How to play

Six trick-taking games, four seats each, the rules as the tables really play them.

All six games in High Card Club work the same way underneath. Four players sit around one table. The cards are dealt, in most games somebody promises something, and then a card goes down from each player in turn: that round of four cards is a trick, and the best card takes it. What changes from game to game is who plays with whom, what you are allowed to promise, which card you are forced to play, and how the points are counted.

These pages describe the exact rules the game enforces, numbers included, so nothing at the table can surprise you.

The games

• Batak - every player for themselves. Bid 5 to 13 tricks, pick your own trump, follow suit and beat the card that leads. First to 51 points by default.
• Spades - partners sit opposite. Spades are always trump, everyone bids, nil is worth 100 and overtricks pile up as bags. First to 500 by default.
• Tarneeb - partners sit opposite. The bidding starts at 7 and the winner names the trump; only a contract that comes in scores. First to 31 by default.
• Baloot - partners sit opposite, 32 cards, 8 tricks. Call sun or hokum, count card points instead of tricks, and double all the way up to gahwa. First to 152.
• Hearts - every player for themselves, no bids and no trump. Pass three cards, dodge the hearts and the queen of spades; at 100 points the lowest score wins.
• King - every player for themselves, 20 hands. Whoever's turn it is names the game: one of six penalty games or a trump. The scores add up to zero and the highest wins.
• Pishti - partners sit opposite, and there are no tricks. Play onto one pile; the same rank or a jack takes it all. A lone card matched is a pishti, 10 points. First to 101 by default.

The same at every table

Whichever game you open, these hold true:

• Four seats. Friends in your voice channel take the free ones and bots fill the rest, so a table never waits.
• A clock on your turn. The table owner picks the tempo: relaxed gives you 60 seconds per card and 75 to bid, normal 30 and 40, fast 15 and 25.
• Your seat is played for you if you miss three turns in a row, or while you are disconnected. Press Take over, or just play a card, and it is yours again.
• Leaving a match is final. A bot takes the seat and finishes the match.
• The target is the table's choice, either a score to reach or a fixed number of hands: 5, 9 or 11.
• Illegal cards are explained. Tap a card the table will not take and it tells you which rule is in the way.

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