Pairs was created in 2013 by veteran game designers James Ernest and Paul Peterson. It’s the product of several years of combined experience creating casino- and pub-style games.

There are playing cards numbered 1 to 10 in the game, with 10 tens, 9 nines and so on. Five cards are removed from the deck. Each player receives 1 card. The player who gets the lowest card goes first. In the event of a tie, each of the tied players receives another card. This continues until there is a clear lowest card. During the deal, if players receive a pair, one of those cards is discarded.

Players have the option of taking a card from the deck or passing. If they take a card from the deck and it matches one of the ones in their hand, the round is over and they receive a score equivilent to that card. One of those cards is kept by the player and the other is discarded. If they pass, they take the lowest card currently on the table and receive that score. When the round is over, all players discard their hands and a new round is dealt. When the deck is empty, the discards are shuffled and another five cards removed before continuing.

The first player to score more than 60 divided by the number of players plus one points, is the loser.