Before play starts, all the cards are shuffled. A game of Five Crowns consists of eleven rounds; the first round has a three-card hand, the second round has a four-card hand, and so on until the eleventh round which everyone plays with thirteen cards. In the first round, the dealer deals out three cards to each player. The remaining cards form a draw pile. The top card is turned over to start a discard pile. The player to the dealer's left goes first. The player may choose the top card from either the draw pile (card is face down) or the discard pile (card is face up). The player adds this card to their hand. The player ends their turn by discarding one card from their hand so that the player ends up with the same number of cards as were dealt. (In this case, three cards) A player can go out if the cards in his/her hand can form a set or multiple sets of books or runs. See "Books and Runs" below for an in-depth definition and examples for both. After the player who has completed the set(s) of books or runs, they may lay down their cards face up so that all players many see the completed sequence(s). After this move, all players many get one more turn to try to complete their books or runs. Players now count up all their excess points that can not fall into their books or runs. All players that can go out in the last turn (including the player who went out first), takes 0 points against them. All points that players receive, count against that player. At the end of all eleven rounds, the player with the least amount of points wins the game, in case of a tie, tied players share the victory.