First or Last 2026

First or Last is a 2p only climbing/shedding game.

At the start of each hand, after cards are dealt, one player must decide if they will shed out first or shed out last. The rules of card play change based on which one they choose.

A deal consists of players having cards in their hand (hidden from the other player) as well as a strawman pile (a face up pile of cards on the table in a 2-3-2 formation). Cards in the strawman pile are part of your hand for scoring, but not part of your hand for shedding out. However, if you pass you must draw one card from your strawman pile, adding it to your hand as another card you must play to shed out. Lastly, each player has 1 wild card, but it is stuck in the back row of their strawman pile. If you want to gain access to it, you need to work your way through your strawman pile.

The game is played over 4 hands (short game) or 8 hands (long game). The player with the most points after 4/8 hands wins!

There are additional rules that can turn the game into a compendium game.

—description from the designer