The Chase the Ace card game — known at our quiz nights as Hunt The Ace — is a quick, simple game we play between quiz rounds. One player, 13 envelopes, and one Ace of Spades hiding somewhere among them. Find it and win the jackpot — simple as that.
Looking for the rules? “Chase the Ace” is really two different games: a classic party card game you can play at home with a deck of cards, and the rolling-jackpot game you’ll see in pubs and quiz nights. We explain both below.
How to play Chase the Ace (Hunt The Ace) at a quiz night
- We start with all 13 cards from one suit (2 through to Ace) in sealed envelopes
- We randomly pick a player from the room at each quiz night
- That player chooses one envelope from the ones still in play
- If it contains the Ace — they win the jackpot
- If not, we eliminate that envelope and the game continues at the next quiz night
The jackpot
The jackpot builds every week nobody finds the Ace. By the time only a handful of envelopes remain, the odds are very much in the player’s favour, and the tension in the room is something else — people count down the envelopes out loud as they go. Chase The Ace always delivers a moment, one way or the other.
Chase The Ace borrows its name and its slow-build tension from a real fundraising tradition, most famously the community draws that took over parts of Canada and Ireland in the 2010s, where a jackpot rolled over week after week until someone finally drew the ace of spades. Wikipedia has the background on how those real-money versions worked. Ours runs the same way, just with no ticket to buy and no waiting for a weekly draw night — everyone in the room gets to watch for free, right there and then.
Want Chase the Ace at your own event?
I bring Chase the Ace to quiz nights at pubs, bars and venues, and to private and corporate events. If you want it at your venue, host a quiz night at your venue or send me an enquiry with your date and place. Planning a work do? See my corporate quiz night option. I also run Music Bingo, and what is SpeedQuizzing explains how the quiz itself works.
Chase the Ace card game rules (play at home)
The party card game version needs nothing more than a standard deck of cards and some counters or coins to keep track of lives. It works best with four or more players.
- Give every player three lives (counters, coins or matchsticks). The aim is to be the last player with a life left.
- The dealer shuffles and deals one card face-down to each player. Players look at their own card and keep it secret.
- Starting with the player to the dealer’s left, each player in turn chooses to either keep their card or swap it with the player on their left. The player being asked must swap — unless they are holding a King, in which case they turn it over and the swap is refused.
- The dealer goes last. With nobody to swap with, the dealer can keep their card or cut the deck for a new one.
- Everyone turns their card over. The player with the lowest card loses a life (Aces count low). If two or more players tie for lowest, they each lose a life.
- Play another round. When a player has lost all three lives they are out, and the last player standing wins.
Chase the Ace: your questions answered
What are the rules of Chase the Ace?
In the card game, everyone gets one card and three lives, players can swap with the person on their left (unless that person holds a King), and the lowest card loses a life each round. In the pub and quiz-night version, a player picks an envelope hoping to find the hidden Ace of Spades to win a rolling jackpot.
How many cards do you use in Chase the Ace?
At home you use a standard 52-card deck and deal one card per player. At our quiz nights we use just the 13 cards from one suit, sealed in envelopes, with the Ace of Spades hidden among them.
Can you play Chase the Ace online or with two players?
Chase the Ace needs a group to be any fun — four or more players is best, and with two it comes down to a coin flip. You don’t need an app: a deck of cards and some counters is enough, and on a video call each player can simply hold their card up to the camera when it is revealed. To see it played live, come to one of our public quiz nights.
Is Chase the Ace the same as Ranter-Go-Round?
Yes — the card game is also known as Ranter-Go-Round, and it is closely related to other swap-and-compare games, sometimes called Screw Your Neighbour. The rolling-jackpot fundraiser of the same name is a different game that shares only the name and the hunt for the Ace of Spades.
Like higher-or-lower card games? Read the Play Your Cards Right rules and how to play. See all Premier SpeedQuizzing games →
Chase The Ace is just one of the games we bring to every quiz night — public and private. Book a quiz night for your workplace or event →
