29 Card Game Rules: How to Play Twenty-Nine

The odd card order is the first thing that trips new players up. The Jack is the top card and the Nine is second, ahead of the Ace. Some groups add one point for winning the last trick, which is where the 29 comes from.

1. Deal four cards to each player.
2. Starting next to the dealer, players bid the number of points their team will win, or pass. Most groups start at 16 and go up to 28. Each bid must be higher than the last.
3. The highest bidder chooses trump and places one card of that suit face down. Nobody else knows the suit yet.
4. Deal four more cards each, so everyone holds eight.

Bid on your four cards plus a guess at your partner's. A Jack and a Nine in the same suit is a strong start; a hand of Kings and Queens looks nice and is worth nothing.

The player next to the dealer leads. Everyone must follow suit if they can. The first time a player can't follow suit, they can ask for the trump to be shown: the bidder turns the hidden card face up, and from then on trumps work as normal. A trick goes to the highest trump in it, or the highest card of the suit led.

At the end, each team counts the points in the tricks it won (not the number of tricks). If the bidding team has at least its bid, it wins the round. If not, the other team wins it.

Your team bids 18 with hearts as trump. At the end of the eight tricks you've collected J♥, J♣, 9♥, 9♠, A♦, 10♣ and a pile of Kings, Queens, 8s and 7s.

Six good cards made only 12 points, well short of the 18 you bid.

Holding the King and Queen of trump together is called the Pair. Once trump has been shown, the player holding it can declare it. If the bidding team declares the Pair, its target drops by 4; if the other team declares it, the bidding team's target goes up by 4. Most rules keep the target between 16 and 28, and many say your team must have won at least one trick before you can declare.

The Pair is where house rules differ most. Some apps add 4 points instead of moving the target, and some don't use it at all. Settle it before the first deal.

Each round won is worth one game point to the winning team, and each round lost costs the bidding team one. Many groups mark the score with the low cards left out of the deck (the 2s to 6s) and play to six. Doubling and redoubling are popular extras that make a round worth two or four game points.

29 is one of the Diwali card games families pull out every year. If your table prefers a simpler team game, try Mendicot.

Rules checked against Pagat's Twenty-Nine reference page. Some tables use a 16-point minimum bid instead of 15 — confirm before you start.