Setup: Using a standard 52 card poker deck, the dealer deals each player five cards. 
The remaining cards become the draw pile. The top card from the draw pile is placed 
face up next to the draw pile to become the discard pile. Determine the amount
of the payoff. This can be whatever the players wish, i.e. a chip, a quarter, 
10 jellybeans, nothing, etc. 

Play: Immediately after the deal, all players check for TONK. A player has TONK if 
the total of the cards in their hands is 15 or less, or greater than 48, i.e. 49 
or 50. Each face card [jack, queen, or king] is worth 10, aces are worth 1, and all other
cards have a value equal to their number, e.g. a Three of Spades is worth 3. 
If any person has TONK now, they must yell "Tonk!" and drop their cards to show the 
other players. Each of the players that doesn't have TONK must pay the player(s)
with TONK twice the agreed upon payoff. If no players have TONK, then normal play 
proceeds to the left of the dealer. N.B. A player can only get TONK immediately after 
cards have been delt. Later in the game, the value of their hands may be
less than 15 or greater than 48, but it isn't a TONK. 

Once play has begun, a players has two options to choose from, and can choose one or 
the other, but not both during their
current turn. The first option is called Going Down, and is an attempt to win the game. 
To go down, the player drops his cards
and announces the total value of his cards. If that player has the LOWEST point value, 
he wins, and all other players pay him
the payoff amount. If, however, he doesn't have the lowest point value, then he must pay 
each player who has a point value
that is equal or lower than his own DOUBLE the payoff. Everyone else must pay the person, 
or persons in case of ties, with
the lowest total the normal payoff. 

In the second option, the player must take either the top card from the draw pile or 
the top card from the discard pile into his
hand. Afterwards, if a player has three of a kind, four of a kind, or a spread of three 
or more cards of the same suit in
numerical order [order is Ace One Two...Ten Jack Queen King] (like a straight flush) he 
may put those cards out of his hand
in front of him. Cards put out in this manner no longer count towards the total value of 
the player's hand. Also, a player may
add to any spreads already on the table at either end of the spread, even other those in 
front of other players. A player may
not add to three of a kinds already on the table. If a player manages to get rid of all 
his cards during his turn, he is the winner and all other players pay him the payoff. 
If any cards remain, the player discards a card 
onto the discard pile. If discarding leaves the player with no cards,
 he wins. If he hasn't won, play proceeds to the next player. 

Example of Play

After dealing we have:
Croaker:        10s 8d 8h 5s 4c = 35
Goblin:         Kc 10c 3c 2s Ah = 26
Elmo:           Qh 8c 6d 2d 2c  = 28
discard:        5c

After Elmo deals, everyone checks for TONK, but nobody has it. Croaker doesn't want 
the 5c on the discard pile so he draws from the draw pile getting a 6s, discards 
his 10s. Goblin draws the Ac, discards his Kc. Elmo draws a 7s, discards Qh.

Now we have: 

Croaker:        8d 8h 6s 5s 4c  = 31
Goblin:         10c 3c 2s Ah Ac = 17
Elmo:           8c 7s 6d 2d 2c  = 25
discard:        Qh

Croaker draws the 8s, giving him three of a kind. He puts down the three 8's, 
and dicards his 6s. Goblin grumbles at Croaker's luck, and draws a 3s. He then 
discards his 10c. Elmo draws the 7h, discards the 8c. We now have: 

Croaker:        5s 4c = 9, On the table: 8h 8d 8s.
Goblin:         3s 3c 2s Ah Ac = 10
Elmo:           7s 7h 6d 2d 2c = 25
discard:        8c

On his next turn, Croaker announces he is going down with 9. He wins since his 
total is lower than both Goblin's and Elmo's.  They both pay Croaker his money. 

Example Two

Here we have the following hands after a few rounds have gone by: 

Croaker:        Qc 10s 9s 6h 5h = 40
Goblin:         Jc 10c 4s 4c As = 29:           8s 7h 5d 2d Ad = 23
discard:        Qd

Croaker draws a Js, giving him a spread of Js 10s 9s which he puts down. He discards 
his Qc. Goblin takes Croakers Qc from the discard pile and puts down his spread of Qc 
Jc 10c and discards his 4s. Elmo draws a 10h, drops his 8s onto the end of Croaker's 
run, then discards the 10h he just drew. Now we have: 

Croaker:        6h 5h = 11, On the table: Js 10s 9s.
Goblin:         4c As = 5, On the table: Qc Jc 10c.
Elmo:           7h 5d 2d Ad = 15
discard:        Qd

Croaker doesn't think he can beat Goblin since he saw him discard a 4, so he draws 
and gets the 9h which does him no good so he discards. On this turn, Goblin goes 
down and wins. Elmo curses his luck.