Twenty-eight (card game)
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India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n trick-taking card games in which the Jack
Jack (playing card)
A Jack, also Knave, is a playing card with a picture of a man on it. The usual rank of a jack, within its suit, is as if it were an 11 ....

 and the Nine are the highest cards in every suit.

Players and cards

28 is usually played by four players in fixed partnerships, partners facing each other. 32 cards from a standard 52-card pack are used for play. There are eight cards in each of the usual "French" suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. The cards in every suit rank from high to low: J-9-A-10-K-Q-8-7. The aim of the game is to win tricks containing valuable cards.

The total number of points in the deck is 28, hence the name of the game. The values of the cards are:
  • Jacks = 3 points each
  • Nines = 2 points each
  • Aces = 1 point each
  • Tens = 1 point each
  • Other cards = (K, Q, 8, 7) no points

Deal and bidding

Deal and play are counter-clockwise; the cards are shuffled by the dealer and cut by the player to dealer's left. Four cards are then dealt to each player, one at a time.

Based on these four cards, players bid for the right to choose trumps. Each bid is a number, and the highest bidder undertakes that his or her side will win in tricks at least the number of points bid. The player to dealer's right speaks first, and must bid at least 14. Subsequent players, in counter-clockwise order, may either bid higher or pass. The auction continues for as many rounds as necessary until three players pass in succession. There is one restriction during the bidding: if you wish to bid over your partner's bid, your left hand opponent having passed, you must bid at least 20.

The final bidder chooses a trump suit on the basis of his or her four cards, and places a card of this suit face down. The card is not shown to the other players, who therefore will not know at first what suit is trumps: it remains face down in front of the bidder until at some point during the play someone calls for the trump suit to be exposed.

The dealer then completes the deal, giving four more cards to each player, so that everyone has eight. After everyone has seen their eight cards, a final round of bidding takes place starting with the player to the dealer's right. Anyone can increase the bid if they wish, but if they do so, the new bid must be at least 24. If the bid is increased, the final bidder can choose a new trump suit and place a card of this suit face down.

The Play

The play can be divided into two phases: before and after the bidder's face down trump card (also known as 'thuruppu') is exposed.

First phase

The player to the dealer's right leads to the first trick; players must follow suit if possible, the highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. During this first phase it is illegal for the bidder to lead a card of the trump suit, unless he or she has no cards of other suits. If you have no card of the suit led you have two options:

You may discard any card. This card cannot win the trick.
Before playing a card, you may call for the bidder's face down trump to be exposed. In this case, the bidder must turn this trump card face up for all to see, and it is then added to the bidder's hand. Having called for the trump to be exposed, you must play a trump to this trick if you have one; if you have no trump you may discard any card. The play now enters the second phase.
During the first phase, the face down trump is not considered as belonging to the bidder's hand. If the bidder holds no card of the suit that was led, the bidder has essentially the same options as the other players: to discard any card without declaring trumps, or to expose the face down trump card and play a trump to the trick (not necessarily the one that was face down).

During the first phase, cards of the (concealed) trump suit have no special effect: each trick is won by the highest card of the suit led, even if it also contains cards of the suit that is subsequently revealed as trumps.

Second phase

Beginning with the trick in which the trump card is exposed, each trick is won by the highest trump in it. Tricks that contain no trumps are won by the highest card of the suit led. Players must follow suit if possible: if unable to follow, they may play a trump or discard a card of another suit, as they like. As before, the winner of each trick leads to the next. The bidder is now free to lead any suit, including trumps.

Notes that if a situation is reached during the first phase in which the bidder has no trumps in hand, and another player leads the trump suit, the bidder can play any card, since the face down trump is not yet part of the bidder's hand. Of course the bidder has the option to expose the face down trump and play it, but if it is a low trump that cannot win the trick, it will probably be better to save it for later. If no one calls for the trump to be exposed during the first seven tricks, the bidder will be forced to expose the trump in the last trick and play it, this being the bidder's only remaining card.

Scoring for a round

When all eight tricks have been played, each side counts the card points in the tricks it has won. The bidding team needs at least as many card points as the bid to win; otherwise they lose.

The cumulative scores of the two teams are recorded on a piece of paper. The number of game points scored depends on the bid, not on the exact number of points taken in tricks.

If the bid was 19 or less, the bidding team wins 1 game point if successful, but loses 2 game points if they fail.
For bids from 20 to 23, the bidding team wins 2 game points or loses 3 game points.
For bids of 24 or more, the bidding team wins 3 game points or loses 4 game points.
Some local variations have special points for those bidding 28 or other versions (see 'Thane' below)
Bids above 20 are known as 'Honours'.

You can bid 28 when there is at least three cards are left(while playing).

Keeping team score

At start of the game, each team (2 or 3 players depending on 4 or 6 player version) gets 6 "base" cards. Using the round scores described above, after each game the number of base cards are transferred (1 base card is equal to 1 point).

When the situation occurs that a team does not have enough base cards, they must wear a "kunukku". Traditionally, this is a coconut kernel with the stem of a coconut leaf put through it so that it could be hung on the ear. Usually, another unused card from the deck (preferably a joker) is placed behind the ear.

After kunnuku's are placed, 6 base cards are split between each team similar to start of game. The team with kunukku can remove this if they bid and win the next round. Otherwise, each player must bid and win before they can take the kunukku off their ear.

At stop of play, number of base cards are counted and team with highest base wins unless a member has a kunukku. At that point, the team with less number of kunukku's wins.

Money or "salaams" are also used in place of kunukkus in some areas.

Twenty Nine

29 is the most popular variation of these set of games. In this game the winner of the last round gets an extra point hence the number.If declarer get this point they win and if defender get they win the game.Its one of the most popular card game in the South Asia,specially in Bangladesh. The bidding starts from 17 instead 16 in 28. You can show the pair of king and queen of the same colour of the thump.

External links

  • Rules of Card Games: Twenty-Eight at Pagat.com
    Pagat.com
    Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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