Card Games/Huutopussi

Huutopussi (literally "bid bag") is a Finnish card game that can be played either between two, three or four players, or two teams of two players each. Rules These rules, unless otherwise stated, apply for two-, three- or four-player games without teams. There are also some variation in rules. Deck Huutopussi is played with a standard French 52-card suit deck, but with some of the lower cards removed. In particular, the cards 2-5 are removed from each suit, leaving only 36 cards in the deck (6-10, jack, queen, king, ace). The cards are ranked, from highest to lowest: ace (A), ten (10), king (K), queen (Q), jack (J), 9, 8, 7, 6. This is otherwise the normal order, but 10 is the second-highest card, outranking the court/face cards. No suit intrinsically outranks another. Play Each round consists of five steps: Dealing Bidding Final raise Tricks Scoring Dealing and bidding Each player is dealt the same number of cards. In addition, a devil's deck is dealt face down on the table. The number of cards in the devil's deck is generally the same as the number of players. This results in the following distribution of cards: When ther are Each player is dealt and the devil's deck has 2 players 17 cards 2 cards 3 players 11 cards 3 cards 4 players 8 cards 4 cards Then, the first player starts the bidding. The first player is decided at the start of the game before any rounds (although is usually clockwise of the dealer), and then moves clockwise for each round. The first bid must be at least the minimum bid (which can be 40, 50 or 60 depending on the exact rules; higher player counts often require higher minimum bids). After this, each player (moving clockwise) may either raise the bid or drop out. Each bid is announced to all players and must be divisible by 5. This means, for example, that with a starting bid of 50, the next bid must be at least 55. The bidding continues until all but one player has dropped out. That remaining player becomes the declarer, and their bid becomes the contract. Once the declarer has been established, the devil's deck is turned face up, revealing the cards to everyone. After this, the declarer picks them up into their hand and then discards the same number of cards, so that their hand has the same number of cards as the other players. The discarded cards are removed for the rest of the round and do not factor into scoring. After this has been done, the declarer may still one more time raise their contract, again to a number divisible by five. However, they can also continue with the winning bid without raising it. The final contract is announced to all players, and binds the declarer in scoring for that round. Tricks Next, tricks are played until all cards have been used. As with bidding, the rotation is clockwise. The declarer begins the first trick. Each round begins with no trump suit. Each player plays one card into the trick. The trick is won by the highest card that has the same suit as the first card played in that trick (i.e. the leading suit), or if there is a trump suit, the highest card with that suit. Cards of other suits can never win the trick. Players are restricted from which cards they can play; they must "play to beat". This means that the player must: Follow suit: The player must follow suit, or play a card of the same suit as the leading suit. For example: trick began with ♡ 8, player has ♡ 7, ♣ J: must play ♡ 7 Head the trick: If the player can follow suit, they must play a card that beats other cards already played in the trick. For example: trick has ♡ 8 and ♡ J, player has ♡ 9, ♡ Q, ♣ J: must play ♡ Q Must ruff: If the player cannot follow suit, but there is a trump suit and the player has cards of that suit, they must play that card instead of some other suit. For example: diamonds are the trump suit, trick has ♠ J, player has ♡ 7, ♢ K, ♣ J: must play ♢ K In other words, players must play: a card that is the same suit as the leading suit in the trick, and which beats all other cards of that suit already played in that trick, or if the player cannot do so, a card that is the same suit as the leading suit in the trick, or if the player cannot do so, a card that is of the trump suit if there is one, or if the player cannot do so, any other card. The player that wins the trick takes the trick cards, places them face down in their own pile in front of them and then begins (leads) the next trick. This continues until all cards have been played. Trumps A player may declare a trump suit, if: they have both a king and queen of that suit in their hand, they won the previous trick. In some rule sets, the player must have also led (played the first card in) the trick. In others, the first trump in any given round requires the player to win a trick they led, while later suits can be declared by winning tricks led by other players. The trump suit is in effect until another trump suit is declared, or until the end of the round otherwise. Each suit may be declared a trump suit only once in a round, and a player may declare at most one trump suit after each trick. Note that the player may only play the trump suit in a trick if they are unable to follow suit. Scoring After each card has been played, the score for each player is counted according to the cards in their own pile (i.e. all cards played in all of the tricks they won in that round). The scoring is as follows: each ace gives 11 points, each ten gives 10 points, each king gives 4, each queen 3, each jack 2. Finally, points are given to each player for each trump suit they declared during the round: 100 points for hearts, 80 points for diamonds, 60 for clubs, 40 for spades. Each player gets points according to the aforementioned scoring, except the declarer. If the declarer got at least as many points as their contract stipulates, they receive points according to their contract. However, if they failed to meet the contract, they get the same number of negative points instead. For example, a declarer who declared 150 as their contract can only receive 150 points or -150 points in that round, depending on whether they would have scored at least 150 points otherwise or not. In some rule sets, points may be rounded towards the closest multiple of five points. In addition, some rule sets may also apply a penalty to players who did not win a single trick during the round. Furthermore, some rule sets state that if the declarer wins all tricks in a round, all other players get negative points based on the contract, e.g. -150 points each for a contract of 150 points if the declarer wins all tricks. Finishing Rounds continue until at least one player crosses the 500-point threshold, after which the player with the most points wins. Team play In team play with two two-player teams facing each other, the following changes apply: Instead of the 'devil's deck', the declarer exchanges three or four cards with their teammate. Declaring a trump does not require a player to have both the queen and the king, only for the team to have both. If a player has only one, they may ask their teammate if they have the other. The team score is the sum of the scores of the players in each team. Strategy