How to Play Kemps

Home » Card Games » Kemps

Kemps Rules & Instructions

kemps gameplay demonstration

How to Set Up Kemps

Number of Players

  • 4, 6, or 8 (teams of two)

Supplies Needed

  • A standard deck of 52 playing cards (no jokers)

Set Your Secret Signal

Meet with your partner to determine a non-verbal gesture that will be used later in the game to signal that your team has won. It can be anything from a head scratch, wink, etc. It shouldn’t be obvious!

Objective

The objective of kemps is to get four of a kind in your hand. Once you do, send your secret signal to your partner. Once your partner yells out, “Kemps”, you win!

Gameplay

After distributing four cards to every player, the dealer will flip the top four cards from the stock. These cards will make a two by two grid and are placed face-up.

The game begins by the dealer saying, “ready, set, go!”. After that, any player can take and swap a card from the ones in their hand without ordered turns. It’s truly a free-for-all. However, it is necessary to always have four cards in your hand and four cards in the middle.

If no one wants to take a card from the grid, the dealer can discard them and create a new one from the stock.

The game continues until one player has four-of-a-kind in their hand (i.e. four eights). Once they do, they are able to use the signal they chose to secretly let their partner know they can declare “Kemps”.

Be careful! If you call “Kemps” and your partner doesn’t have four-of-a-kind, you lose a point. Also, if another team intercepts your signal and calls out “Kemps” before your partner, their team wins a point. If they incorrectly make the accusation while you don’t have four-of-a-kind, they lose a point.

Each round is worth one point and you can play to any set amount (we recommend five).

 

writer colin tichvon

Brian Oddo | Founder

A beer die expert and the worst foosball player you've ever seen. Brian grew up playing every sport and game under the sun and created this site to help people keep the fun going.

Related Games

Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens

Setup Players 2-5 players Materials Exploding Kittens Game Additional Setup Notes Begin by taking out all of the Exploding Kitten cards and Defuse cards from the deck.  Shuffle the deck and deal 4 cards face down to each player. Keep your hand to yourself!  Deal 1...

read more
Mafia

Mafia

Setup Players 7+ not including the narrator Materials A deck of 52 standard playing cards  Objective Based on which card you are dealt, try to “kill” all the other players or catch the murderer!Gameplay At the beginning of the game, every player will get one card,...

read more
Golf

Golf

SetupPlayers 2-3 players (4 or more can play with more than one deck of cards) Materials A standard deck of 52 card (two decks are used with more than 4 players) A sheet of paper to record the score Scoring Aces are 1 point 2s are -2 points 3-10s are face value Jacks...

read more