PLAYER, CARDS AND DEAL

  1. The game is for four players

    • Partners - The game is played in pairs. Players sitting opposite from each other are partners and score together.

    • Solo - The bids and scores are individual for each player.

  2. A standard deck of 52 cards is used. The cards in each suit rank from lowest to highest:
    2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A

  3. The first dealer is chosen by the highest card draw, and the turn to deal rotates clockwise.

  4. Deal and Play are clockwise.

  5. All 52 cards are dealt to all 4 players. Each player has 13 cards.

  6. The Spade card will always trump other cards, even if the spade is lower than the other card.

THE BIDDING

  1. Each player bids a number of tricks between 0 and 13. In partners, each team adds the bids of the two partners together and the total is the number of tricks (up to 13) that the partners try to win to get a positive score.

  2. The first to bid is the player to the dealer's left. Unlike in other games, there is no requirement for each bid to be higher than the last one.

  3. A bid of 0 tricks is known as NIL. Players who select 0 (Nil) bid declare that they will not win any tricks during that round. In partners, if the player fails to achieve 0 (Nil) bids, they will receive a -100 point penalty. If it's successfully achieved, they will receive +100 points.

In solo, a successful bid NIL will give +50 points, and if fails will cost -50 points.

  1. After the first round, players may make a BLIND NIL bid which must be declared before a player looks at their  cards. A successful Blind Nil will reward the player with +200 points and an unsuccessful Blind Nil will receive -200 points as a penalty.

  2. In Solo mode, players cannot bid BLIND NIL.

THE PLAY OF THE HAND

  1. The player to the dealer's left may lead with any card except a Spade to make the first trick. Each player, in turn, must follow suit. If unable to follow suit, the player may play ANY card (including a Spade).

  2. A trick containing a Spade is won by the highest spade played; if no spade is played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit led.

  3. The winner of each trick leads the next one.

  4. Spades may not lead until either:

  • A player has played a Spade on the lead of another suit.

  • The leader has nothing but Spades left in hand.

  1. Playing the first spade is known as "Breaking" spades.

  2. The game ends when the table’s threshold has been reached. This may take one to three rounds, depending on the progress made during the game. 

SCORING

  1. A side that takes at least as many tricks as its bid calls for, receives a score equal to 10 times its bid. Additional tricks(overtricks) are worth one extra point each.

  2. Bags - Overtricks are known as bags. If a team reaches the bags limit (specific per table), they will get a bags penalty and the total bags amount will be reset to 0. Any bags beyond the limit are carried over to the next round.

  3. If a team wins fewer tricks than the bids made, they lose 10 points for every bid made that round. 

  4. If a bid of Nil is successful, the nil bidder's team receives 100 points. This is in addition to the score won (or lost) by the partner of the nil bidder.

  5. If the bid of Nil fails, -100 points penalty goes to the nil bidder's team, but they will still receive any amount scored for the partner's bid.

  6. A bid of Blind Nil scores 200 points for a successful bid and -200 for a failed bid in addition to the partner's score.

  7. The winning team is the first to reach the target points or if the opposing team drops below the elimination threshold. Both the target points and elimination threshold vary between tables.

RAKE AND PAYOUT

  1. A rake is the house fee that is taken from all players when entering a table. The rake is 15% of the buy-in. The rake is included in the amount paid to enter a table but is not included in the prize pool. 

  2. In solo, winning a match earns you the entire pot, minus the rake as mentioned. For example, when playing a 250 coins stake game: your 250 coin bet plus your opponents' bet of 750 coins minus the house fee of 150 coins makes the total pool prize – 850 coins. First place will receive 75% of the 850 coins prize, while second place will receive 25%.

  3. In partners, the total prize stays the same, but is divided between you and your partner. 

  4. Tied score: In case of a tie within solo games, the payout is split evenly between the two winners, instead of a 75%-25% share as explained earlier. In partners, if both teams get the same score, each player gets the coins he paid to play back. 

  5. There are different variants of the game which vary in their prize, as mentioned in the T&Cs of each variant.

  6. Please note that the buy-in is deducted from each player's account the moment they enter the game, meaning that it is impossible for a player to enter a game without a sufficient balance.