Rules to Play Garbage Card Game

Ten face-down cards in two rows, places ace to 10, jacks wild: fill every place first.

1: Shuffle one 52-card deck. Deal ten cards to each player, face down.Nobody looks at their cards, now or later.
2: Lay your ten cards in two rows of five, still face down.The top row is places ace to 5, left to right. The bottom row is places 6 to 10.
3: Stack the rest of the deck face down in the middle as the stock.A discard pile will grow face up beside it.
4: On your turn, draw the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile.The first player of a round has only the stock to draw from.
5: An ace to 10 goes face up in its own place. Pick up the face-down card that was there.An ace is place one. A 7 goes second in the bottom row.
6: Look at the card you picked up and place it the same way. Keep going.One draw can fill several places in a row.
7: A jack is wild: put it face up in any place that still holds a face-down card.Then pick up the card from that place and carry on.
8: A queen, a king or a number whose place is already face up ends your turn.Put that card face up on the discard pile. The next player may take it.
9: The first player with all ten places face up wins the round.A round is not the game: the winner now plays with one card fewer.

Next step More card games for two players

How it works

Garbage, also called Trash or Ten, is a card game of almost pure luck for two or more players. Nobody sees their own cards until a draw turns them up, and each round the winner plays with one card fewer.

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Instructions on how to play the card game Garbage

A turn is a chain. Say you draw a 4: it goes face up in place four, and the card that lay there comes into your hand. If that card is a 9, it goes to place nine and frees another. The chain breaks on a queen, a king or a number you already have.

Wild cards and shrinking rounds

Jacks are wild in both rule sources. Wild cards and table rulings has the table rule that makes kings wild in their place. Winning a round costs you a place: nine cards next time, then eight, down to a single card for the last round.

Look at the discard pile before the stock. Take its top card whenever that card's place is still face down in your layout.

Questions and answers

How do you play the Trash card game?

Trash and Garbage are one game. Deal ten cards face down in two rows of five. Draw a card, put it face up in its place from ace to 10, then place the card it replaced. The first full layout wins the round.

Can 5 people play the card game Trash?

Yes. Five or six players shuffle three decks together so the stock does not run out. Three or four players use two decks, and two players need only one.

Which cards are wild in the Garbage card game?

Jacks. A jack can sit in any place that is still face down, and it moves when the real card turns up. Queens and kings end your turn. Some tables make kings wild, with jacks and queens ending the turn.

How do you win when playing the card game Garbage?

Win a round by filling your layout first. Each round you win, you are dealt one card fewer. The first player down to a single place who fills it with an ace or a jack wins the game.

All 31 rows

Standard game (two players, one deck) 9

1: Shuffle one 52-card deck. Deal ten cards to each player, face down. Nobody looks at their cards, now or later.
2: Lay your ten cards in two rows of five, still face down. The top row is places ace to 5, left to right. The bottom row is places 6 to 10.
3: Stack the rest of the deck face down in the middle as the stock. A discard pile will grow face up beside it.
4: On your turn, draw the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. The first player of a round has only the stock to draw from.
5: An ace to 10 goes face up in its own place. Pick up the face-down card that was there. An ace is place one. A 7 goes second in the bottom row.
6: Look at the card you picked up and place it the same way. Keep going. One draw can fill several places in a row.
7: A jack is wild: put it face up in any place that still holds a face-down card. Then pick up the card from that place and carry on.
8: A queen, a king or a number whose place is already face up ends your turn. Put that card face up on the discard pile. The next player may take it.
9: The first player with all ten places face up wins the round. A round is not the game: the winner now plays with one card fewer.

Show all 31 rows (22 more)

Shrinking rounds and winning the game 8

1: Shuffle and deal again. The winner of the round gets nine cards, not ten. Everyone else is dealt ten again.
2: With nine places there is no place ten, so a 10 now ends the winner's turn. It is discarded like a queen or a king.
3: Each round you win takes one more place away: eight, then seven, and so on. Lay a shorter layout in the same order, starting from the ace.
4: The winner of a round plays first in the next one. Some tables pass the first turn one seat to the left in place of that.
5: Down to one place? Fill it with an ace or a jack to win the whole game. Any other card ends the turn.
6: A whole game is ten winning rounds for one player. Our count: one win for each layout from ten places down to one.
7: For a shorter game, the first player to get down to six places wins. Agree on the number before the first deal.
8: Or play a set number of rounds. The smallest layout wins. A set playing time works the same way.

Three to six players 6

1: Three or four players: shuffle two decks together. The extra cards keep the stock from running out.
2: Five or six players: shuffle three decks together. So five people can play. Add a deck for every two more players.
3: Every player gets a layout of ten places. Turns pass to the left. The player on the dealer's left starts the first round.
4: Only the top card of the discard pile can be taken. That is the card the player before you just threw away.
5: Stock used up? Shuffle the discard pile, apart from its top card, into a new stock. It is unlikely, but it can happen at a big table.
6: Not sure who deals? Everyone draws a card and the lowest deals. Then the deal passes to the left each round (ours).

Wild cards and table rulings 8

1: A jack can be moved. When the real card for its place turns up, the card takes the place. The jack then goes to any other place that is still face down.
2: A jack can be the card that wins a round: it may fill the last face-down place. In a layout of one place, an ace or a jack wins the game.
3: Kings wild: some tables make kings the wild cards. Then jacks and queens end the turn. Say which way before the deal.
4: All picture cards wild: jacks, queens and kings can each fill any place. Then only a number you already have, or one too high for your layout, ends a turn.
5: Jokers can be added as extra wild cards. Leave them out for the standard game.
6: An extra chance: when a round ends, the other players turn up their face-down cards. A player whose cards all turn out to lie in their right places also drops a card next round.
7: No peeking: a face-down card stays unseen until a card takes its place. A card looked at early is shuffled back into the stock and replaced (ours).
8: Placed a card in the wrong spot? Move it back before the next player draws (ours). Once the next turn has begun, the layout stands.

How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-10-09, in our own words. Garbage, also called Trash or Ten, is a traditional card game with no governing body. The standard game (one 52-card deck for two players, two decks for three or four, three for five or six; ten cards each, face down in two rows of five and not looked at; places for ace to 5 and for 6 to 10; a card drawn from the stock or taken from the top of the discard pile; each card put face up in its place and the card it replaces placed in turn; jacks wild; queens and kings ending the turn; one card fewer for the winner of each round; the game won by filling a layout of one place with an ace or a jack) was checked on 2026-10-09 against the page for Trash on the card game rules site Pagat, https://www.pagat.com/patience/trash.html, and against a second rules site, gamerules.com (its page for Trash). The two agree on every point above. Moving a jack, the new stock, the winner playing first, the shorter games, kings wild, every picture card wild, jokers and the extra chance at the end of a round are as Pagat gives them; the lowest card dealing and the player on the dealer's left starting are from the second site. Rows marked ours are this site's own suggestions and are not official. The page is written for ages 4 and up. It needs no boxed deck and nothing is played for a stake. Licence: own work