Twenty None card game or 29 card games is one of the most popular trick taking card games. The game is known to have originated in South Asia but from a European game – Jass games. If you are interested to know more about 29 card games, then keep reading further.
· 29 Card games Goal – To wins tricks with valuable cards played.
· Number of Players – 4 players (two partnerships)
· Number of Cards – 32 cards (8 cards per suit)
· Order of Cards – J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7
· Game Type – Trick-Taking game
· Game Audience – 18 and above
The Cards
29 card games is a 4 player game that has 2 partnership teams. The partners face one another in the game. The game has only 32 cards out of the 52-card deck. There are 8 cards from every suit. The rank of the cards is as below –
J (high), 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 (low).
As mentioned before, the goal of 29 card game is to win tricks having valuable cards in them. If you are getting confused, a trick is nothing but a hand in trick taking game. All the players play one card in a trick. The winner of the trick is the player who player the highest value card.
The card values are as mentioned below –
· Jacks = 3 points
· Nines = 2 points
· Aces = 1 point
· Tens = 1 point
· K, Q, 8, 7 = 0 points
In all, there are 28 points in 29 cards game. A few variations of this game also have 29 points for the last trick and hence the game gets the name – Twenty Nine card game.
The game is played using the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s as the Trump indicators. All the players get cards from every suit. At times, the 6s are used in order to keep the score. The partners get a red and a black six.
How to Deal
The deal as well as the game moves to the left. The dealer, once chosen, shuffles the deck and the player to the right of the dealer cuts it. All the players are dealt 4 faced down cards on at a time.
How to Bid
Based on the cards in hand, players put the bids for electing the trumps. Bid is a number that denotes the number of tricks a player thinks they can win in their partnership. The player who bid the highest wins.
The bid begins with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds in the same direction. Players have the option to either raise or pass their bid. This is continued till 3 players pass consecutively.
The minimum bid for the game is 15 and the maximum – 28. In case all the player pass, the dealer has to make a forced minimum bid of 15. This will end the bidding round.
The player who won the bidding round will choose the trump suit. The 2s and the 5s that are not used are arranged as the trump suit that bidder will choose will be at the bottom. Now the dealer will deal 4 other cards to all the players. So that now the players have 8 cards each.
How to Play
The player to the left of the dealer starts the first trick. All players are required to follow the suit if possible. In this stage of the game, the trump suit is unknown to the players. The first player who cannot follow the suit can ask the budder what the trump suit is. Now the bidder has to show the trump suit to all the players.
But if the bidder is the player who can nor more follow the led suit, then they have to announce it to everyone what the trump suit is. When the trump is declared, the card having the highest value from that suit played wins the trick. In case no trump card is played yet, then it is the highest value card of that led suit.
If a player is unable to follow the suit, then they can play a trump card. However, this is not mandatory.
Once the trump suit is announced, the players having the King and Queen of that suit can declare that they have ‘Royals’ or a ‘pair’. They can be exposed only after winning a trick. A player cannot claim them if they have been used in a trick.
In case the bidder or their partner announce that they have a pair, the bid is reduced by 4 provided that their bid remains above 15, which is the minimum bid amount. But if the other partnership has the royal pair, then the bid will increase by 4, while maintaining the maximum 28 amount for bidding.
Scoring
Once all the 8 tricks are taken, the partnerships will sum up the card values that they have won. An extra point is added to the winners of the previous trick.
In case the bidding partnership satisfied their contract by taking the needed number of tricks they win a single game. But if not then they lose a point in the game. The score of the other partnership is unaffected by any of this.
Note that, the red and black 6s are used for keeping the score. The red 6, also known as the Nali or red Chaka depicts the positive score.
On the other hand, the black six, also known as Kala or black Chaka denotes the negative score with the number of pips it has exposed.
In the beginning, both the partnerships have no pips showing. The Pips are exposed when players loss or gain the points.
End of the Game
The 29 card games ends in one of two ways –
1. A team has +6 points or
2. A team has -6 points.
