Crash (card game)

Crash is a British card game, also known as Thirteen Card Brag, that grew out of the Brag family of vying games but drops the betting that defines them. Each of up to four players is dealt thirteen cards from a standard fifty-two card pack and sorts them into as many as four three-card Brag hands, setting aside the spare card or cards. The hands are laid out from best to worst and compared in order against the matching hands of the other players, with the winner of each comparison scoring a point and the first to an agreed target winning the game. Hands rank as in three-card Brag, with sets of three headed by threes, then running flushes, runs, flushes and pairs. A player may declare a crash, predicting that all four of their hands will win, which pays a reward if it succeeds and costs a penalty if it fails. The game is played mostly in the north of England and in Wales, usually for small stakes in pubs and bars, and in Edinburgh it has been recorded under the name Crackers.