How to Play

• Move all of your marbles into your safety zone.
• You play as a team with the person across from you.
• Your team wins when both players’ marbles are safe.

• Home: where your four marbles start. They cannot move on the track until you transfer one out.
• Base: your entry hole onto the main path. Ace or King can transfer a marble from home onto base.
• Path: the shared loop. Move forward (or backward with a 4) according to the card you play.
• Safety zone: the protected finish line for your marbles. Marbles in safety cannot be swapped with or landed on.

1. Play one card from your hand (or burn if you are stuck; see below).
2. If the card has more than one action, choose which one to use.
3. Click the marble(s) the action needs. For example, Jack needs your marble, then an opponent’s.
4. Play continues around the table until someone wins.

Hands are dealt in rounds of 4, then 4, then 5 cards. When everyone is out of cards, a new hand is dealt. The discard pile is reshuffled into a new deck when needed.

Our own house rules, how we grew up playing Jackaroo: Ace moves 1 or 11 or enters; 5 moves any path marble; Queen moves 12 or forces a burn; King moves 13 or enters.

A standard 52-card deck. Suit does not change the effect; only the rank matters.

Ace and King can transfer a marble from home onto your base hole (and Ace/King may also move along the path — see the table). That marble is then just transferred: opponents cannot land on it, pass through it, or Jack-swap with it while it still sits on base. You may still use a Jack to swap your just-transferred marble with someone else. Protection ends once that marble leaves base.

• Pick one of your marbles on the main path (including one just transferred to base).
• Swap it with another player’s marble that is also on the main path.
• You cannot swap with your own marbles, marbles in a safety zone, or an opponent’s just-transferred base marble.

• You can land on your own marbles (they go home), but you cannot jump over them. Every card follows that rule.
• Occupied holes block intermediate steps, unless you play a King move of 13, which kills along the way (unprotected marbles on those holes go home instead of being jumped), except protected / safe marbles still block.
• Landing on an opponent’s marble (when allowed) sends that marble back to its home.
• A 5 moves any marble already on the path five spaces, useful for advancing yourself or bumping someone else.
• A 7 can put all 7 steps on one marble or split them across two of yours.

• If a card might become useful later (for example a block might clear), burn one card and keep the rest.
• If nothing in your hand can ever help this deal, burn all remaining cards.
• Queen’s Force burn is different: it forces the next player to burn one card on their turn. Stuck-hand burns do not do that.

Opposite seats are teammates. Once all of your marbles are in safety, you play cards to move your teammate’s marbles. Coordinate so one partner isn’t left stranded on the path.

Prefer learning by doing? Try the interactive tutorials (guided scenarios for transferring out, capturing, blocks, and more). Guests can play; accounts keep progress across devices.

• Getting started (first match on playjackaroo.com)
• Jackaroo vs Ludo (cards vs dice races)
• Strategy basics (beginner decision habits)
• FAQ (accounts, Pro, ads, and more)