How to Play the Spoons Card Game | Complete Guide
What is the Spoons Card Game
Spoons is a fun, fast-paced (and sneaky), card game where players race to form sets of four matching numbers and not miss out on grabbing a spoon. Like musical chairs, there’s one fewer spoon than players, so one person will be left without a spoon and lose each round. Once a player forms a set of four cards, they may grab a spoon and be safe for the round. Once the first spoon is taken, the spoons are now open to all, and the other players race to grab the remaining spoons. Player’s attention is divided between forming sets of four cards and watching to see if other players grab spoons. Get too focused on your cards and you may be left without a spoon and lose the round. It’s also fun to be sneaky when you grab your spoon to see how long it takes other players to notice.
Objective
The goal of Spoons is to be the last player remaining in the game by grabbing a spoon in every round, either by forming a set of four matching cards and being the first person to grab a spoon, or by grabbing a spoon quickly after the first player gets their spoon.
Number of Players
The spoons card game can be played with 3 or more players, but is best played with 3-4 players.
If you play groups larger than 4, you should consider adding additional decks of cards so there are enough cards to go around between the player’s hands and draw piles. We recommend 2 decks for 6-10 players and 3 decks for 10-15 players.
Playing time
A typical game of Spoons with 4 players takes 5-10 minutes, with each round taking about 2-3 minutes.
*In the variation where players are not eliminated each round and instead are just penalized with one letter of the word SPOONS per lost round, the game will take 40-60 minutes for a group of 4. See variations section below for more details.
What you need / equipment
- Standard deck of playing cards
- 1 fewer spoons than number of players (e.g. 2 spoons for 3 players, 3 spoons for 4 players, etc)
Skills
The Spoons card game is not only fun, but also builds important skills:
- Math: number identification to form matching number sets
- Fine motor skills: constant drawing of the deck, holding cards, placing cards in discard pile, and grabbing spoons
- Focus & multitasking: Players must draw cards, analyze their own hands, and discard, all while monitoring other players who might be grabbing spoons.
Age
The Spoons card game is great for kids Kindergarten and up. It’s also fine for younger kids that have basic number identification skills as they’ll need to form matching number sets of four cards.
Why we like the spoons game for kids
Kids build skills (math, social skills, fine motor, focus, etc), all while having fun with a fast-paced, simple to understand game.
Kids like the Spoons game for 3 reasons:
- Fast paced: Once play is started, you’re moving as fast as you can.
- Sneakiness: Kids really like being sneaky when they grab their spoon and pull one over on the other players while they mistakenly continue to play.
- Excitement of urgency: Once players realize it’s time to grab a spoon, there’s a lot of excitement around the urgency of grabbing a spoon and not being left out.
How to Play Spoons
1: Grab some spoons, a deck of cards, and gather 3 or more people
All you need to play the game of spoons is 3 or more people, 1 fewer spoons than number of players (e.g. 3 spoons for a four player game), and a standard deck of playing cards.
2: Set up the game by dealing 4 cards to each player and forming a draw pile
Form a circle of players where the players on either side of you are within reach, since you’ll be passing cards. Choose a dealer by any means (age, rock-paper-scissors, etc). Shuffle a 52 card deck without jokers, then deal 4 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards face down to the right of the dealer.
3: Begin play for the dealer by drawing, evaluating, passing a card, and repeating
Draw the top card from the deck
The dealer draws a card from the top of the main draw deck, which is face down.
Evaluate the card
The dealer will evaluate the drawn card, with a goal of forming a set of 4 matching numbers (e.g. four 7s).
Pass a card to the left
The dealer will then pass one of their cards face down to their left to form a draw pile for the next player. The discarded can be either the drawn card or they can keep the drawn card and discard a card that was already in their hand.
Repeat
The dealer can move as quickly as they can through the deck repeating the process above; they don’t need to wait for other players to play. If they are playing faster than the player to their left, they can continue passing cards face down to form a draw pile for the player to the left.
4: Continue play for additional players by drawing, evaluating, passing a card, and repeating
Draw the top card from their draw deck
Each successive player will draw the top card from the deck that is forming to their right.
Evaluate the card
Similar to how the dealer played, they will evaluate the drawn card with the goal of forming a set of four matching numbers.
Pass a card to the left
They will also pass a card face down to their left to form a draw pile for the next player. The card will either be the drawn card, or one that was already in their hand.
Note: The last player (person to the right of the dealer) discards into a pile to their left that is separate from the dealer’s draw pile and these cards are not drawn by the dealer.
Repeat
Players will repeat the process above of drawing a card, evaluating, and discarding to their left.
5: Form a set of 4 matching numbers and grab a spoon
Once any player has formed a set of four matching numbers, they can grab a spoon from the center and be safe for the round. Players can choose to grab it loud and obviously, or quiet and sneakily.
One of the fun things about being sneaky is that you can watch and see how long it takes other players to realize that the first spoon has been grabbed.
6: Grab the remaining spoons
As soon as the first spoon has been grabbed, all other players race to grab the remaining spoons. Usually, this happens as quickly as possible, but you can also be sneaky if you don’t think other players have noticed.
7: Eliminate the player who didn’t get a spoon
There is one fewer spoon than the number of players. So whoever didn’t grab a spoon during the round is eliminated.
8: Remove a spoon and continue the next round
Before the next round is played, remove one of the spoons so there continues to be 1 fewer spoons than players.
9: Continue play for additional rounds until only one player remains and declare a winner
Play will continue until there is one player remaining. A game of 4 players will last 3 rounds and take 5-10 minutes.
How to play Spoons card game video
Spoons Game Rules
- When drawing, only 1 new card may be evaluated at a time. Players must discard a card to get back down to 4 cards before drawing another card. So players have either 4 or 5 cards in their hand at a time. 4 to start and after a discard. And five when evaluating a drawn card.
- Players can draw and discard as fast as they’re able, as long as there are cards in their draw pile. They don’t need to wait for other players to play their turns.
- If the deck cycles all the way through and runs out, continue playing until all the cards are in the discard pile to the right of the dealer, then shuffle them and begin play again with the dealer.
- If grab spoon w/o 4-of-a-kind, lose round and earn a letter (note: i think it’s kind of a cool loophole if they don’t have 4 of a kind, but draw to it before anyone else notices)
Spoons Variations
Multi-round elimination by spelling out “SPOONS” or other words
A popular version of the Spoons game is to play a multi-round elimination. Instead of a player being eliminated each round, like we’ve outlined above, the loser of each round is penalized with a single letter of the word “SPOONS” (or other word) and isn’t eliminated until they’ve spelled the full word. Play then continues until all but one player have been eliminated.
We like this version as well, just understand that the game play will be much longer at around 40-60 minutes. For example, a typical game of this variation of spoons with four players will be 18 rounds (6 letters of SPOONS x 3 players) to 23 rounds ((6 letters of SPOONS x 3 players) + (1 player x 5 letters of SPOON)). Each round is approximately 2-3 minutes. So that range is 36-69 minutes.
Longer or shorter play of multi-round elimination
Instead of spelling out SPOONS in the variation example above, you can lengthen or shorten game play by picking longer or shorter words. SPOON or CAT would shorten the game, while a word like DINNERTIME would lengthen it.
Put spoons further away instead of in the middle of the table
If you want to add a little excitement and exercise, consider putting the spoons in another room. Players will have to race to the other room to grab the spoons.
Use other patterns of four
Spoons is a game of matching sets of four. Once you build the framework for this game with the standard version, you can mix in other matching cards, such as phonics patterns, more advanced math (ten frames, addition, etc). Just be aware that the longer the evaluation of a single card is, the slower the game play will be.
Tongues out
Instead of playing by grabbing spoons, when a set of four is achieved, the player can stick out there tongue, and then other players race to sitck out there ton. This makes the game sneakier because it’s easier to be stealthy sticking out your tongue, and players have to look at other players faces, not just the spoons. Also, it’s kind of funny that the last player has everyone sticking their tongues out at them. However, it’s also not quite as clear the order that tongues were stuck out when it happens fast. When you’re grabbing spoons, it’s clear who has it and who doesn’t.
Remove face cards and play A-10
For younger players, you can make the game simpler by removing face cards and just playing A-10 (with Ace being a 1). This also helps reinforce the numbers 1-10 for number sense skills.
Spoons FAQs
How many cards do you start with in spoons?
All players start with four cards in the spoons card game. Throughout the game, players will draw a 5th card, evaluate it, then discard it to get back to four cards.
Do you play spoons with 4 or 5 cards?
In the game of spoons, your hand will fluctuate between 4 and 5 cards. You are dealt 4 cards, then draw a 5th card to evaluate it, then discard 1 card to get down to 4 cards.
Do you need two decks of cards for spoons?
You only need one deck of cards for a spoons game with 3-5 players. Between 6-10 players, you should add a second deck of cards. For 11-15 players, you should add a third deck of cards.
Can’t you play spoons with up to 13 players with a single deck of cards?
Oddly, we’ve seen a number of tutorials say that you can play spoons with up to 13 people, since every player only needs 4 cards and there are 52 cards in a deck (4 x 13 = 52). However, if you do that, there are no cards left to draw or discard! Even with fewer players, like 10, a single deck makes for poor game play as there isn’t enough of a buffer for discard piles to form and you end up waiting for other players more often. We recommend adding a second deck for 6-10 players, and adding a third deck for 11-15 players.
Can 2 people play spoons?
Spoons is best with three or more players. When you go down to two players, you lose some of the fun game play mechanics. The only goal is to be the first player to form the set of four cards and there’s no race to grab the spoons after seeing the first person get their spoon.
Do you use jokers in spoons?
Jokers are not used in the spoons card game.
How do you win at spoons?
To win at spoons, you need to make sure you’re one of the players who gets a spoon each round (1 person won’t). One player is eliminated each round until there is only one player remaining, who is declared the winner.
There are two ways to get a spoon, and you can apply strategies to each:
1: Be the first to get a matching set of four numbers: To increase your odds of getting four matching cards, you should:
- Play as fast as possible: the more cards you cycle through, the better chance you have a forming a set
- Diversify by getting 2 pairs if they become available: Once you have your first pair, if an opportunity to take a second pair comes up before you get a triple of the other, take it! You’ve now doubled your chances of getting a 3rd card for your set!
2: Grab a spoon quickly after another player grabs theirs: To increase your chances of grabbing a spoon quickly, you should:
- Monitor other players closely: Many people focus too much on forming their sets and miss out on quickly grabbing a spoon after another player grabs a spoon. But you can actually win every round but the last without ever forming a set yourself. Don’t’ get so focused on your cards that you’re not watching other players.
