To win, you must get rid of all your cards or have the lowest sum of unmatched cards at the end of the game. THE PLAYīy drawing and discarding, players try to form their cards into spreads. A spread can be made of books and runs. Players will also try to discard their cards into existing spreads. Neither are paid, all cards are collected, shuffled, and a new hand is dealt.

If there is more than one player with a hand totaling 49 or 50 points it is a draw.

The hand is not played and the player with the tonk receives twice the stake from each player. If a player’s hand initially sums to 49 or 50 points they must declare it and show their cards, this is a tonk. The top card on the deck after each player has five cards is flipped to create the discard pile. The dealer passes each player five cards, one at a time, starting to their left. The deal passes to the left so new players must sit to the dealers right. To determine a dealer, each player receives one card, player with the highest card acts as dealer. Sometimes winners can win double the stake, this is called a tonk. Before beginning, players agree upon the foundational stake- this is the amount paid to the winner by each player. It is supposed to be a descendant of a Filipino card game “Tong-Its.” It was a popular card game among jazz players in the 1930s and 40s. Tonk, or Tunk as it is sometimes referred, is a knock rummy and conquian game from the United States.

OBJECTIVE OF TONK: Play all cards in hand or have the lowest value non-pair in hand at the end of the game in order to win the stake.

Card game scat instructions