Golf Game Review by Jeffrey Reed
Play Nine: The Card Game of Golf
Double A Productions, Inc.
Distributed by Bonfit America, Inc.

Good golf games (the table top variety) are as rare as a hole-in-one, but Play Nine, a card game from Double A Productions, scores an ace.

Play Nine isn’t new – it was selected as 2005 Game of the Year by GolfChicago! Magazine. However, I’m sure I’m not the only Canadian golfer who tires of putting on the family room carpet during the winter months. Play Nine, developed on the 19th hole by partners Ceil Anderson and Kathy Assell, is now my permanent golf partner during the off-season.

A game designed for two to six players, ages 8 and up, Play Nine combines both luck and skill, just like a real game of golf. And, unlike a lesson at the range, Play Nine is easy to catch onto the first time you tee it up. The game comes with two decks of cards (I like the golf ball cartoon characters depicted on each card), a golf pencil, and scorecards. In fact, the Play Nine website provides a downloadable PDF file so you can print your own scorecards.

Here’s how the game is played. Each hand is a hole, each turn a shot. The object of the game is to shoot the lowest score. After nine holes, the lowest score wins. There are 108 cards, with stroke values ranging from 0 (mulligan) to 12 (out of bounds), with eight of each card. There are also four hole-in-one cards valued at -5 strokes. With eight cards dealt face down to each player, and each player arranging his or her cards into two rows, it’s time to tee off. The remaining cards are stacked face down and the top card turned over to form a discard pile.

Taking turns, and revealing cards from individual rows, the deck and the discard pile (the easy-to-understand instructions will guide you the rest of the way), each player is eventually left with eight cards face-up. Of course, the lowest score wins. You can line up a final putt when one face is left face-down, thanks to an option of skipping a turn and, hopefully, drawing a better card. And, you can shave off strokes with outlined card combinations. For example, four matching cards (two same face cards in the top row, and two directly below in the bottom row) cancel each other out for no strokes, plus a -10 stroke bonus.

If you’re not a lucky snowbird, and even if you are heading to Florida or Arizona this winter, you’ll enjoy playing Play Nine. Visit www.playnine.com for information on the game and where to buy. At $14.99 US, it’s a solid addition to every golfer’s card table.