Required Items:

• High Cotton playing cards & chips
• Favorite Southern drinks
• Favorite Southern snacks

Number & Type of Players:

• 4-13 good looking southern friends or friends who wish they were southern and good looking
• It is high honor to be the hostess of a High Cotton game

Object:

Win the title of "Miss High Cotton" by winning the last High Cotton chip. It is desirable to do this without giving or getting scratches, but it is competition after all.

Set Up:

• The players all sit around a table or on the floor. This game works well on the front porch so you can wave at passersby or at the kitchen table where snacks are close by. 
• Place chips on the table or floor using one less chip than the number of players. Place the chips so they are in easy reach of everyone. This is just plain good manners. 
• Shuffle the cards. The hostess of honor gets to be the first dealer and deals four cards to the others. For later rounds the deal will pass to the left. All cards not dealt become the dealer deck. 

Game Play:

• Examine your dealt hand. The goal is to get four of a kind.
• The dealer says pass and every player simultaneously chooses one card from their hand, passes that card to the person on their left. The dealer draws her card from the dealer deck. The player to the right of the dealer (the last player before the dealer) creates a discard pile during play. The discard pile is not used unless the dealer deck runs out.
• Players must pass a card before picking up a card! No player can ever have more than four cards in her hand, so she may not pick her new card before passing one to the left. Keep a careful watch for any cheaters in the crowd.
• Continue passing one card to the left and taking a card from the person on your right every time the dealer says pass. If the dealer deck runs out, the discard deck may be used.
• When a player collects four of a kind she picks up a chip. One can be sneaky about this if one chooses. Once the player with four of a kind picks up a chip, everyone else should grab a chip as quickly as possible. The player who does not get a chip is out of the game. It would be great if this person would then serve refreshments to everyone still playing.
• Remove one chip from the table and play another round. Continue until there are only two players playing for the last chip. The player to get four of a kind and the last chip is in high cotton and is named Miss High Cotton!
• If time permits, play another game.

Things could get testy if you have several winners of "Miss High Cotton" around, so if anyone throws a hissy fit, you should immediately take her drink.

It is acceptable to beg, plead, bargain or bribe in order to be the next hostess of High Cotton. It's always a good idea to take photos of everyone having a good time. Send a photo or two to be featured!

FOR WHOLESALE INQUIRIES: Please email [email protected]