The games described on this page involve dividing your hand into a number of 'Brag' hands of three cards, so that as many as possible of them will beat the corresponding three-card hands of your opponents. A point is scored by the winner of each three-card hand, and the first to an agreed target score wins the game. Unlike Three Card Brag, on which the hand patterns are based, Crash and the other games on this page are not high stake gambling games. They are usually played for a small amount of money, and there is no process of betting to raise the stake.
I am grateful to the many people who have contributed information about Crash, including: Bob Allison, David Calvert, Matt Daligan, Ben Hall, David Jennings, Robert Jones, Stephen Lowry, Allister Paterson, Peter Rollinson, Tom Valentine and Stephen Williams.
The game of Crash is also known as Thirteen Card Brag. It is played over a large part of the north of England and in Wales - I have reports ranging from Coventry and Burton-on-Trent in the south to Cumbria and Yorkshire in the north, from Welshpool and from South Wales; also one report from Plymouth and one from Edinburgh, where the game was known as Crackers. There are numerous variations in the rules. I will try to list all those I have collected, and would be interested in comments and in further reports of places where Crash is played and the versions in use.
Crash is essentially a four player game. It is played with a standard 52 card pack.
The first dealer is chosen at random. One method is to deal the cards around face up: the first player who receives a seven is the first dealer. The dealer shuffles, the player to dealer's right cuts, and the dealer deals out all the cards clockwise, one at a time, so that everyone has 13 cards. After the cards have been played and scored, the turn to deal passes to the left.
It is possible for three people to play. In this case four 13-card hands are still dealt: three to the players and one face-down spare hand. Starting with the player to dealer's left, each player in turn then has the option to discard their hand and take the spare hand in exchange (without first knowing what the spare hand contains). Some play that anyone exchanging for the spare hand must put an additional stake in the pool which will be taken by the eventual winner of the game.
If two people wish to play, there will be two spare hands, and each player may keep the hand they are dealt or exchange it sight unseen for one of the spares.
Each player divides their 13 cards into up to four three-card Brag hands, which are placed face down in front of the player in descending order from left to right. The card or cards remaining are set aside.
The valid three-card hands in descending order are:
For those unfamiliar with Brag hands, these combinations are explained in more detail at the end of this page.
Note that three unrelated cards - all different ranks, mixed suits and not consecutive - do not form a valid hand. Normally you arrange your 13 cards into four 3-card hands and discard the last card, but in some cases you be unable or unwilling to make as many as four valid hands from your 13 cards. In that case you just make as many hands as you wish - perhaps only two or three - and discard your remaining cards.
When all are ready, everyone reveals their leftmost 3-card hand (highest hand), and the best of these hands scores a point. Then everyone reveals their second hand and the best of the second hands again scores a point, then the same again for the third hands and the fourth hands.
It can happen that there is a tie for best hand - for example two players have equally high runs with different suits. This is called a stick-up or a stopper, and no one scores the corresponding point.
You must always place your 3-card hands in descending order from left to right. Anyone who places a better hand to the right of a worse hand (so unfairly increasing their chance of winning one of the later points) automatically loses the game. Also, if you make fewer than four hands, the hands that you do make must always compete for the earliest points - for example the first three points if you made three hands.
Different target scores are used in different places - some play to 7 points; some to 10, 11, 13 or even 21. The target score may be increased if there are fewer than 4 players - for example 4 players play to 11 points, two or three play to 15. In South Wales, the game is played to 12 points, but the leader must be 2 points ahead of the second placed player to win; if not, play continues until someone achieves a 2-point lead.
The winner is the first player to reach the target. This may happen before all the hands have been compared. For example, in a 7-point game, if two players have 6, and one of them wins the first (left) hand of the next deal, that player has won the game by reaching 7 first, even if the second player had the best of the second, third and fourth hands.
In some places the score is kept on paper. Sometimes a special peg-board is used: illustrated to the right are two designs for the 7-point game from Salford and Coventry; players start from the corners and the winner is the first to reach the centre hole. Some score on a cribbage board, each player using one of the four tracks, starting from one end, the aim of course being to reach the agreed target score first.
The winner of the game is paid by the other three players. Some use a fixed payment per game - such as 50p; others play that each pays the winner an amount (for example 1p or 2p) for each point that they are short of the target. In either case, some play that anyone who scored no points at all during the game must pay double. Some play that if all three opponents of the winner scored zero points, the payment for game is trebled.
A crash occurs when one player wins all four points in a deal. This is rewarded with an extra score, which should be agreed on before playing, because it varies from place to place.
Some play that a crash is only valid if the player announces it after everyone has set their hands, but before any cards are exposed. In this version of the game, a player who wins all four hands without having said 'crash' just scores four points towards the current game. The player attempting crash should check that everyone is ready before announcing it; no rearrangement of hands is allowed after the announcement. Again, there are various ways of scoring:
If a player reaches the target score before all four sets of hands have been compared, the game is over, and there can be no crash, even if the same player would have won the remaining hands. Therefore, in the version where you are paid extra for a successful announced crash, you should be careful not to announce it when you need 3 or fewer points to win: you would be certain to fail, as the game would end before you had won your four hands.
The following special hands are usually but not always recognised. The details should be agreed before playing.
Nine Card Brag can be played by up to five people. Everyone pays a stake to the pool and nine cards are dealt to each player.
If no one declares four of a kind or four pairs, each player divides their nine cards into three three-card Brag hands, placing the highest of these face down to their left, the lowest to their right and the middle hand between them. The left hands are exposed first, beginning with the player to dealer's left. Whoever has the best left hand begins exposing the middle hands, and whoever has the best of these begins exposing the right hands. Hands are always exposed in turn, going clockwise around the table. If there is a tie for best hand in any of the three rounds, the player who was first to expose the best hand wins that hand and is first to expose the next hand.
The ranking of Brag hands is as listed below, except that most play that the highest prial or is a set of nines, second is a set of aces, and other prials follow in the natural order: kings, queens, jacks, 10s, 8s, 7s, 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s. Fours of a kind rank in the same order as prials.
A set of three cards which are not a run, flush or pair can also be played as a hand, and if all players play this, the highest card wins (if two or more people have the same highest card, the second highest card is compared, and if these are also equal, the third card).
To win the pot, a player must win at least two hands of the three hands. If three players win one hand each, the game is "saved" - that is, the pot is carried over to the next deal, and each player must contribute a further stake to it.
Many play that the pot is only won if a single player wins or at least ties all three hands. In this version the order in which the hands are exposed is not significant. If the same players tie as winners of all three hands, or if no player is best or equal best in all three hands, no one wins and the pot is carried forward to the next deal, everyone adding another stake.
Some play that a prial of threes or a prial of sevens, rather than nines, is highest.
Some play that after looking at his hand, the dealer can decide to deal a tenth card to each player. Each player must then discard one card and the play proceeds as usual. This gives the dealer a slight advantage, in that the other players have no say over whether the tenth card is dealt.
Some play that if you consider you have no chance of winning you can call a "bum deal" and "pack" (i.e. throw in) your cards - this has no real effect on the game - the others play as usual, and you are entitled to play your cards rather than packing, however bad they are.
Some play that four pairs have priority over four of a kind.
Some play that a nine card running flush beats four of a kind.
Victor Wakefield reports a version in which two jokers are added to the pack, allowing six people to play. A joker can be used to represent a specific rank or a specific suit - so it can be used to make a prial or a run or a flush, but not a running flush. Between two otherwise equal hands, one made of natural cards beats one containing a joker. When used in a flush, the joker always counts as the lowest card of its suit - so for example 
7-4-joker beats 
7-3-2, which in turn beats 
7-3-joker.
In the six player game with two jokers, all the cards are dealt, but it is still possible to play the variant where the dealer can deal a tenth card as follows. If a player calls a "bum deal", then the dealer may shuffle that player's cards and deal one each to the remaining five players. These players each discard a card and the discards along with the undealt cards of the bum deal hand can be taken by the player who called the bum deal and played as a hand.
Some play that jokers are exactly equivalent to the card they substitute for - wild cards are not inferior to natural ones. So 10-9-8 and 10-joker-8 are equal hands the first exposed would win. Nevertheless, in this version, jokers cannot be used to claim the pot by making four of a kind - only a natural four of a kind wins outright.
Some play that declaring four pairs has priority over declaring four of a kind.
Nine-Card Brag is sometimes played for points, rather than with a pot for each deal. In that case the points scored in each deal are as follows:
A target number of points is set, and the player who first reaches or passes the target wins the pot. Alternatively a time limit can be set after which a fixed number of deals is played, for example "last 4 deals" could be called at 7.30 pm.
In this game a player cannot win the pot by saving the game. If a player achieves the highest score by saving the game in the last deal, another deal must be played.
In the point scoring version with a target score, some play that a player who has four of a kind can choose to peg six points or to set all the other players back six points.
Everyone contributes an agreed stake to the pot, and the dealer deals out 6 cards to each player, one at a time. If anyone has four cards of the same rank they declare this immediately and the best four of a kind wins.
If no one has four of a kind, each player divides their six cards into two three-card Brag hands, placing them face-down on the table with the higher on the left and the lower on the right. The player to dealer's left begins by exposing his left hand. The other players in turn either pass or expose their left hands. Whoever has the best left hand (or the first of these if there is a tie) then exposes his right hand. The other players in turn do the same or pass.
The ranking of Brag hands is as listed below, except that most play that the highest prial or is a set of sixes, second is a set of aces, and other prials follow in the natural order: kings, queens, jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, 7s, 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s. Fours of a kind rank in the same order.
A set of three cards which are not a run, flush or pair can also be played as a hand, and if all players play this, the highest card wins (if two or more people have the same highest card, the second highest card is compared, and if these are also equal, the third card).
If one player has the highest left hand and the highest right hand, or wins one of these and ties the other, or ties for best with both hands, that player wins the pot. If the same two players tie for best left hand and for best right hand then they split the pot equally between them. In any other case, no one wins, and the pot is carried forward to the next deal, everyone adding another stake.
Variation: some play that a six-card running flush - for example 3-4-5-6-7-8-9 of one suit - wins the hand, beating four of a kind.
This game is the same as Six Card Brag, except for the following.
The order of the possible three-card Brag hands, from highest to lowest, is as follows.
| Combination | Examples | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Prial | 3-3-3 A-A-A. . . 2-2-2 |
"Prial" - short for "pair royal" - is the name in Brag for a set of three cards of equal rank. The best is usually a prial of threes, though in some variations some other prial is best (this will be specified in the rules for the relevant game). The remaining prials follow in the rank order of the cards: A-A-A, K-K-K, Q-Q-Q, etc. down to 2-2-2, three twos being the lowest prial. |
| Running flush or Run on the bounce | 3-2-AA-K-Q . . . 4-3-2 |
A running flush is a set of three consecutive cards of the same suit. A run is a set of three consecutive cards of mixed suits. Although the ace is high, A-2-3 counts as a valid run - or a valid running flush if all the cards are the same suit. In fact A-2-3 is the highest run or running flush, A-K-Q of a suit is the second highest, then K-Q-J, and so on down to 4-3-2, which is the lowest. 2-A-K is not a valid run or running flush. Any running flush beats any run with mixed suits - so for example |
| Run | 3-2-AA-K-Q . . . 4-3-2 | |
| Flush | A-K-J . . . 5-3-2 |
A flush consists of three cards of the same suit - not all consecutive, or it would be a running flush. When comparing flushes, the highest card is compared first, then if these are equal the middle card, and finally if necessary the lowest. Therefore K-9-2 beats Q-10-5, which beats Q-10-3, which beats Q-9-8. |
| Pair | A-A-K . . . 2-2-3 |
A pair consists of two cards of equal rank. The third card is of a different rank, otherwise you would have a prial. When comparing pairs, the rank of the pair is compared first, and if these are equal the odd card determines which is higher. So for example 9-9-3 beats 8-8-K, which beats 8-8-J. |
The above are the only 3-card hands that are playable in Crash. In Three Card Brag, it is also possible to play three unmatched cards - cards that are not consecutive, not all of the same suit and contain no pair. These rank according to their highest card; if the highest cards of two hands are equal the second highest cards are compared, and if these are equal too then the third highest. So J-6-3 beats 10-9-7, which beats 10-9-6. An example of the highest unmatched set is A-K-J and of the lowest is 5-3-2. These unmatched sets can be used in 6-card, 7-card and 9-card Brag, but not in Crash.
There is no order of suits in Brag, so it is possible for two hands to be equal in rank - for example 7-7-Q is equal to 7-7-Q.
Poker players should take care to note that a running flush ('straight flush') is beaten by a prial in this game, and that the 'run' and 'flush' in Brag rank in the opposite order to Poker.
Games4All has published a free Crash/Brag app for the Android platform.