1, before the 2) and high (position 14, after the king) — and a run can in fact have aces at both ends (… Q K A and A 2 3 … in the same run). But the run stops at the ace at each end: it can never "wrap around the corner" (no …K-A-2…), and no position can repeat.

Ace(low)  2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   J   Q   K   Ace(high)
   1      2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11  12  13    14

The level table

"Max wild" is the highest number of jokers (2/3 used as wild) allowed in the lay-down — you can always use fewer. Real 2s/3s in the right suit and rank don't count against the budget.

• A single number (e.g. "1") means at most that many jokers in total across the whole lay-down.
• "x + y" means the budget is split per group: max x in the straight and max y in the three of a kind (levels 5 and 8).
• Level 4 is special: max 2 jokers in total, max 1 per set, and at least one of the three sets must contain no joker at all.
• Cards minus max wild tells you the minimum number of real cards required — level 9, for instance, needs at least 5 real cards of the same suit in a row.

A round, step by step

Setup: All the decks are shuffled together into one shared deck. Each player gets 11 cards. The top card is turned over to start the discard pile. The player to the dealer's left goes first, and play proceeds clockwise. Each player plays against their own current level — players can be on different levels as the game goes on.

Every turn follows the same rhythm — always draw one card, always discard one card:

1. Draw 1 card — either from the face-down deck, or the top (visible) card of the discard pile. Only the top card may be taken; no digging allowed.
2. (Optional) Lay down your contract — if you have the complete combination for your level, you can lay it down in front of you. Partial lay-downs are not allowed: all or nothing, in one go, on your own turn.
3. (Optional) Donate — but only if you have already laid down your own contract (this turn or earlier). See the next section.
4. Discard 1 card onto the discard pile — that ends your turn.

Donating

Once you have laid down your own contract, you can on later turns (or that same turn) play loose cards from your hand onto any laid-down melds on the table — your own or anyone else's. You can donate as many cards as you want and are able to. That's how you shed your cards and get to "go out".

• On a straight: the card must continue the run in the same suit, at one of the ends. A clubs straight 4-5-6-7 can be extended with ♣3 or ♣8 — and onward down toward ♣A (low) or up toward ♣A (high), but never past an ace.
• On a set (three of a kind / X of a kind): the card must have the same rank; the suit doesn't matter. If an opponent has laid down 8-8-8, you can donate your 8s there.
• Donated jokers (2/3 as wild) must represent a valid card that actually continues the meld, and lock to that value.

End of the round and penalty points

The round ends immediately when a player gets rid of every card in their hand — no matter whether the last card went via a discard, a donation or the lay-down itself. Whoever went out scores 0 penalty points. Everyone else scores penalty points for the cards they're left holding:

2s and 3s are always worth 20 points in hand — they are jokers, no matter what you were planning to use them for. Penalty points accumulate throughout the whole game.

Safety valve: impossible rounds

Cards laid down on the table are out of circulation for the rest of the round. In rare cases that makes the round impossible to finish: none of the players still waiting to lay down can ever complete their level. When that happens, the round ends automatically without anyone going out — those who had laid down move up as normal, everyone scores penalty points for their cards, and the next round is dealt.

Level progression

• Each player moves up individually: if you laid down your contract during the round, you go up one level for the next round.
• If you didn't make it, you stay on the same level and try again.
• Several players can move up in the same round — everyone who laid down advances.
• The game continues round after round until someone completes level 9.

The deck and the discard pile

If the deck runs empty, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new deck (the top card may stay behind to start a new discard pile). In other words, the discard pile is only recycled once the deck is completely empty — every card goes into circulation before old cards come back into play.

Examples

Level 1 (straight of 4, 0 jokers): ♠5 ♠6 ♠7 ♠8 is valid. ♥2 ♥3 ♥4 ♥5 is also valid — here the 2 and the 3 are real cards in the right suit, not jokers. ♠5 ♥6 ♠7 ♠8 is invalid (not the same suit).

Level 4 (3× three of a kind, max 2 wild, at least one real set): 7-7-7 (fully real) · K-K-[2 as wild] · 5-5-[3 as wild] — three sets, two jokers spread one per set, and the first set is clean. Valid.

Level 7 (straight of 7, max 3 wild): ♥5 ♥6 [wild=♥7] ♥8 ♥9 [wild=♥10] [wild=♥J] — seven in a row in hearts with three jokers. Valid, just inside the budget.

Donating: You have laid down the level 1 straight ♣4 ♣5 ♣6 ♣7 and are holding ♣8, ♣3 and ♣K. You can then donate ♣8 (continuing upward) and ♣3 (a real three continuing downward in clubs). The ♣K can be donated onto someone else's laid-down set of kings, if one exists on the table.

Glossary

Wondering what this looks like in practice? The beginner's guide walks you through your first rounds, and the strategy pages help you start winning. The game also has a built-in interactive tutorial.

These rules describe the game as it is today on upto9.no.