Overview
Beanie is a wild-card card game, similar to Rummy, for 2–4 players played over 13 rounds. Each round a different rank becomes the wild card — the Beanie. Play sets, steal Beanies, and get rid of your cards. The player with the lowest score after 13 rounds wins.
The Beanie (Wild Card)
The Beanie rank changes every round — Aces in round 1, 2s in round 2, all the way to Kings in round 13. Any card of that rank acts as a wild and can substitute for any card in a set.
RoundBeanie rank
Round 1Aces ★
Round 22s ★
Round 33s ★
Rounds 4–94s – 9s ★
Round 1010s ★
Round 11Jacks ★
Round 12Queens ★
Round 13Kings ★
Your Turn
1
Draw
Take the top card from the draw pile, or take the top card from the discard pile if you want it.
2
Play (optional)
Lay sets from your hand, add cards to sets on the table, or steal a Beanie from another player's set.
3
Discard
End your turn by placing one card face-up on the discard pile. If you've emptied your hand, the round ends.
Players take turns going first each round — Player 1 (the host) starts round 1, Player 2 starts round 2, and so on. The player who goes first starts with 8 cards; everyone else gets 7. The extra card counts as their draw, so they go straight to Play/Discard.
Can't go out on your first turn of each round — you must complete at least one full turn (draw → optional play → discard) before you can empty your hand to win.
Laying Sets
Select 3 or more cards from your hand and tap Lay Set. Two types are valid:
Match
3 or more cards of the same rank, each a different suit.
Q♠
♠Q♠
Q♥
♥Q♥
Q♦
♦Q♦
Run
3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit. Ace is always lowest (A–2–3…), King is highest.
5♦
♦5♦
6♦
♦6♦
7♦
♦7♦
8♦
♦8♦
Beanies in Sets
In a Match
A Beanie fills in for a missing suit. A badge shows exactly which card it represents — useful for knowing what card could steal it.
J♣
♣J♣
J♠
♠J♠
★J♥
Match or Run?
If your selected cards could form either a Match or a Run — for example one real card plus one or more Beanies — you'll be asked "How to play these cards?" and can choose the arrangement.
In a Run — gap Beanies
A Beanie filling a gap in the middle is automatically placed. Its position is fixed permanently.
3♦
♦3♦
★4♦
5♦
♦5♦
In a Run — end Beanies
A Beanie at the end of a run can extend in either direction. When you lay the set you'll be asked to choose which rank it represents.
★4♦
5♦
♦5♦
6♦
♦6♦
5♦
♦5♦
6♦
♦6♦
★7♦
Adding to Sets
Once you've laid at least one set of your own, you can add cards to any set on the table — yours or other players'.
1
Select a card (or cards) from your hand.
2
Tap the + button on an eligible set to add your card(s) to it.
For Runs: your card must extend the sequence at either end. A Match can hold at most 4 cards (one per suit) — the + button is hidden when a set is full.
Adding a Beanie to a Set
Once you've laid a set, you can place a Beanie from your hand onto any set on the table to extend it. Select just the Beanie card and tap the ★ button on a set.
M
Match
The Beanie is added as another card of that rank. A Match can hold at most 4 cards — the ★ button is hidden when all 4 are down.
R
Run
The Beanie extends the run by one card. If only one end is open you're placed automatically. If both ends are open, you'll be asked which rank the Beanie becomes.
Placing a Beanie on an opponent's run locks it in and makes their set harder to complete — a useful tactical move.
Stealing a Beanie
If you hold the real card that a Beanie is substituting for, you can steal the Beanie and use it yourself. The Steal Beanie ★ button only appears when you actually have a card capable of making a valid swap.
1
Tap Steal Beanie ★ — your eligible hand cards will glow with a gold ring.
2
Tap a glowing card from your hand to select it as the replacement.
3
Tap a pulsing ★ Beanie on the table to complete the swap. The Beanie comes to your hand; your card takes its place.
You must have already laid a set of your own before you can steal.
By default you can only steal from other players' sets — not your own. The host can enable Reclaim own Beanie in game settings to allow stealing back from your own sets.
Draw Pile Runs Out
If the draw pile is empty when it's your turn, the discard pile is automatically reshuffled (keeping the top card face-up) and becomes the new draw pile. The game continues without interruption.
Ending a Stalemate
If no one can make progress, any player can propose ending the round early.
1
During your action phase, tap End Round to cast your vote.
2
Other players see a notice and can agree on their own turn by tapping Agree to End Round.
3
When all players agree, the round ends as a draw — every player scores penalty points for their remaining hand. Nobody scores 0.
Changed your mind? Tap Cancel End Round vote to withdraw before everyone agrees.
Scoring
When a round ends, every player scores penalty points for cards still in their hand. The round winner scores 0. In a drawn round, everyone scores their hand — nobody gets 0.
CardPoints
2 – 9Face value
10, J, Q, K10 pts each
Ace1 pt
★ Beanie (held in hand)10 or 25 pts*
★ Round winner0 pts
After all 13 rounds, the player with the lowest total score wins.
* The Beanie in-hand penalty is 10 pts by default but the host can set it to 25 pts before the game starts.
Room & Controls
Game settings (host only)
Before starting, the host can configure the game on the Create room screen. Settings lock once the game starts and cannot be changed mid-game.
- Turn timer — 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 seconds per turn (default 60s)
- Lobby timer — 5, 10, or 15 minutes before the room expires (default 15m)
- Beanie in-hand value — 10 or 25 points if caught holding a Beanie at round end (default 10 pts)
- Reclaim own Beanie — when enabled, you can steal a Beanie back from your own sets on the table (off by default)
Lobby countdown
A room stays open for 5–15 minutes (set by the host, default 15m) before it expires. A countdown is shown in the lobby from the moment it's created — get everyone in and start before time runs out. If it expires, all players are returned to the home screen.
Turn timer & timeout
Each turn has a countdown timer (30 / 60 / 90 / 120 s, default 60 s — set by the host before the game starts). The timer appears in the top bar when it's your turn and turns red in the last 10 seconds.
If time runs out, the game acts for you automatically:
You'll see a "Turn timed out" notice on your screen — tap Got it to dismiss it. Other players see a brief notification and the game moves on automatically.
If time runs out, the game acts for you automatically:
- Haven't drawn yet — the game draws a card from the pile and immediately discards it. Your hand count stays the same.
- Already drawn — the drawn card is discarded for you.
You'll see a "Turn timed out" notice on your screen — tap Got it to dismiss it. Other players see a brief notification and the game moves on automatically.
Pause & resume (host only)
The host can pause the game at any time — tap Exit in the top-right corner, then choose Pause game. All players see a "Game paused" screen and the turn timer is suspended. The host can resume from the same overlay.
Sorting your hand
Use the Deal / A→K / ♠♥♦♣ toggle above your hand to sort cards. A→K sorts by rank (useful for spotting runs), ♠♥♦♣ sorts by suit then rank, and Deal returns to the original draw order.
Rules in-game
You can open this guide mid-game by tapping the (i) button in the top bar. A Back to game button lets you return without losing your place.
Sharing your results
On the Game Over screen, tap Share result for a text summary of the final standings, or switch to the Scorecard tab and tap Share scorecard to generate a round-by-round image. On mobile the native share sheet appears; on desktop it downloads as a PNG.
Quick Tips
- Lay sets early so you can add to the table and steal Beanies.
- Watch what others are building — steal a Beanie before they extend the run.
- Holding a Beanie is expensive (10–25 pts depending on host settings). Use it, place it on a set, or steal something with it.
- You can discard a Beanie if you really need to — but it's usually costly.
- Taking from the discard pile gives everyone a clue to what you're building — pick carefully.
- In later rounds (J, Q, K) the Beanies are high-value cards, so stealing pays off even more.
- If you're stuck and can't win, propose End Round to limit everyone's penalty points — don't let the round drag on forever.
- Use the suit-sort to group your hand by suit — the fastest way to spot what matches and runs are possible across your whole hand.