Higher or Lower: Official Rules

Guess whether the next card is higher or lower, for as long as your nerve holds.

Any number of players sit around a table. The dealer shuffles and turns one card face up in the middle. This starts the pile. Aces are high.

Rule 1. Guessing

Rule 1.1. The player on the dealer's left goes first. They call "higher" or "lower," and the dealer turns the next card face up on the pile.

Rule 1.2. A right call means the player calls again on the new card.

Rule 1.3. A card of the same rank as the last one is a wrong call, whatever was called.

Rule 2. Drinking

Rule 2.1. A wrong call means the player drinks once for every card in the pile. The pile is then cleared, a new card is turned to start a fresh pile, and the same player calls again.

Rule 2.2. A long pile is a large number. That is the game.

Rule 3. Passing

Rule 3.1. After three right calls in a row, the player may pass. The next player to the left inherits the pile, and calls on its top card.

Rule 3.2. A player may keep going instead of passing. Some do. The Commission watches with interest.

Rule 4. Ending

Rule 4.1. The game ends when the deck runs out. The player calling when it does drinks for the pile, right or wrong.

• Pass after two right calls, not three. Approved. Faster turns, smaller piles.
• Same rank counts as right. Commissioner's Discretion. The Commission considers a tie a loss, as in most things.
• Call the suit for a bonus. A player may call the suit as well as the direction; if both are right, they give out drinks equal to the pile. Approved.
• The pile is cleared by any right call. Prohibited. Then there is no pile, and no game.

May a player look at the pile before calling? Yes. The pile is public. Counting it is encouraged, and usually regretted.

The deck runs out halfway through a pile. Does the pile carry over to a reshuffled deck? No. The game ends (Rule 4.1). The calling player drinks the pile.

• Wrong call. Penalty: one drink per card in the pile. Signal: the Official points at the pile, then at the player.
• Pass. Signal: the Official sweeps one hand toward the next player.

Higher or Lower is the simplest game in this book and among the most argued about, because every argument is about the same thing: whether a seven is higher than a seven. It is not. It is also not lower.

Play with any non-alcoholic drink. The pile is no less frightening.