Court Piece · Mendikot · 29 · Hokm · Three-Two-Five
Most of the card games played in Indian and Pakistani homes are trick-taking games: everyone plays one card, the best card takes the haath, and a round is won by taking enough of them. They share a skeleton and differ in what counts — tricks, tens, points — and in how the trump is chosen. This page is the map.
Four players, two partnerships, trump named on five cards. Seven haath win the round; the first seven straight is a kot. The most-played game across North India and Pakistan, and the one to learn first: the rules fit on one page and the skill lasts a lifetime. Rules · Variants · Coat Piece spelling.
Maharashtra and Gujarat's answer. Same four seats and trump, but the tens are what you are fighting for: capture three of the four tens to win the hand, all four for a mendikot, all thirteen tricks for the whitewash. Nobody calls the trump: it is set by the first card played by someone who cannot follow suit, or — in the band version — by a card laid face down before play and turned up the first time someone cannot follow. Mendikot rules.
Bengal, Nepal and the North-East. A 32-card pack, bidding for the right to name trump, and card points that add to 28 (the jack is worth three, the nine two). The bidder's side must make its bid. Faster and sharper than Court Piece; the same instincts about following suit and holding trump apply.
The Persian relative. Four players in partnerships, the hakem names the trump on five cards, seven tricks win. If you know Court Piece you know Hokm; the two are one game with a border between them.
Three players, a stripped 30-card pack, and each player must take a set number of tricks — three, two and five — with debts settled in cards the next hand. Cut-throat rather than partnership; a wonderful game for three.
Court Piece. It is the one most families around you already play, so you will get games; its rules are the base the others build on; and it plays well against bots while you learn, which is what Rung Royal is for.
Play Court Piece and Mendikot free →
A game where each player plays one card to the table in turn, and the best card takes the "trick" (haath). Court Piece, Mendikot, Hokm, Bridge, Whist and 29 are all trick-taking games.
Court Piece / Rang (North India, Pakistan), Mendikot (Maharashtra, Gujarat), 29 / Twenty-Nine (Bengal, Nepal), Three-Two-Five (Pakistan, North India), and Satat / Sat Haath among others.
Court Piece: follow suit, trump wins, seven haath wins. A newcomer can play a full round in ten minutes; the depth is in choosing the trump on five cards and playing with a partner.
A few rounds a day. Without internet, Rung Royal gives you three free rounds a day of Court Piece (Single Sir, Double Sir, Hidden Rung and Be-Ranga) or Mendikot against three bots, and with Remove Ads you can play offline any time. With internet there is no limit, and an online private table for family — free, no gambling.
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