Straight Up
A quick deck-building game for a standard deck of playing cards.
You start with simple cards, buy better cards from the market and improve your deck turn by turn. Your goal is to complete a straight of J – Q – K – A.
What is the core idea?
Straight Up takes the idea of a deck-building game and brings it to material that many people already have at home: a classic deck of playing cards.
No custom cards and no large setup are needed. Still, the game creates a clear arc: buy better cards, remove weak ones, find the right timing and complete your own straight.
What makes it special?
The appeal lies in combining accessible material with a real deck-building feel. If you enjoy card games, Straight Up can be tried quickly without buying dedicated components.
The full rulebooks explain all details – the website intentionally keeps this page to a compact introduction.
Download the rules
The complete rulebook is available as a PDF in English and German.
License note
The rules may be downloaded free of charge, printed, used privately and shared unchanged for non-commercial purposes. Commercial use, modifications, translations, digital implementations or derivative versions require prior written permission.