Ontario is a game for 5 players, played for a wager. It’s a quick and light game, with just a
little strategy and a little luck. If you don't have 5 players, ‟dummy” hands can stand in. Each
player tries to assemble two or three matching cards, and the highest ranked hand wins.
The Wager
At the start of the hand, each player wagers one chip, dollar, fortune cookie, candy, household chore
voucher, item of clothing... whatever you’d like to play for.
If you have more than 5 players, you can rotate who plays each hand. Take turns playing as
dealer, and deal to the next 5 players to your right. Players sitting out can make side bets, or
just eat snacks.
The Deal
The dealer shuffles the pack and deals two cards to each player. The pack consists of 22 cards in
4 suits: 3s, Jacks, Queens, Kings, Aces, and two Jokers.
After dealing two cards to each player, the dealer lays five cards face down in the center of the
table. Two cards are set aside in the pit.
The Exchange
Starting with the player to the dealer’s right, players have the opportunity to exchange
for cards in the center. First the player chooses how many cards they’d like to exchange. That can
be 0, 1, or both of their cards. They discard the chosen cards face up, revealing them to the table.
Then they choose that many face down cards and add them to their hand.
There are 5 players, and 5 face down cards, but a player can exchange two cards if they
want. And you must take face down cards from the table. This can cause some problems for
players at the end of the line. If there is only one face down card on the table, then you only get
to exchange one card. If there are no face down cards, no exchange, sorry. (If you play with a
separate dealer, pass a button around and rotate who exchanges first.)
If you’re playing with dummy hands, just have them discard one of their cards randomly, and take
the leftmost card from the table.
The Upcard
After the players have finished exchanging cards, the dealer deals each player one last card.
Traditionally this last card is dealt face up; this allows others in the room to place side bets
based on the exchanges and upcards. In a casual game it doesn’t really matter. At this point all of
the cards should be dealt out, except for the two in the pit.
The Ranking
Hands are ranked as follows:
- Triple Threes
- A natural hand of three 3s is the highest-ranking hand.
- Natural Triples
- Three matching cards without a Joker.
- Wild Triples
- Two matching cards, plus a Joker.
- Natural Pairs
- Two matching cards, no Joker.
- Wild Pairs
- A Joker paired with any other card.
A natural pair or triple is formed without a Joker. A wild pair or triple
uses a Joker to complete the set.
If two players have a hand with the same ranking, the ranking of their pair or triple breaks the
tie. Aces are high, followed by King, Queen, Jack, then Three. Note that while a natural triple
three is the highest hand, a wild triple three is ranked lower than any other wild triple.
If two players have pairs of the same rank, it is a draw, and they split the pot. You do not
use the off card to break the tie.
If, somehow, nobody manages to form a scoring hand... just add more to the wager for the next
round.
Variants
Ontario Poker — After upcards have been dealt, you can add a round of calling, raising,
and folding to make the game play more like a Hold 'Em Poker game. You could also insert a round of
betting before the exchange, but that can lead to a lot of early folding.
Ontario Grand — This variation uses a full 52-card pack, plus two Jokers. Deal four cards
to each player. Make three piles of ten cards. The first two piles will be used for the Exchange
rounds, and the last pile will be used to deal two upcards to each player. You should have four
cards left over. Place those on the table face up to start the discard pile. Spread the discards so
that all discards remain visible throughout the game.
Player 1 exchanges as many cards as they'd like by discarding face up, and then drawing that many
from the first exchange pile. When the pile gets low, the later players will have a limited ability
to exchange, as in the base game. After the first round of exchanges, set aside any leftover cards
from the first exchange pile face down. Then do another round of exchanges using the second pile of
ten cards, starting with player 5 and working back to player 1.
After the second round of exchanges is complete, each player gets 2 upcards from the final pile,
giving a total of 6 cards per player. Sets of four are possible in the Grand game. The ranking of
hands is Natural Quadruplet, Wild Quadruplet, Natural Triple, Wild Triple, Natural Pair, Wild Pair.
We don't typically treat the 3s specially in the Grand game.
The Grand game ends up revealing a large number of cards by the end of the game, which can make
the decisions about what to discard more interesting. It can of course also be turned into a Poker
variant by adding betting rounds, perhaps after each exchange round and after upcards.