How to Play
King is a four-player trick-taking game. But the rule changes every round: sometimes you avoid taking tricks, sometimes you compete to take them.
The game in short
Four players, a standard 52-card deck. Each player is dealt 13 cards and 13 tricks are played in that round.
A match is 20 rounds. The contract for each round is chosen by that round's dealer; the dealer rotates. Each penalty contract is played twice over the match, and Trump eight times — twice for each of the four suits.
How a trick is played
The player who leads plays any card they like. The players that follow must follow suit — if they hold a card of that suit they cannot play another.
Among the cards that follow suit, the highest takes the trick and that player leads the next one. Penalty contracts are played without trumps; trumps only come into play in the Trump contract, where trump beats every suit.
Seven contracts
Six are penalty contracts and one is positive. In penalty contracts the goal is to avoid the stated cards or tricks.
When a contract is taken in full: No Tricks −650, No Hearts −390, No Queens −400, No Jacks/Kings −480, Last Two Tricks −360, King of Hearts −320, Trump +650.
In penalty contracts
If you cannot follow suit you must discard the penalty card
If you hold no card of the led suit and you do hold that contract's penalty card, you must discard it. There is no such obligation in No Tricks and Last Two Tricks — you discard freely.
- No Hearts → a heart from your hand must be discarded.
- No Queens → a queen from your hand must be discarded.
- No Jacks/Kings → a jack or king from your hand must be discarded.
- King of Hearts → the king of hearts (♥K) must be discarded.
Hearts cannot be led until broken
In No Hearts and King of Hearts you cannot lead with a heart until a heart has been played in a trick. If hearts are all you hold, you must play them.
In King of Hearts, all hearts open up when you cannot follow suit
If you cannot follow the led suit and you hold hearts, all of your hearts — including the king of hearts — become playable, whether or not hearts have been broken.
In the Trump contract
In the Trump contract the goal is reversed: every trick you take earns +50. The dealer sets the trump suit as spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs.
No trump on the first trick
On the first trick of a round, trump can neither be led nor discarded when you cannot follow suit. If trumps are all you hold, you must play them.
Trump cannot be led until broken
You cannot lead with trump until a trump has been played. The one exception: if you hold the ace, king and queen of that suit, you are free to.
You must trump, and you must overtrump
If you cannot follow the led suit, you must play a trump. If a trump is already on the table and you hold a higher one, you must play that higher trump. When trump is led you must follow with trump and overtake it if you can.
Choosing a contract
The contract for each round is chosen by that round's dealer. Since the dealer rotates, everyone makes the same number of choices over a match.
The choice is not free: only contracts whose quota is not yet filled can be picked. This way, after 20 rounds each contract has been played exactly as many times as its quota.
That's all the rules. The rest happens at the table.
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