65

Contributed by KUROMIYA Kimihiko .

Players and Cards

65 is a trick-taking game by four people, two against two as partners, facing each other.  Deal and play are clockwise.

A deck of 48 cards is used (from a standard deck of cards the 2s and jokers are removed).  The cards rank from highest to lowest: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3.  Spades are fixed trumps.

Deal

The first dealer is chosen at random.  The turn to deal rotates clockwise.

The dealer deals each player 12 cards, one at a time, beginning with the player on her/his left.

Play

The player on the dealer’s left leads any card from her/his hand to the first trick.  Each player in turn, in clockwise order, plays a card to the trick, following the suit led if possible.  A player may play any card if s/he is unable to follow the suit led.

A trick is won by the highest trump (i.e. the highest spade) if played: otherwise the trick is won by the highest card of the suit led.  The winner of the trick takes the card her/his partner has played, and places it face down in front of her/him.  The other three cards played (including the one the winner of the trick has played) are taken by the winner’s opponents, and placed face down onto the opponents’ pile at a corner of the table.  (Don’t mix the cards of your side with those of the opponents’.)

The winner of the trick leads to the next trick.

Scoring

At the end of the play, each side scores as follows:

1. Two points for each trick the side has won, plus one extra point for the side that won the last trick.  (Note that the number of the tricks your side has won agrees with the total number of the cards in front of you and your partner. After you have counted how many tricks your side has won, put those cards onto your pile of cards you took from tricks won by the opponents.)
2. Four points for each ace the side has taken; three for each king; two for each queen; and one point for each jack.

The total of the points is 65 (25 for winning tricks plus 40 for cards), and the side with 33 points or more scores one game point: if a side has reached 41 points or more, then it scores two game points instead of one.

The first team that scores five game points (or any other number agreed in advance) wins the game.