Basics of the Game
Every one antes into the pot, then you take turns spinning the top and follow the directions for the side it lands on:"P1" - Put 1: The spinner puts (pays) 1 into the pot.
"P2" - Put 2: The spinner puts (pays) 2 into the pot.
"T1" - Take 1: The spinner takes (gets paid) 1 from the pot.
"T2" - Take 2: The spinner takes (gets paid) 2 from the pot.
"AP" - All Pay: All the players must put 1 into the pot. And the one everyone is rooting for as the spin is the
"TA" - Take All: The spinner wins the whole pot!
After someone wins the pot, everyone antes back up and the top gets passed to the next player to spin.
Ways to change up the game play
WHAT GOES IN THE POT - This is the quickest way to change the whole direction of the game, instead of putting dollar bills in the pot, you can make it drinks that you are giving and taking, or what if you had to pay up with articles of clothing?
DENOMINATION - Just because the top says 1 doesn't mean you can't make 1 mean anything from $1 to $0.25 to $10. Also 2 doesn't have to mean two, 1 could mean $1 but you could make 2 mean $5. Just choose the denomination before play starts so everyone knows the stakes. SIDE SADDLE - Occasionally the top will land on the taper side rather than having one of the printed sides displayed up - we call that Side Saddle - but you can call it anything you want, just like you can decide what should happen when it comes up. Common choices are lose a turn (boring), Pay 5, All Pay 2 and Match the Pot! You can also incorporate a Wild rule to it and make it so every time it comes up the spinner gets to decide what it will mean for the next person that spins a Side Saddle.
WILD - Just like in Poker you can make something a Wild - so if P2 is declared Wild you can make it mean whatever you want. You can also add the fun rule where each time it comes up the spinner gets to decide what it will mean for the next person that spins a Wild. (This is great way to keep things interesting and kick up the betting a notch or 10!)
SLOPPY SPIN - It is up to you how to handle bad spins, generally a bad spin is one where the top doesn't spin on its point for 2 seconds. Common rule is to let folks have 1 bad spin but if they follow it with another bad spin they P1. But like everything in Put-n-Take its up to the players to set the rules. Also, new spinners that have never played are usually given a few free bad spins to get the hang of it.
WHERE THE TOP POINTS - You can always add a second person to the action of each spin but having whoever the top points to when it lands also has to do what the top says (like spin the bottle), such as the spinner and the person it points at both P1 or T2. Of course TA would mean they split the pot. Or mix it up even more and make it so the person that it point at has to do something else all together - drink, strip, kiss, whatever.
Check out our game variations page for a list of fun ways to play!
Learn the history of Put and Take