How to Play Trash – Maths Week Scotland

We have another fun card game to share with you today, that is great for number recognition and for practicing number sequences. It is know as ‘Trash’ or “Garbage’.

The aim of the game is to be the first player to line up your cards in sequence order from 1 to 10, with the Ace counting as 1. You will need a standard deck of 52 cards, with the jokers removed. For 1-2 players, use one pack of 52 cards, for 3-4 players use two packs, and for 5-6 players use three packs.

Watch out short video to learn how to play, or scroll down for detailed written instructions as well as some variations.

Setting up the Game

Shuffle the cards, and deal each player ten cards face down, in two lines of 5 cards each. Place the remaining cards in the centre of the table. This is the draw pile.

Playing the Game

Player 1 starts by turning over any one of their face down cards.

If it is a card from Ace to 10, the player places that card in the corresponding position of their number line, replacing the card that is already there.

The replaced card is flipped face up, and in turn placed in its corresponding position of the number line.

This continues until the player finds a card that can not be played – either a number that’s already been placed, or a Jack, Queen or King.

The unplayable card is discarded to the ‘trash’ pile in the centre of the table, and the next player takes their turn.

Player 2 now turns over one of their cards, and proceeds in the same way that Player 1 did.

On subsequent turns, players turn over the top card from the draw pile to start their turn, and place the card according to the same rules as before.

When a player places a card in an empty spot, with no card to flip over, they take a card from the draw pile to continue their turn.

On their turn, players can also choose to take the top card from the discard pile instead of the draw pile.

The first player to complete their Ace to 10 sequence wins the game.

If the draw pile runs out before anyone completes their number sequence, the cards of the discard pile, apart from its top card which is left in place, are shuffled to make a new draw pile.