Players

Three to five may play, best with four.

Cards

Grey Duck contains 45 yellow duck cards and 9 grey duck cards. Card ranks: 1 (low), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, D (Drake, high)

Dealing

The oldest player is the dealer for the first hand. For all other hands, the Duckling deals. (see Scoring)

Three Players: 13 cards are dealt to each player. The remainder of the deck is set aside unseen.

Four or Five Players: The entire deck is dealt. Some players may end up with one fewer card.

On the first trick of the first hand, the person who holds the grey 1 leads, but is not required to lead with it.

Swap

The Swap is omitted for the first hand.

After dealing, the Duckling must give his highest-ranking card to the Captain. The Captain returns any card of his choice to the Duckling. If the Duckling passes a Drake, he may request a specific rank of card (5 or lower) in exchange. The Captain must comply if possible. If the Captain cannot comply, the Duckling may request a different rank of card. All cards during the Swap are passed face up. The Duckling leads the first trick of the hand.

Lame Duck: The Captain may refuse to accept the high card passed by the Duckling. If he does, then he leads the first trick of the hand.

Lucky Duck: If the Duckling has both Drakes, he passes no cards to the Captain and leads the first trick of the hand.

Play

The game is played in tricks. The player with the lead plays a card or cards from his hand that follow one of these forms:

Lone Duck – a single card
Flock – two or more cards of the same rank

Sample Flock

Flight – three or more cards of sequential rank

Sample Flight

Play passes to the left. Subsequent players have two options:

1. Follow the Leader – They may take their turn by playing a card or cards from their hands that follow form:

Lone Duck – requires a single card of rank higher than the last one played.

Example:

Erin plays a 5
Connor follows with an 8

Flock – requires the same number of cards of rank higher than the last ones played.

Example:

Connor plays 2 2 2 2
Amy follows with 5 5 5 5

Flight – requires the same number of sequential cards with the lowest card higher than the lowest card of the last Flight played.

Example:

Amy plays 3 4 5
Matt follows with 4 5 6

2. Quack – If unable or just unwilling to follow the leader a player can decline to play any cards on his turn by saying “Quack”. Quacking only affects the player’s current turn. The player may choose to play later in the same trick.

The trick continues until one of the players follows form and all subsequent players Quack. This player wins the trick. He gathers the played cards; setting them face down on the table. He leads the next trick.

When a player plays their last card(s) the trick continues. If the player that played their last card takes the trick, the lead passes to the left.

The hand continues until only one player has cards in his hand. The first player to play all of his cards is the Captain. The last player with cards in his hand is called the Duckling.

Grey Ducks

Grey ducks can be played just like yellow ducks, they can also be played out of turn.

Flocks: Grey ducks of the same rank as the last Lone Duck or Flock may be played out of turn to increase the size of the Flock in play. Grey ducks must be played quickly before the player who would be playing next lays down their cards. Play passes to the left from the person that played the grey duck.

Example:

Connor plays 4 4 4
Amy is going to follow with 7 7 7 but Matt is faster and plays 4
Erin now needs a 5 5 5 5 or higher to follow

Flights: Grey ducks one rank higher than the highest card of a Flight may be played out of turn to increase the size of the Flight in play. Grey ducks must be played quickly before the player who would be playing next lays down their cards. Play passes to the left from the person that played the grey duck.

Example:

Matt plays 4 5 6 7
Erin tries to add an 8 out of turn but Connor is faster and plays 5 6 7 8
Amy now needs  6 7 8 9 to follow

Scoring

Each hand is scored as follows.

♦ First Out: 4 points – Captain
♦ Second Out: 3 points
♦ Others Out: 2 points
♦ Last Out: 1 point – Duckling

Scores can be recorded on plain paper or this handy printable Game Score Sheet.

Winning

The game continues for a dozen hands. The player with the highest score wins.

Minnesota Variant

For some unknown reason in the Minnesota Variant:

♦ Grey Ducks are called Geese
♦ Players Honk, not Quack, and
♦ The last player out is the Gosling, not the Duckling

Multiple Tables Variant

The game is played as above with the following changes:
Players: Six or more may play, best with four or five per table. Players are split as evenly as possible between the tables.
Cards: One deck of cards per table
Table Score Cards: One card and one dry erase marker (not provided) per table. The Grey Duck Party Pack comes with these laminated cards to note who goes out first, second, etc.
Duckling: At the end of each hand, the Ducklings takes the Table Score Card and enters the table’s scores as they move to their next table and deal.
Scoring: Scores can be recorded on plain paper or on this handy printable Party Score Sheet.