29 Card Game

Description

29 Game is the most popular game in South Asia and 143Play- The ultimate Engine brings that only for you.
It is a best online version of 29 card game which can be played online and offline.

Introduction

This is one of a group of South Asian trick-taking games in which the Jack and the Nine are the highest cards in every suit. It is almost certain that they are descended from the European family of Jass games, which originated in the Netherlands. Probably they were brought to the Indian subcontinent by Dutch traders.

I do not have much information on the geographic distribution of 29, but I have the impression that it is popular across much of the northern part of India, including Bombay and West Bengal, and also in Bangladesh.

The descriptions of this game I have seen disagree with each other in many details. Probably there are many variations: possibly the game is played different ways by players in different parts of India and abroad. I would be very grateful if any experienced 29 players reading this could write to me with more details of these and other variations of this game, and the areas where they are played.

Players and Cards

29 is usually played by four players in fixed partnerships, partners facing each other.

32 cards from a standard 52-card pack are used for play. There are eight cards in each of the usual "French" suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. The cards in every suit rank from high to low: J-9-A-10-K-Q-8-7. The aim of the game is to win tricks containing valuable cards. The values of the cards are:

Jacks 3 points each
Nines 2 points each
Aces 1 point each
Tens 1 point each
Other cards (K, Q, 8, 7) no points
This gives a total of 28 points for cards. In some versions of the game, the last trick is worth an extra card point, for a total of 29: this total explains the name of the game. Most players nowadays do not count the point for the last trick, but the name of the game is still 29, even when playing this version with only 28 points.

Traditionally, the Twos, Threes Fours and Fives discarded from the full 52-card pack are used as trump indicators: each player takes a set of these cards, one of each suit. The Sixes are used to keep score: each partnership uses one red and one black Six for this purpose.

Deal and Bidding

Deal and play are clockwise; the cards are shuffled by the dealer and cut by the player to dealer's right. Four cards are then dealt to each player, one at a time.

Based on these four cards, players bid for the right to choose trumps. Each bid is a number, and the highest bidder undertakes that his or her side will win in tricks at least the number of points bid. The player to dealer's left speaks first, and subsequent players, in clockwise order, may either bid higher or pass. The minimum bid allowed is 15 and the maximum is 28 (assuming that the point for the last trick is not counted). If any player bids, the auction continues for as many rounds as necessary until three players pass in succession. If the first three players pass, the dealer is forced to bid 15, which ends the auction.

The final bidder chooses a trump suit and to indicate the chosen suit, arranges the face down pile of Twos to Fives that are not used in the play so that a card of the chosen suit is at the bottom, but does not show this card to the other players. The dealer then completes the deal, giving four more cards to each player, so that everyone has eight.

The Play

The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick; players must follow suit if possible, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. Initially the trump suit is unknown to the players other than the bidder. The first player who is unable to follow suit must ask the bidder to declare the trump suit; the bidder then shows the trump indicator card to everyone. If the bidder is the first player unable to follow suit, he must declare what suit is trumps at that point. A player unable to follow suit may play any card; there is no obligation to play a trump, even for the player who required trumps to be declared. Starting from the trick during which the trump suit is declared, each trick is won by the highest trump in it, or by the highest card of the suit led if it contains no trumps.

At any time after the trump has been declared, a player who holds both the King and Queen of trumps in hand can declare them immediately after he or his partner has won a trick. This combination is called 'Royals', or a 'Pair'. Note that a player who originally held the King and Queen of trumps cannot declare them if one or both of them has already been played, and that they can only be declared after the declaring side has won either the trick during which trumps were declared or a later trick. If the Pair is declared by the bidder or his partner, the effect is to reduce by 4 the number of card points they require to fulfill their bid, subject to a minimum of 15; if an opponent of the bidder declares a Pair, it increases the number of points required by the bidding side by 4, subject to a maximum of 28 (assuming there is no point for the last trick).

Scoring

When all eight tricks have been played, each side counts the card points in the tricks it has won, the winners of the last trick adding an extra card point. If the bidding side took at least as many card points as they bid, adjusted for a declaration of a Pair if appropriate, they win one game point; otherwise they lose one game point. The score of the team playing against the bidder does not change.

Each side keeps score using a red Six (known as nali or red chaka) and a black Six (known as kala or black chaka), from the cards not used in the game. These are arranged to display either a number of red pips, representing a positive score, or a number of black pips, for a negative score. At the start of the game no pips are showing. If the bidding side wins, they expose one extra red pip or (if they had black pips showing) cover one black pip; if they lose they expose a black pip or cover a red pip. The game is won by the first team to reach a cumulative score of plus 6 game points, shown by six red pips. It also ends if a team reaches minus 6 game points (six black pips), thereby losing the game. [Source: pagat]