GAMEPLAY
The game starts when the designated Marshall (which rotates each turn) deals two cards to each player, face down and in the bunker. After each player has received their face-down bunker cards, the Marshall deals three more cards to each player's hand that only they will see. On each of a player’s “Shot”, a card is placed face-up in your Fairway, and one card is discarded face-up on the discard pile.
Here’s where the “Go Low” element of the game comes into play. The goal of the “Hole” is to create the strongest modified five-card poker hand in your Fairway using your three dealt cards in your hand and two face-down cards in the bunker. You’ll get five Shots to lay a card on the Fairway until you have all of your cards facing up.
You build the strongest poker hand by looking at your three cards and deciding which combination of cards has the opportunity to build the best card rankings.
Unique to Go Low, is that all numbered cards are at face value:
Kings and Queens are 10 | Jacks are 0 | and an Ace is 1.
For additional point totals, check out the Hand Scoring card in your game box.
The player has 3 options when beginning each Shot:
Option 1: Select a card from the discard pile to play as your Shot into the fairway
Option 2: Draw a face-down card from the draw pile and determine if you want it to be your Shot
If the card drawn from the discard or draw pile is selected, it is IMMEDIATELY played in the fairway, and either a face-up card from the player’s hand or a face-down card from the player’s bunker is discarded.
Option 3: If a player chooses NOT to take a card from the Discard pile or the Draw pile, either a dealt card from the player’s hand or, if you’re feeling lucky, a face-down card from the player’s Bunker is played as your Shot in the fairway
Bunker cards are never seen until they are played into the Fairway or discarded face-up into the discard pile.
When all five cards are face-up in the Fairway for every player, the Hole is complete and can be scored.
PLAY STYLES
There are 4 play styles to choose from when playing Go Low or Go Home, 2 are match play, and 2 are stroke play:
Match Play Hole by Hole
In this version, the gameplay can be as short as one Hole, or players can choose to play as many as they want, with the lowest score being the winner.
Match Play with Positional Scoring for Designated 9 or 18 “Holes”
This tournament competition consists of comparing hand scores after each Hole and assigning a positional score of first, second, third, or fourth place.
Stroke Play with No Handicap (Pro)
No mulligans for those brave enough to compete with this gameplay option. This competition uses cumulative scoring based on the raw score achieved. Scores can rise substantially when players miss a straight, a flush, or an attempted full house. Blow-up holes can and do happen in stroke play with no handicap.
Stroke Play with Handicap (Amateur)
This competition introduces a “Snowman card”. Every player receives a Snowman at the start of the round. When played, this card limits a player’s overall score on a Hole to an 8, otherwise known as a snowman. To use the Snowman, the card must be used before drawing the fifth and final Shot.
The deck of cards also includes two optional, “Multi-Suited Jacks”. The Multi-Suited Jack is not wild, but this Jack goes with everything™, allowing two more chances for a flush, three or four of a kind jacks, and as part of a straight.
So now that you know how to play, it’s time to Go Low, or Go Home.
