Rules

Cards and dealing

The game consists of four players playing in teams. Teammates are seated directly across from each other.

A pack of 24 cards containing the 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A of each suit are used. Six cards are dealt to each player.

The rank of the cards in the trump suit is:
J of trump suit (right bower), J of the other suit of the same color (left bower), A, K, Q, 10, 9. Because the left bower becomes trump, there are actually 7 cards in the trump suit. The rank of cards in the non-trump suits (plain suits) is A, K, Q, J, 10, 9.

Suppose you won the bid and selected hearts as trump. The ranking of cards would be J of hearts, J of diamonds, A of hearts, K of hearts, Q of hearts, 10 of hearts, 9 of hearts. The J of diamonds is now a heart and it must be played as such. A trump card will beat any other non-trump cards. In the example above, playing the 9 of hearts would beat even an A of any non-trump suit.

Bidding and selection of trump

Based on a process of bidding, the highest bidder gets to declare the trump suit. Bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer. That person is said to be "under the gun" and must bid at least three tricks. Bidding continues clockwise around the table where each player must either "pass" (if they don't think they can bid more than the previous highest bid) or bid higher.

Game play

The goal in each hand is to win the greatest number of tricks per team. Play begins with the player making the highest bid and turns are taken going clockwise around the table. Players must follow suit if possible. For example, if the first player plays a spade, the other players must play a spade, if they have one. If they don't have a spade, they can play any other card.

Scoring

Each trick results in a point and the game is played to 52 points. In the event of a tied score beyond 52, play continues until one team leads at the end of a round.

The team with the winning bid must achieve at least the number of tricks they bid. If not, they are said to have been "set" and their score is reduced by 6 points. For example, if a team won the bid with a bid of 3, they must achieve at least 3 tricks. Anything less than 3 tricks will result in a deduction of 6 points. If they get 3 tricks, they achieve a score of 3 for the hand. If they get 4 tricks, they achieve a score of 4 for the hand, and so on.

Each team must get at least one trick per hand. Failure to do so will result in a reduction of six points (or more, if it was a special bid; see below). For this reason, if a team decides they may not get at least one trick (after learning the trump suit) and don't want to get "set", they can fold their hands and give the other team six points, thus ending the hand without any game play. However, the option to fold is not available to a team if the winning bidder specifies the hand will be played as "no trump/high" or "no trump/low" (see below).

Special bids

There are four special bids; single, double, no trump/high, and no trump/low.

Singling

A "single" bid wins out over bids of 3, 4, 5, and 6. A player who singles is betting they can take all the tricks in a hand, but may exchange one of their cards with their partner. Immediately after winning the bid, the player who singles announces trump. They then remove one card from their hand and pass it face down to their partner. The partner must not look at the card until they select one of their own cards and pass it face down to the teammate who singled.

The player who singled begins play and must play without the help of their partner for the entirety of the hand. The other team may decide to "fold" (thus giving the singling team 12 points without the risk of getting set), or they may decide to play out the hand.

If the singling player takes all 6 tricks in the hand, that team achieves a score of 12 points for the hand. The other team then goes back 12 points. If the singling player fails to get all 6 tricks, their team goes back 12 points.

Doubling

A "double" bid wins out over bids of 3, 4, 5, 6, and single. The rules for a double hand are the same as with singling, except there is no exchange of cards between teammates. A successful double hand results in 24 points. If the player doubling fails to get all 6 tricks, their team goes back 24 points. Likewise, if the other team fails to achieve at least one trick, they go back 24 points. The other team may decide to fold, without penalty before play begins.

No trump/high

A player must bid at least 4 in order to go no trump/high. In this situation, there is no trump and the rank of cards is A, K, Q, J, 10, 9. A player must bid at least 4 tricks in order to go no trump/high. Only after winning the bid does a player announce that they are selecting no trump/high. The player to the right of the winning bidder begins play. The round must be played; the option to fold is unavailable.

No trump/low

A player must bid at least 4 in order to go no trump/low. In this situation, there is no trump and the rank of cards is reversed (9, 10, J, Q, K, A). A player must bid at least 4 tricks in order to go no trump/low. Only after winning the bid does a player announce that they are selecting no trump/low. The player to the left of the winning bidder begins play. The round must be played; the option to fold is unavailable.