मेंढीकोट · મેંઢીકોટ · the tens game of Maharashtra and Gujarat
Mendikot is a four-player partnership card game from western India in which the tens, not the tricks, decide the round. Capture three of the four tens and your side wins; capture all four and it is a mendikot, worth double. The play is trick-taking with a trump, so anyone who knows Court Piece sits down and plays within a minute — and then loses, because the counting is different.
The mendi is the ten. The word comes from the Gujarati mindum, zero, for the 0 in "10" — and kot is the same court that ends a Court Piece round early: a clean sweep. A mendikot, then, is the sweep of the tens. The game is played across Maharashtra and Gujarat and wherever families from there have moved, and it is spelled Mendicot and Mendhikot on the way. Rung Royal spells it Mendikot.
Thirteen cards each, dealt out in one go. There is no five-card look and no call: nobody names a trump in Mendikot. That is the first thing a Court Piece player has to unlearn.
The trump is closed — the band — when play begins. It stays closed until the first time somebody cannot follow the suit led. The card that player throws sets the trump for the rest of the hand, whatever it is. A two of clubs thrown because you were out of spades makes clubs the trump. This is the version played in Rung Royal; some families settle the trump with a face-down card before play, and the rest of the rules are the same.
The tens travel with the tricks. Whoever wins a trick with a ten in it has captured that ten, and a side's captured tens are turned face up so both teams can count.
| Result | Who wins | Worth |
|---|---|---|
| Three tens to one side | That side — a mendi | One round |
| All four tens to one side | That side — a mendikot | Double |
| Two tens each | The side with seven or more tricks | One round |
| All thirteen tricks | That side — a whitewash | Everything |
A whitewash carries all four tens by definition, so it is a mendikot and more: thirteen tricks without the other side touching a card. Families play it as the score that ends the evening.
The two games are cousins. The trick mechanics are identical; the object is not, and the object changes every decision.
| Mendikot | Court Piece | |
|---|---|---|
| What you count | Tens captured | Tricks (haath) won |
| Wins the round | Three of four tens | Seven of thirteen tricks |
| Who sets the trump | Nobody — the first card that cannot follow suit | One player, on five cards |
| The big score | Mendikot: all four tens | Kot: seven tricks in a row |
| A trick with no ten | Nearly worthless | One step to seven |
| Home | Maharashtra, Gujarat | North India, Pakistan |
In Court Piece you can lose the round with all four tens in your pile. In Mendikot you can lose nine tricks and still win, because three tens fell your way. Court Piece rules are on the Court Piece rules page; the shorter Mendikot rules card is at Mendikot rules.
Rung Royal plays Mendikot as one of its game modes — the band version above, with the tens counted for you and the round called in the words the table uses: mendi, mendikot, whitewash. A full four-seat table offline against three bots, in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi and English. Free, with no coins and no gambling. Readers of Marathi and Gujarati have this page in their own language: मेंढीकोट कसा खेळायचा and મેંઢીકોટ કેવી રીતે રમવો; the Court Piece rules are also in Marathi and Gujarati.
Play Mendikot free in Rung Royal →
Mendikot is a four-player partnership card game from Maharashtra and Gujarat, played with a standard 52-card pack. Tricks are played as in Court Piece, but the round is won by the side that captures three of the four tens. All four tens is a mendikot, worth double.
Exactly four, in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite. Every player gets thirteen cards, so the whole pack is in play and all four tens are somewhere on the table.
Nobody. In the band version Rung Royal plays, the trump stays closed until the first time a player cannot follow suit. Whatever card they play sets the trump for the rest of the hand.
The tens are tied, so tricks decide. The partnership that won seven or more of the thirteen tricks takes the round.
Yes. Rung Royal has Mendikot as a game mode: a full four-seat table offline against three bots, in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi or English, free, with no coins and no gambling.
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