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How to Play
Three ways to play
- Solo vs Bots — practice or play alone against a full table of family-named bots.
- Online with family — host a room, share the code, everyone plays from their phone.
- 📺 On the TV (shared table) — open the Table View on a TV's browser or a laptop plugged into the TV; players use phones as controllers. Private cards never appear on the TV.
Game rules
Players & Rounds
2 to 7 players. Total rounds = (players × 3) + 1. With 7 players that's 22 rounds; with 4 players, 13.
Max cards = number of players. A 4-player game maxes out at 4 cards per hand; a 7-player game at 7. (One deck, dealer flips trump, has to leave room for everyone.)
Phases
- Up: deal 1, 2, 3 … up to max cards. Trump rounds — flip the next card after dealing to set trump.
- No Trump: max-cards rounds, played N times (one per player). No flipped trump.
- Down: deal max, max−1 … down to 1. Trump rounds.
- NIL: final hand at max cards. Everyone tries to take zero books. No bids. Dealt by the player to the left of the round-1 dealer.
Books & Bids
“Books” are tricks. Each player bids how many books they expect to win. Dealer bids last.
Missing your bid is called going down.
Scoring
- Bid 0, take 0 = 10 pts
- Bid N, take N = N × 11 pts (e.g. bid 5 take 5 = 55)
- Any miss = 0 pts
- NIL round: 0 books = 25 pts, otherwise 0
Trump
In trump rounds the highest trump in a book wins. Otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins. You must follow suit if you can.
Example hand (4 players, 3-card round, ♥ trump)
Dealer is Dee. Bidding goes clockwise starting left of the dealer; dealer bids last.
Deal
- You: ♠K ♥7 ♦2
- Margret: ♣A ♠4 ♥3
- Mike: ♥A ♣10 ♦J
- Dee (dealer): ♥K ♠Q ♦5
Flipped trump card: ♥9 → ♥ is trump.
Bidding (dealer last)
- You bid 1 — only one trump (♥7), but ♠K is a good side card.
- Margret bids 1 — ♣A wins its lead.
- Mike bids 2 — ♥A is a lock, ♦J + ♣10 could squeak one more.
- Dee bids 0 — total bid is 4 of 3 books, so dealer bids low to avoid forcing a miss. (Dealer can't bid to make the total equal the books.)
Trick 1 — you lead
- You lead ♠K. Margret follows with ♠4. Mike has no ♠ → tosses ♣10. Dee has ♠Q, must follow → plays it.
- No trump played, led suit ♠ → You win with ♠K. (books: You 1)
Trick 2 — you lead again
- You lead ♦2. Margret has no ♦ → plays ♣A. Mike follows with ♦J. Dee follows with ♦5.
- Still no trump played, led suit ♦ → Mike wins with ♦J. (books: You 1, Mike 1)
Trick 3 — Mike leads
- Mike leads ♥A. Dee must follow → ♥K. You must follow → ♥7. Margret must follow → ♥3.
- Mike wins with ♥A. (books: You 1, Margret 0, Mike 2, Dee 0)
Scoring
- You: bid 1, took 1 → 11 pts
- Margret: bid 1, took 0 → 0 pts (went down)
- Mike: bid 2, took 2 → 22 pts
- Dee: bid 0, took 0 → 10 pts