Objective
Get rid of your eight cards before anyone else. Tricks are played as in any trick-taking game, but a trick that everyone follows is simply set aside. The danger comes when you cannot follow suit: then the cards already played to the trick go into your hand. Hands can swell quickly, which is where the French name Enflé (swollen) comes from.
Setup
Strip the deck so there are exactly eight cards per player. With four players, take out the 2s through 6s to leave 32 cards (ace down to 7). With five players, take out the 2s, 3s and 4s to leave 40 cards. With six players, take out only the 2s, leaving 48.
Deal eight cards to each player, one at a time, starting on the dealer’s left. Cards rank from ace (high) down to the lowest rank left in the deck. There are no trumps.
How to play
The player to the dealer’s left leads any card. Each player in turn must play a card of the suit led.
If everyone follows suit, the highest card wins the trick. The trick is turned face down and set aside for the rest of the hand; it does not go into anyone’s hand. The winner of the trick leads next.
If a player cannot follow suit, that player does not play to the trick. Instead they pick up all the cards already played to it and add them to their hand. That player then leads any card to start a new trick.
- 1Lead any card
- 2Follow suit if you can
- 3Can’t follow? Pick up the trick so far
- 4If all follow, the high card wins and the trick is set aside
- 5First player out of cards wins
Winning
The first player to play their last card wins the hand. The game is often played for small stakes: everyone antes a chip before the deal and the winner takes the pot.
For a scored match, each losing player takes a point for every card left in their hand. Play an agreed number of deals, or stop when someone passes an agreed total, and the lowest score wins.
Variations
Pay per card: instead of a single pot, each loser pays the winner one chip for every card left in their hand.
A fixed deck: some groups always play with the 32-card deck and four players, which keeps the suits short and the pickups frequent.
Relatives: Rolling Stone sits between trick-taking games and shedding games. Linger Longer and Go Boom are other simple games where following suit decides who stays in.
Tips from the table
Being out of a suit is the danger. Try not to play your last card of a suit early, because the next lead in that suit will make you pick up.
Winning a trick is useful only because it gives you the lead. Use it to lead a suit you still hold several cards in.
A pickup is smaller early in a trick. If you are going to be caught short, it is better to be second to play than last.
Watch who picks up what. A player who just took four hearts will be able to follow hearts for a while, so lead something else.
Video Guides Are on the Way
We’re filming Game Guides that walk through full hands at the table, from the deal to the score.
Frequently asked
Are there trumps in Rolling Stone?
No. Only the suit led matters, and the highest card of that suit wins the trick.
What happens to a trick when everyone follows suit?
It is turned over and set aside. Nobody adds those cards to their hand, so a completed trick takes cards out of play.
Does the player who picks up also play a card?
No. They take the cards already played to the trick and then lead to a new one.
Why is the deck stripped?
So everyone gets eight cards and the suits are short enough that players run out of them. Use 32 cards for four players, 40 for five and 48 for six.
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