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About Flip 7
Flip 7 is a push-your-luck card game in which you keep taking cards until you choose to stop or turn over a number you already have. The deck holds twelve 12s, eleven 11s and so on down to a single 1 and a single 0, so high cards are both valuable and dangerous. Action cards let you freeze or force cards on other players. It was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres in 2025.
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Is Flip 7 Right for You?
Best for
Flip 7 is for any group that wants a simple card game with real tension. It teaches in a minute, plays with a crowd, and the decision to take one more card is easy to understand and hard to make well. We reach for it at family gatherings and at the end of game nights, and it works well from five players upward.
Maybe skip it if…
It is a luck game at heart, and there is not much strategy beyond reading the odds and choosing targets for action cards. Players who dislike losing a round to a single bad flip will not warm to it.
How to Play Flip 7
Setup
Shuffle the deck and deal one card face up to each player. Keep a running score sheet.
On Your Turn
- On your turn, either take another card face up or stay and bank your total for the round.
- A second copy of any number busts you and you score nothing this round, unless you hold a Second Chance card to discard it.
- Action cards resolve immediately: Freeze ends a player's round, and Flip Three forces a player to take three cards.
How to Win
Collecting seven different numbers ends the round at once with a 15-point bonus. The game ends when someone reaches 200 points, and the highest score wins.
💡 Strategy Tips
The more high cards are already showing on the table, the safer it is to keep drawing. Count what is out.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Stopping too early every round. A cautious score of ten rarely wins a race to 200.
- Ignoring what is already face up. Every visible 12 makes the next draw safer, and players who count the table push further.
- Using Flip Three on a player with a low total. It is most punishing against someone with a big hand at risk of a duplicate.
- Freezing yourself. When you hold a Freeze, think about who else is having the best round.
Advanced Strategy
- Your bust risk depends on what you already hold. With a 12 in front of you, eleven more 12s can end your round; with the 1, nothing can.
- Modifier cards cannot bust you. Count them as free value, not as a reason to keep drawing.
- Play the scoreboard as the game goes on. When someone is close to 200, action cards aimed at them are worth more than your own points.
- A Second Chance card justifies one more draw, not five. Treat it as insurance for a single risky flip.
Variants & House Rules
Flip 7: With a Vengeance
A separate, more confrontational sequel with new number and action cards, including subtraction cards and actions that steal and swap. Get the original first.
House rule: shorter target
Playing to 100 rather than 200 gives a quicker game, which suits younger players or a table waiting for another game to start.
Video Guides
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Our Verdict
Flip 7 is a small push-your-luck game that works almost anywhere and with almost anyone. It has little depth, but the moment before each flip is genuinely tense and very funny when it goes wrong. Its Spiel des Jahres nomination in 2025 was a fair recognition of how widely it travels.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many can play?
Three or more, and it copes with very large groups because turns are quick. The best games tend to be around five to eight.
Is it all luck?
Mostly, but choosing when to stop and who to hit with action cards gives experienced players a real edge over a full game.
Who designed Flip 7?
Eric Olsen. It is published by The Op Games.