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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