Bidding

The game begins with one round of bidding. Each player will bid how many "tricks" they will take during hand. In team format, you and your partner must acheive your combined bids but it irrelevant which partner actually takes the trick.

Example: If you bid 3 and take only 2 tricks while your partner bids 3 taking 4 tricks, you have acheived your team bid of 7 tricks. In singles (Cut) format, you have no partner so you must acheive your bid without help.

A bid that is not acheived is called a "set". Set bids are penalized 10 points per "trick" you bid. If a team bid was 7 tricks and the team took only 6 tricks, they would receive a penalty of -70.

Nil - A nil bid is a declaration that the player will not win any tricks during the hand. A successful nil scores 100 points while a set nil scores -100 points.

Blind nil - A blind nil is like a nil bid but can only be bid before you look at your cards. The value of the bid is 200 if made or -200 if set.

Blind 6 - This is a team bid only and must be bid before either partner has seen their cards. If your partner bids blind 6, you will not have the opportunity to bid. A bid of blind 6 means the team has to acheive exactly 6 tricks during the hand. If the team acheives 6 tricks, they are
awarded 120 points. If any other number of tricks are taken, team is penalized -120 points.

10 for 200 - A 10 for 200 bid is a team bid only and can be made by either partner. This bid will supersede the other partners bid. When bid, the team must acheive 10 or more tricks during the hand to be successful. Bid value is 200 or -200.

Playing the Hand

The player to the dealer's left leads any card except a spade to the first trick. Each player in turn, must follow suit if able. If player is unable to follow suit, the player may play any card. A trick containing a spade is won by the highest spade played. If the trick does not contain a spade, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit led.

Spades may not be led until either spades have been broken (played on the lead of another suit) or the leader has nothing but spades left.

Scoring

A team (or single player in cuts) that takes at least as many tricks as its bid calls for receives a score equal to 10 times its bid. Additional tricks (overtricks) are worth an extra one point each.

Bags

A team (or single player in cuts) that accumulates ten or more overtricks has 100 points deducted from its score. Any overtricks beyond ten are carried over to the next cycle of ten overtricks.