Playing the Game

There are 4 sides to the Jacks

 Back side (‘dos’ in French )

 Front side (‘creux’ in French)

 Straight edge  (i in French)

 Curved side  (“s” in French)

Up to 4 players can play.

The first player picks up all 5 jacks and throws them on the floor or play area, trying to keep them in a small area but not too bunched up that they can be manipulated and picked up during play.

The player chooses one jack to be used as the ‘ball’ to be thrown into the air while manipulating and gathering the remaining jacks on the ground.

Like in regular jacks, the player goes from ‘onesies’ to ‘foursies‘ for each side of the jack.

 Example of play

Example Complete all 4 ‘onesies’ (1-Back, 1-Front, 1-Straight, 1-Curved)

(In French, 1-dos, 1-creux. 1-i, 1-s).

1 – Complete ‘onesies’:  1-Back  (French 1-dos) - Pick up Jacks 1 by 1 (individually) after turning them to the Back-side.

The player throws 5 Jacks on the ground and picks-up one to be used as the ball. This one is preferably not showing the Back (round) face. If any Jack on the ground shows the Back face up, then the player throws the ‘ball’ in the air and picks-up one Jack with the Back side facing up, while catching the ball before it hits the ground. The player looses his/her turn if the ball hits the ground or if he fails to pick up all the Jack in the sweep.

If the Jacks are showing sides other than Back, the player must flip each Jack to the correct side (Back in this case) before picking it up. The player can flip and pick-up the Jack one by one.

After all 4 Jacks have been picked-up one by one, this ‘onesies’ round is completed and the player advances to the next round which is ‘twosies’.

2 – Complete ‘twosies’:  2-Back  (French 2-dos) - Pick up Jacks in groups of 2 by 2 after turning them to the Back-side.

The player throws 5 Jacks on the ground and picks-up one to be used as the ball. This one is preferably not showing the Back (round) face. The player must flip and align the Jacks to show the Back face up. The player then throws the ‘ball’ in the air and picks-up 2 Jacks at a time without fumbling, while catching the ball before it hits the ground.

The player looses his/her turn if the ball hits the ground or if he fails to pick up the 2 Jacks in the sweep. The next 2 Jacks are then picked up to complete the ‘twosies’.

After all 4 Jacks have been picked-up one by one, this ‘onesies’ round is completed and the player advances to the next round which is ‘twosies’.

3 – Complete ‘threesies’:  3-Back  (French 3-dos) - Pick up Jacks in groups of 3 by 3 after turning them to the Back-side.

Same a above except that the Jacks are picked up in groups of 3 Jacks and then 1 Jacks (or 1 Jack and the 3 Jacks).

4 – Complete ‘foursies’:  4-Back  (French 4-dos) - Pick up all 4 Jacks in one sweep after turning them to the Back-side.

Same as above except that all 4 Jacks are picked up in one sweep.

5 - Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 are then repeated for the remaining sides (Front, Straight and Curved) (In French: creux, i and s).

6 – Complete the House Run (in French: Ritournelle).

After a player completes all rounds for all 4 sides, a House Run must be completed to finish the game.

The player throws 5 Jacks on the ground and picks-up one to be used as the ball.

The player must flip and align the remaining 4 Jacks to show each of the faces, one Back, one Front, one Straight and one Curved.  The player then throws the ‘ball’ in the air and picks-up 4 Jacks in one sweep without fumbling, while catching the ball before it hits the ground.