Night Baseball
Baseball played almost entirely in the dark: cards that would normally be up-cards are instead dealt face down, with only a single card revealed at the very end.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Night Baseball uses the same wild-card core as regular Baseball — all 3s are wild, and 4s allow a player to buy an extra card — but changes the deal so that far less information is public during the hand.
Deal: Each player receives six cards face down over the course of the hand (rather than a mix of up and down cards as in standard stud), with betting rounds after each card is dealt, exactly mirroring the streets of stud (third through seventh street) but with everything hidden. Bring-in and initial betting order in a fully face-down game is usually determined by a rotating dealer button or a forced small bet from one seat, since there are no exposed cards to set the order.
The reveal: After the sixth card and its betting round, each player is dealt a seventh and final card face down as well, but then must turn one single card of their choice — from anywhere among their seven cards — face up before the final betting round. This is the only piece of public information in the entire hand.
4-card buys: If, when a player is dealt a 4, the table has opted to reveal cards as dealt (a common house variant makes fourth through sixth street cards up-cards just like Baseball, keeping only third, and the final down card, hidden — see house rules), the buy option triggers exactly as in regular Baseball.
Showdown: All players reveal their seven cards and make the best five-card hand using wild 3s as needed; high hand wins.
Strategy notes: With almost no exposed information until the very end, Night Baseball plays much more like a bluffing-heavy draw game than standard stud, and pot odds are harder to estimate since dead wild cards can't be tracked visually.
Common house rules
Fully dark version
The strictest house rule deals all seven cards face down with no up-cards at all until the single mandatory reveal before final betting.
Partially dark version
A softer variant keeps fourth through sixth street as normal up-cards (like Baseball) and only deals third street and the river down, with the mandatory single-card reveal replaced by simply showing the river along with the rest at showdown.
Forced bring-in by button
Since there's no exposed low card to bring it in, the seat to the dealer's left posts a fixed forced bet each hand, similar to a small blind.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
Baseball
A high-variance Seven-Card Stud variant themed after the sport: 3s are always wild, and any player dealt a 4 face up may buy an extra card.
Learn the rules →Auction
A Seven-Card Stud variant where the wild card for the hand isn't fixed in advance — players bid chips into a side pot for the right to name it, right after third street.
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An intense Chicago variant, also called Follow the Bitch: the queen of spades is wild, and the lowest spade in the hole (not the highest) wins half the pot.
Learn the rules →Chicago
A Seven-Card Stud variant where half the pot is awarded not for the best hand, but for the highest spade dealt face down in the hole.
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