Twenty-Nine

Twenty-Nine is played with 32 cards (7 to Ace) by two partnerships: you and North against West and East. Cards rank J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 (highest first) and carry points: Jack 3, Nine 2, Ace 1, Ten 1 — 28 points in the deck.

Bidding

• Everyone gets 4 cards. Starting left of the dealer, players bid how many card points their team will take (16 to 28) or pass. If all pass, the dealer must bid 16.
• The highest bidder secretly chooses trump by setting aside a card of that suit face down. Then 4 more cards are dealt.

Play

• The player left of the dealer leads. You must follow suit if you can.
• If you can't follow, you may ask for trump to be revealed. Once revealed, if you hold a trump you must play one in that trick. Before trump is revealed, trump-suit cards have no special power.
• Highest trump wins the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led.
• Pair: a player holding the K and Q of trump after it is revealed (once their team has won a trick) declares a pair: the bid drops by 4 if it is the bidding team, or rises by 4 if it is the opponents (limits 16–28).

Scoring

If the bidding team takes at least its bid in card points it wins +1 game point, otherwise it loses one. First team to +6 wins; a team falling to −6 loses.

Tap a highlighted card to play (keyboard: Tab/arrows + Enter).