Flip 7: The Card Game, the Rules and the Editions

What the Flip 7 card game is

Flip 7 is a card game about one decision, made over and over. Take another card, or stop. Every card you take adds points. Every card you take also might be a number you already have, and then you score nothing that round.

The deck is built to make that hurt. There's one 1, two 2s, three 3s, and so on up to twelve 12s. So the big numbers you want are also the ones most likely to show up twice. The 1 is the safest card in the game. It has no twin.

Box facts from The Op's rulebook for the original game:

• Players: 3 or more
• Ages: 8+
• Play time: 20 minutes
• Cards: 94
• Goal: first to 200 points, checked at the end of a round
• Competitive; no team mode in the rulebook
• You supply: pen and paper for scores

You don't need to know any other card game to learn it. If you've ever played blackjack, the words will sound familiar, but there's no dealer to beat. You're racing the other players and the deck.

How Flip 7 plays

The rules below are in my own words, from The Op's Flip 7 rulebook (ruleset edition 3.1, 2025). With a Vengeance has its own rulebook, and I cover what changes further down.

The deck, card by card

• Number cards: one 0, one 1, two 2s, three 3s, all the way up to twelve 12s. You score their face value.
• The 0: worth no points, but it counts as a different number toward the seven-card bonus.
• Score Modifier cards: +2, +4, +6, +8, +10 and x2. They change your round score but aren't Number cards.
• Action cards: Freeze, Flip Three and Second Chance. Each does one thing, explained below.

The 0 is the only card I know that's worth nothing and still pulls its weight.

Starting a round

1. Shuffle well and pick a Dealer.
2. The Dealer deals one card face up to each player, themselves included, in turn order.
3. If an Action card comes up during the deal, stop and resolve it right away, then keep dealing.

After the deal, not everyone looks the same. Some players have one Number card. Some have a modifier. Some have nothing, or three or four cards, depending on what Action cards came out.

Hit or stay

Now the Dealer goes around the table and asks each active player, in turn: hit or stay?

• Hit: the Dealer flips you another card. Number cards go in a single row in front of you, modifiers above them.
• Stay: you leave the round and bank whatever you've got. You can stay any time you have at least one card in front of you.

An active player is anyone who hasn't stayed and hasn't busted. The Dealer keeps going around until there are none left.

Busting and the seven-card bonus

If you're ever given a Number card that matches one already in your row, you bust. You're out of the round and score nothing for it. Turn your cards over so the table can see you're done.

If you get seven different Number cards in your row, that's a Flip 7. The round ends right away for everyone, and you get 15 bonus points on top of your score. Modifiers and Action cards don't count toward the seven. Only Number cards do.

Lucho's take: "Stay is a word I've heard of." He has never once used it before his fifth card. The deck has noticed.

The Action cards

• Freeze: the player who gets it banks their points and is out of the round.
• Flip Three: the player who gets it must take the next three cards, flipping one at a time. Stop early if they bust or hit Flip 7. A Second Chance that comes up can be set aside and used. Any other Freeze or Flip Three waits until all three cards are drawn, and only happens if the player is still in.
• Second Chance: keep it in front of you. If you're given a duplicate number, discard the Second Chance and the duplicate, and stay in. You can only hold one. If you get another, give it to another active player who doesn't have one, or discard it if nobody can take it. Every Second Chance is discarded at the end of the round, used or not.

You can play an Action card on any active player, including yourself. If you're the only active player left, it has to go on you.

Scoring a round

When the round ends, everyone who didn't bust scores in this order:

1. Add up your Number cards.
2. If you have the x2, double that sum.
3. Add any + modifiers.
4. Add 15 if you hit Flip 7.

Order matters. The x2 doubles your Number cards only, before the + cards go on. A row of 11, 5 and 12 is 28. Add a +4 and it's 32. If that same row had a x2 instead, it would be 56.

A + modifier can never bust you, and it still scores if it's the only card you have. The x2 is the exception: with no Number cards, there's nothing for it to double.

Between rounds, and the end

Set every card from the round aside. Don't shuffle them back in. Pass the rest of the deck to the left, and that player is the new Dealer. When the deck runs out, shuffle the discards into a new one. If that happens mid-round, leave everyone's cards where they are.

At the end of any round where at least one player has 200 or more, the game ends. Most points wins.

Reading the deck as you go

The rulebook says to keep the card count in mind, and it's right. There are twelve 12s in 94 cards. Once a 12 is in your row, every other 12 still in the deck is a bust waiting for you. A 3 in your row only has two twins left to worry about. So a row of small numbers is safer to push than a row of big ones, even though the big row is worth more right now.

That's the game in a sentence: the cards that make you rich are the cards that make you bust.

Common Flip 7 mix-ups

From the rulebook, these are the ones to settle before the first deal:

1. Counting modifiers toward seven. Only Number cards count for the Flip 7 bonus.
2. Busting on a modifier. You can't. Only a duplicate Number card busts you.
3. Applying x2 last. Double your Number cards first, then add + modifiers.
4. Keeping Second Chance between rounds. It's discarded at the end of every round.
5. Reshuffling every round. Cards are set aside; the deck only reshuffles when it runs out.

Flip 7 editions on Amazon US right now

Our data for this page lists 7 Flip 7 editions on Amazon US as of October 2026, all from USAopoly, the company behind The Op, matched by the name on the listing. The table above shows the players and ages each listing states. Several listings leave fields blank, and so does the table.

The original Flip 7

The listing says 3 or more players, ages 8+, press-your-luck. This is the game the rules above describe. If you're buying your first copy, start here.

Flip 7: With a Vengeance

The listing calls it a standalone sequel with new Action cards, negative modifier cards and stealing points. Its own rulebook lists ages 8+ and 108 cards. Here's what that rulebook changes, in my words:

• A bigger deck. Number cards run from one 1 up to thirteen 13s, plus three Special Number cards.
• Negative modifiers. Cards from -2 to -10 and a ÷2, which you can play on any player.
• Take-that Action cards, including Steal.
• Staying isn't safe. When you stay, you turn your leftmost card sideways, but your cards are still in the round and can be hit until it ends.
• New scoring order. Add your numbers, halve them if you have the ÷2 (round down), subtract any minus cards (never below zero), then add 15 for a Flip 7.

The race to 200 and the seven-card bonus stay the same. If your group liked the original and wants more interaction, this is the one. If somebody at your table hates having points taken away, it isn't.

Themed editions

Five more listings are Flip 7 in a themed package. The edition names on the listings:

• Liquid Death Edition: ages 8+
• National Parks: age not listed
• Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Edition: 3 or more players; age not listed
• Hello Kitty and Friends: ages 8+
• Grinch Edition: ages 8+

All five are listed as press-your-luck card games. The listings don't say the rules differ from the original, so I won't claim they do or don't. If the person you're buying for already owns Flip 7, the theme is the reason to buy another deck.

Expansions and add-ons

No Flip 7 expansion packs are in our data. With a Vengeance plays on its own and isn't an add-on. For a very big crowd, the rulebook's own suggestion is a second deck once you're past 18 people. I have never seen 18 people agree on a pizza, so I trust the rulebook on that one.

Who should skip Flip 7

Skip it if you usually play with 2. The rulebook lists 3 or more, and its 1-to-2 option is a score challenge, not a head-to-head game.

Skip it if your group wants plans that pay off over many turns. Each round is a fresh push-your-luck run, and one card can wipe it out. And skip it if your youngest player is under 8. That's the age on the original rulebook and on most of the listings.

If you like Flip 7, look at these

Picked by what they share with it: press-your-luck, quick rounds and a crowd-friendly player count.

• Farkle: the same bank-or-risk-it choice, with dice
• Card games: the full card-game shelf
• UNO: another card game for a big table
• Party games: more games for a crowd
• Best family card games: a ranked list built from player counts and ages

One more card. Then one more. That's how it gets you.