Discard all 7's, 8's, and 9's from the deck. These cards aren't required for play.
Choose a dealer by whichever means.
The dealer deals out all cards to every player.
Cards rank (from low to high): 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, J, Q, K, 10, A.
Note: This game is usually played with an Italian 40-card deck, where there are no 8's, 9's, or 10's.
The player left of the dealer starts the bidding by naming any rank. Subsequent bids must be lower in rank. If a player bids '2', players may bid '2' with a point value between 60 and 120. This number represents the number of points a player thinks their team will win (which they will then need to achieve in order to win). These subsequent point bids must be higher in value.
Players may also pass, and sit out the rest of the auction.
Example: Alice bids 'Ace', Bob passes, Charlie bids '5', David bids '2', Elliot bids '2, 70', Alice bids '2, 71', etc.
The player that wins the auction gets to name the trump suit for the round.
The players are then split into 2 teams:
The player who holds the matching card must not reveal themselves to anyone. This person may also be the auction winner.
Example: #1 - Alice wins the bid with 'J', and chooses 'Hearts' as the trump suit. David has the Jack of Hearts, so is secretly on Alice's team.
Example: #2 - Charlie wins the bid with '5', and chooses 'Clubs' as the trump suit. Charlie has the 5 of Clubs, so is secretly in a team on their own.
The auction winner starts the first trick by placing a card from their hand to the center of the table. This card is the turn suit.
Each player then, in turn going clockwise, places a card from their hand to the center of the table in an attempt to win the trick.
Note: Unlike other trick-taking games, any card can be played following the lead card.
Once everyone has placed 1 card, determine the winner of that round's trick:
Once 8 rounds have been played, players reveal themselves as to which team they were on, and score their tricks. The amount of tricks doesn't matter. Instead, scoring is based on the card ranks in the tricks:
| Rank | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 11 |
| Ten | 10 |
| King | 4 |
| Queen | 3 |
| Jack | 2 |
All other ranks score 0.
The total amount of points in a deck is 120, so the team with a combined trick score of at least 61 points, or the number of points bid, scores game points. The winning team scores positive points, and the losing team scores negative points.
| Bid Points | AW's team (with teammate)* | AW's team (alone)* | Other team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61-70 | ±2 | ±4 | ±1 |
| 71-80 | ±4 | ±8 | ±2 |
| 81-90 | ±6 | ±12 | ±3 |
| 91-100 | ±8 | ±16 | ±4 |
| 101+ | ±10 | ±20 | ±5 |
Note: *AW = Auction Winner