Rung — the card game

Rang · Hukum · Hokm · Court Piece

Ask for a game of cards in Lahore, Amritsar, Delhi or Karachi and the answer is usually one word: Rung. It is the trump-suit partnership game played at weddings, in trains, on charpais and now on phones — the same game the English-speaking world files under Court Piece and Iran calls Hokm.

Rung means the trump

The word is rang, colour. When the caller looks at five cards and says "hukum" or "paan", they have named the rung: for the rest of the round that suit beats every other. A small rung card cuts an ace of any other suit. Choosing it well on five cards, and then not wasting it, is the entire art.

How a round goes

• The call. Five cards each; the player on the dealer's right names the rung. Everyone then gets their remaining eight.
• The haath. The caller leads. Follow suit if you can. If you cannot, cut with rung or throw anything.
• Winning. Highest rung takes it; failing that, highest of the led suit. The winner leads next.
• The round. Seven of thirteen haath wins. Seven straight from the first haath is a kot.

Every family plays a variant of the claim rule — Single Sir, Double Sir, Hidden Rung, Be-Ranga — and they are explained here. Full rules: Court Piece rules.

Rung on the phone, without the arguments

Rung Royal lets you set the house rules once — the variant, whether an ace beats an ace, whether the rung ace is the highest card — and then plays exactly that, offline against bots with their own habits or online with your own family at a private table. Eight languages, free, no gambling.

Play Rung free on Android →

Questions people ask

What does "rung" mean in cards?

Rung (or rang, रंग) means colour, and in the game it means the trump suit. "Rung bolo" is the call to name the trump. The game itself is often just called Rung.

Is Rung the same as Hokm?

Essentially yes. Hokm is the Persian name of the same partnership trick-taking game; Rung / Rang is the name in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi; Court Piece or Coat Piece in English. Small house rules differ, the game does not.

Who chooses the rung?

The player to the dealer's right, looking at only their first five cards. That is the whole tension of the game: you commit to a trump before you have seen your hand.

Which app is best for Rung?

Rung Royal plays Rung with the real house rules (Single Sir, Double Sir, Hidden Rung, Be-Ranga), offline against bots or online at a private table, in eight Indian languages, free and without gambling.