How to play Hej-Joe
A fast card game for 2–8 players. Lowest score wins.
Objective
Keep your total score as low as possible across multiple rounds. Win the game by being the first to hit exactly 50 or 100 points — or be the player with the lowest score when someone exceeds the target.
Setup
- –Each player receives 12 cards arranged face-down in a 4-column, 3-row grid.
- –At the start of each round, every player flips 2 of their cards face-up.
- –The player with the highest sum of their 2 starting face-up cards goes first.
- –One card is dealt face-up to start the discard pile; the rest form the draw pile.
A turn
1. Draw a card
Take the top card from the draw pile (hidden), or take the top card from the discard pile (visible).
2. Use the card
You have two options:
- A.Swap it with any card in your grid (even a face-down one). The replaced card goes to the discard pile and the new card is face-up.
- B.Discard it, then flip one of your own face-down cards face-up.
Column elimination
When all 3 cards in a column are face-up and have the same value, that column is immediately removed from the game. The 3 cards are added to the discard pile (on top), making the value visible for the next player.
End of a round
The round ends when a player has all remaining cards face-up. Every other player gets exactly one more turn, then all cards are revealed and scored.
After scoring, review your cards and press Ready when you're done. The next round then starts.
Scoring
Each card scores its face value:
Winning the game
- –The game ends when a player's total score hits or exceeds the target (default: 100).
- –If a player hits exactly 50 or exactly 100, they win immediately — regardless of others' scores.
- –Tie-break: a score of 50 beats 100. If still tied, the player with the lower round score in the last round wins. If still equal, it's a shared win.
- –Otherwise, the player with the lowest total when the game ends wins.