How to Play Garbage
How to Play Garbage
Garbage, also called Trash or Ten, is a quick sequencing game where you race to uncover and arrange cards from Ace through 10. You need a normal deck of cards, and you can find a regular deck of playing cards from Playmore. This guide uses one common version of the rules; house rules can vary.
Quick facts
| Players | Cards | Goal | Typical age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2–4 | One deck for 2; two decks for 3–4 | Fill your spaces Ace–10 | About 8+ |
What you are trying to do
Your goal is to complete a row of ten positions in order: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The positions begin face down, so you do not know what cards you will uncover. On each turn, you try to put a useful card into its matching position and then use the card you uncover to keep the chain going. The first player to fill all ten positions wins that hand.
Garbage is mostly a luck game, but you still make small choices. You decide whether to take the top card from the stock pile, which is the face-down draw pile, or the top card of the discard pile, the face-up pile beside it. You also watch for chances to replace a wild Jack with the number card it is standing in for.
What you need
Use one standard 52-card deck for two players. For three or four players, shuffle two standard decks together so the stock pile does not run out too quickly. Aces count as 1, and cards 2 through 10 keep their printed numbers. Jacks are wild, meaning they can stand for a missing number. Queens and Kings cannot be placed in a regular numbered position and end your turn when you draw or uncover them.
You may also want paper or a notes app if you plan to play several hands. The simplest game needs no score: just keep playing hands until one player reaches the final one-card layout.
Set it up
Choose a dealer and shuffle the cards. Deal ten cards face down to each player. Each player places their cards in two rows of five, keeping the cards in the same positions throughout the hand. Do not peek at them. Imagine the spaces labeled like this from left to right across the first row and then the second row: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Put the unused cards face down in the middle as the stock pile. Leave room beside it for a discard pile. The player to the dealer’s left goes first, and play moves clockwise. In later hands, the winner of the previous hand starts.
How to play
- Draw one card. On your turn, take either the top card of the stock pile or the top card of the discard pile. The discard pile’s top card is available because it was the most recently discarded card.
- Place a numbered card. If you draw an Ace through 10, put it face up in the matching space. For example, a 6 belongs in the sixth space. Remove the face-down card that was there and turn it face up.
- Continue the chain. Look at the card you just uncovered. If it is an available number, place it in its own matching space. The face-down card in that space is then uncovered, and you keep going. A number is available when its matching space is still face down or currently holds a face-up Jack.
- Use a Jack when helpful. Put a Jack face up in any still face-down space. It acts as the number needed in that position. When you place a Jack in a face-down space, turn the card it displaces face up and continue the chain by placing that card if its matching space is available; the Jack stays in the original space until a matching number replaces it. If you later uncover that number, place the number in its matching space and move the Jack to another face-down space, where it becomes a new wild card. A Jack cannot replace a face-up numbered card.
- End an unsuccessful turn. If you uncover a Queen or King, or a numbered card whose matching space already contains that number, you cannot place it. Put it face up on top of the discard pile, and your turn ends. The next player then draws.
- Keep cards in their positions. You never rearrange the ten spaces. Cards move only when a newly drawn or uncovered card can legally take a position, or when a Jack is displaced by the number it was representing.
- Recycle the stock if necessary. If the face-down stock runs out, leave the top discard card where it is. Shuffle the rest of the discard pile to make a new stock pile. This is uncommon in a small game, but it keeps play moving.
How you win
The moment all ten spaces contain the correct face-up cards, you win the hand. To play the longer version, deal again, but the hand winner gets one fewer position. Their new layout needs only Ace through 9, so the 10 space is removed. After another win, that player needs Ace through 8, and so on. The game ends when a player has only one position left and fills it with an Ace or a Jack. That player wins the whole game.
For a shorter first session, agree that the first player to win one hand is the overall winner. You can also play a fixed number of hands and declare the player with the smallest remaining layout the winner.
Easy first-game tips
First, remember that the space matters more than the suit. A 4 belongs in the 4 space whether it is hearts, clubs, diamonds, or spades. Second, take a discard only when it fits an open space or can replace a Jack. Otherwise, drawing from the stock gives you another chance without wasting the useful discard for the next player.
When you uncover a Jack, place it where it can protect a difficult position, but do not worry about finding a perfect spot. The biggest advantage is keeping your chain alive. Finally, say the position names quietly as you play: “Ace, two, three…” This helps you avoid putting a card one space away from where it belongs.
Quick questions
Are suits important in Garbage?
No. Suits do not affect placement. Only the card’s number matters, with an Ace treated as 1.
Can I take any card from the discard pile?
No. You may take only the top card, not a card buried underneath it. If you take it, you must try to use it immediately or discard it if it cannot be placed.