Machiavelli (Italian card game)

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Machiavelli, also called Thirty-Six, is an Italian card game based on Rummy. It’s a social game for 2 to about 5 players (it can handle more). It isn’t usually a gambling game and it often works well as a party game. The game appeared around World War II.

What you need
- Two standard decks of 52 cards (no jokers), shuffled together.
- The dealer is chosen randomly.

Setup
- The dealer deals 12 or 15 cards to each player in clockwise order. If there are many players, the dealer may deal fewer cards (at least 3 to each player).
- The remaining cards form the draw pile in the center.
- Four face-up cards are placed in the center as “help cards” to aid forming melds.

How to play
- The player to the left of the dealer starts, and play goes clockwise.
- On your turn you may draw a card (rules vary by version).
- Your goal is to put valid combinations (melds) on the table. A meld can be:
- A set of three or more cards of the same rank (e.g., three Kings), or
- A run/straight of consecutive cards (in one or more suits).
- You may rearrange the cards on the table to form new valid melds, but you cannot leave any meld invalid. If rearranging would leave an invalid setup, you must undo it.
- If you cannot place any cards on the table, you must draw the top card and end your turn.
- The first player who places all the cards from their hand on the table wins the game.

Variations
- In some versions you must reach 36 points in your laid-out melds to finish, which is why some call it Thirty-Six. Point rules vary, and some versions use no points at all.

That’s the basic idea: draw, form melds on the table, rearrange to make new valid melds, and be the first to empty your hand.