If you have ever watched a table of players staring at a grid of face-up cards, muttering about fouling and Fantasyland, you have witnessed OFC. Strip away the bluffing, the blinds, and the betting rounds of Texas Hold'em, and one question remains: can you build a better board than the person sitting across from you?
The rules are easy to learn. The suffering starts immediately after.
How the Game Works
OFC Pineapple is played 2 to 4 players. Each player constructs three rows using exactly 13 cards, and those rows must follow a strict hierarchy of hand strength:
The Top Row holds 3 cards and must be the weakest of the three. The Middle Row holds 5 cards and must beat the Top Row. The Bottom Row holds 5 cards and must be the strongest of all.
The deal begins with 5 cards, which the player places face-up across all three rows immediately. From that point, the game shifts into its defining rhythm: each player receives 3 cards per round, chooses 2 to place on the board, and discards 1 face-down. That discarded card is gone. There is no going back, no recalling a placement once it is made.
This continues until all 13 slots are filled.
The Rule That Punishes Everyone at Least Once
If your completed board violates the required order from Top to Middle to Bottom, your hand is Fouled.
A Foul means you lose every point to every opponent at the table. Every royalty bonus you earned disappears. No partial credit, no negotiation. The hand is simply dead.
New players understand the Foul rule immediately in theory. Then they chase a flush in the Middle Row, forget their Top Row is stronger, and understand it in practice instead. That moment is a rite of passage everyone pays for exactly once.
How Scoring Works
Each row is compared head-to-head against the same row of each opponent. Win a row and you take +1 point. Lose a row and you give up +1. Win all three rows against the same opponent and you collect a Scoop bonus of an additional +3 points on top of the three row points, for a total swing of 6.
Beyond basic row wins, premium hands earn Royalty bonuses:
Bottom Row Royalties
| Hand | Points |
|---|---|
| Straight | +2 |
| Flush | +4 |
| Full House | +6 |
| Four of a Kind | +10 |
| Straight Flush | +15 |
| Royal Flush | +25 |
Middle Row Royalties
The Middle Row doubles the value of every Bottom Row royalty and adds Three of a Kind at the base:
| Hand | Points |
|---|---|
| Three of a Kind | +2 |
| Straight | +4 |
| Flush | +8 |
| Full House | +12 |
| Four of a Kind | +20 |
| Straight Flush | +30 |
| Royal Flush | +50 |
Top Row Royalties
| Hand | Points |
|---|---|
| Pair of 6s | +1 |
| Pair of 7s through Aces | +2 to +9 |
| Trips 2s | +10 |
| Trips 3s through Aces | +11 to +22 |
One number worth committing to memory: the same hand is worth double in the Middle Row compared to the Bottom Row. A Flush that earns +4 in the Bottom earns +8 in the Middle. That gap is where board construction decisions actually get decided. Royalty hunting is not a side strategy. It is the entire game.
Fantasyland: The Mechanic That Makes OFC Addictive
Place QQ or better in your Top Row without fouling, and on the next hand you enter Fantasyland.
In Fantasyland, you receive all 14 cards at once. You set your 13-card board privately, discarding 1, before anyone else reveals. Every other player is still grinding through their pick-2-discard-1 decisions while you already see the full picture. The edge is enormous.
Staying in Fantasyland requires meeting one of the following conditions on your Fantasyland board. Note that exact thresholds can vary slightly by house rules, so always confirm with your table before sitting down:
- Trips or better in the Top Row
- Full House or better in the Middle Row
- Four of a Kind or better in the Bottom Row
One thing that does not change inside Fantasyland: fouling still destroys your hand completely. 14 cards means more options, not more forgiveness.
Four Things to Internalize Before Your First Game
Protect the Bottom Row above everything else. A strong Bottom is non-negotiable. Do not sacrifice it chasing royalties elsewhere.
Pocket Aces on your opening 5 is not an automatic Top Row play. Unless the path to a clean Middle and Bottom is already obvious, locking AA into the Top Row early is one of the most common catastrophic mistakes a new player makes.
Foul awareness sharpens as the board fills up. Early in the hand you have flexibility and discards to bail you out. By the time 3 or 4 slots remain, every card matters. At that point, safe placement beats ambitious placement almost every time.
Losing on points? Chase Fantasyland aggressively. If you are already bleeding points, going for QQ in the Top Row is often the correct strategic adjustment, not a desperation gamble. A single Fantasyland can flip an entire session. That is not luck. That is line adjustment.
