Rules of Joker
Joker is a Georgian trick-taking card game for four players, each playing for themselves. Before every deal you say how many tricks you will take, and you score by how exactly you make it. These are the rules we play by on JokerX.
The cards and the players
Four players, each for themselves. The deck has 36 cards: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 and 6 in all four suits, except that the two black sixes (6♠ and 6♣) are replaced by two jokers. Aces are high, sixes low.
Deals and pulkas
A game is a series of deals grouped into four pulkas. The classic game has 24 deals:
- first pulka: 8 deals, from 1 card up to 8 (one more each time);
- second pulka: four deals of 9 cards;
- third pulka: 8 deals, from 8 cards down to 1;
- fourth pulka: four deals of 9 cards again.
Nines has four pulkas of four 9-card deals each: 16 deals in all. The dealer moves on to the next player with every deal.
Trump
When each player gets fewer than 9 cards, the next card of the deck is turned face up after the deal and its suit is trump. If it's a joker, the deal has no trump.
In a 9-card deal the whole deck is dealt and no card is left to turn. So the player to the dealer's left first sees their first three cards and chooses a trump suit or no trump; everyone gets the rest of their cards after that.
Bidding
Starting from the dealer's left, each player says how many tricks they will take, from 0 (a pass) up to the number of cards in their hand. The dealer bids last and may not make the bids add up to the number of tricks in the deal, so at least one player always misses.
Playing a deal
The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick; whoever takes a trick leads the next. You must follow the suit that was led; if you can't, you must play a trump; if you have no trump either, play any card. A joker can always be played.
The highest trump takes the trick; if nobody played a trump, the highest card of the suit led does.
The joker
A joker is played either high (it takes the trick) or low (it gives the trick away).
Leading with a joker, you say high or low and name the suit the others must play:
- High: the others must play their highest card of that suit. If they have none and that suit isn't trump, they must play a trump if they have one. The joker takes the trick, with one exception: if the named suit isn't trump and someone played a trump, the highest trump takes it.
- Low: the others follow the named suit as usual, and the joker gives the trick away.
Played on someone else's lead, a high joker takes the trick and a low one gives it away. If both jokers are played high in the same trick, the second one takes it.
Scoring and the pulka bonus
Points are scored after every deal:
| What happened | Points |
|---|---|
| Bid 1 or more and took exactly that many | bid × 50 + 50 (3 → 200) |
| Bid every trick and took them all | bid × 100 (5 of 5 → 500) |
| Bid 0 (a pass) and took none | 50 |
| Missed the bid but took some tricks | 10 per trick taken |
| Bid 1 or more and took none | −200 (−500 in a 9-card deal) |
Pulka bonus: if you make your bid in every deal of a pulka (passes included), your best score of that pulka is added once more.
The winner
After the last deal, the highest total wins.
The rules are easiest to learn by playing: play now, or practise against bots first.