Trix Partnership rules

The game has 4 Kingdoms with five contracts each, so 20 deals. After the 20 deals the team with the higher Team Total wins; the Team Total is the sum of the two partners' cumulative scores. Most contracts give negative points, so the aim is to avoid taking penalty cards (and pass them to the opponents) and to earn as many positive Trix points (+200/+150/+100/+50) as possible.

If the two Team Totals are exactly equal the match ends in a draw; there is no 21st deal.

4 players in two teams, with partners seated opposite each other: seats 0 and 2 against seats 1 and 3. Play runs counter-clockwise. A player never sees his partner's cards, and no hand is shown to spectators.

Every player gets a turn as Kingdom owner and chooses the order of the contracts in his own Kingdom (a partner's Kingdom is chosen by the partner while the others wait). Every penalty or reward is first recorded for the individual player who took it, then added up for the team.

The game uses a standard 52-card deck with no Jokers. There is no trump in any contract.

Card strength in the trick-taking contracts, highest to lowest: A > K > Q > J > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2 (the Ace is highest).

Two cards have a special role in the rules: the 7♥ (it decides who owns the first Kingdom) and the K♥ (the King of Hearts).

A match has 4 Kingdoms. The owner of the first Kingdom is the holder of the 7♥ in the first deal. After all contracts of a Kingdom have been played, ownership passes to the player on the right (the next seat counter-clockwise).

Each Kingdom has five contracts, each played exactly once, in the order the Kingdom owner chooses. Each contract is one deal with a fresh shuffle, so 4 × 5 = 20 deals per match.

1. K♥ — the King of Hearts
2. Queens
3. Diamonds
4. Ltoosh
5. Trix (card layout)

Every player receives 13 cards in each deal. In ERAM CARDS the cards are reshuffled for every deal and dealt one at a time starting at seat 0 (there is no dealer); a reconnecting player never causes a redeal or reshuffle.

At the start of each deal the Kingdom owner chooses one of the contracts not yet played in his Kingdom. A contract already played in the same Kingdom cannot be chosen again. The last remaining contract is mandatory and starts by itself with no choice. If the choosing time runs out, the first unplayed contract in the order K♥, Queens, Diamonds, Ltoosh, Trix is chosen automatically.

The Kingdom owner leads the first trick. Following suit is compulsory: if you hold a card of the suit that was led you must play one. If you have none of that suit you may play any card. There is no trump. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick and its owner leads the next trick. A deal has 13 tricks. An off-suit card never wins.

There are four trick-taking contracts. In each, the player who takes (wins the trick containing) the card or the trick receives a negative score:

• K♥ contract: whoever takes the K♥ gets −75.
• Queens contract: every Queen a player takes is −25 (four Queens).
• Diamonds contract: every ♦ a player takes is −10 (thirteen diamonds).
• Ltoosh contract: every trick a player takes is −15 (13 tricks).

In the K♥ contract Queens and diamonds score nothing, and in the Queens contract diamonds and the K♥ score nothing; each contract scores only what it names.

In the K♥, Queens and Diamonds contracts the game may end the deal early once all the penalty cards have been captured (the K♥, or all four Queens, or all thirteen diamonds), because the remaining tricks carry no penalty; the scores are exactly the same as playing the deal to the end, and cards left in hands are not scored. In Ltoosh all 13 tricks are always played.

The Trix contract is not a trick-taking contract: it is a card-laying contract. Each suit forms a row (a chain) that starts with its Jack and grows in two directions:

• Upward: J → Q → K → A
• Downward: J → 10 → 9 → 8 → 7 → 6 → 5 → 4 → 3 → 2

A card is legal if it is either (1) the Jack of a suit that has not started yet, or (2) a card of a suit whose row has started and it sits directly next to one end of that suit's chain (the upper end or the lower end).

If you have a legal card you MUST play one. You may PASS only when you have no legal card. A pass while holding a legal card is rejected.

The Kingdom owner plays first, then play continues counter-clockwise; a player whose hand is empty is skipped. In ERAM CARDS the game automatically plays your only legal card, or your forced pass, after a short delay (the operator sets it and it can be turned off); you can still act before the delay ends.

The order in which players empty their hands is the finishing order: 1st +200, 2nd +150, 3rd +100, 4th +50. When three players have emptied their hands the remaining player is automatically 4th (+50) and the deal ends at once.

Doubling is decided by the holder of the card alone, before the first trick, and the doubled card is revealed (a ×2 mark) before play starts.

Doubling is allowed in two contracts only: the K♥ contract (only the K♥ can be doubled) and the Queens contract (any of the four Queens can be doubled). Diamonds, Ltoosh and Trix cannot be doubled, and no contract can be doubled as a whole. In ERAM CARDS a card can be doubled only in the contract where it carries a penalty.

The doubled penalty replaces the plain penalty of that card (a doubled Queen costs its taker −50, not −25 plus −50). Doubling never changes the sum of the four players' scores in the deal (−150 + 75 = −75, −50 + 25 = −25).

In ERAM CARDS the doubling window is simultaneous and hidden for everyone holding a doublable card: each such holder answers once (double or not); answers stay hidden until all have answered or the window time (set by the operator) runs out, then all doubles are revealed at once and play starts. A holder who does not answer in time does not double. A player with no doublable card is never asked.

The three cases when a doubled card is taken (D = the doubler, T = the player who wins the trick containing the card):

If the doubled card is in the trick but is not the card that decides it (a higher card of the led suit wins), the first case applies.

The rules here follow the Jawaker profile. Extras known elsewhere are not used: no heart-lead restriction in the K♥ contract (the K♥ may be led in any trick, including the first), no special redeal for four 2s or three 2s plus a 3, and no revealing of 2s to any player or partner. Hands are played as dealt.

Points of each contract (recorded for the individual player who took the card or trick, or who finished his hand):

With doubling:

Trix finishing places:

A complete Kingdom (all five contracts, undoubled) sums to zero (−75 −100 −130 −195 +500), so after complete Kingdoms the four cumulative scores add up to zero.

Every penalty or reward is first recorded for the individual player who took it (each player's own score stays visible), then:

Team Total = the exact sum of the two partners' cumulative scores (seats 0 and 2 together, seats 1 and 3 together).

• A partner taking a penalty costs the team; an opponent taking it helps the team.
• Trix awards go to the individual players by the order they empty their hands; partners may finish, for example, 1st and 3rd.
• Doubling is personal (the doubler does not consult his partner) but it affects whole teams through the Team Total.
• After complete Kingdoms the two Team Totals add up to zero.

After the 20th deal (the end of the fourth Kingdom) the two Team Totals are compared: the team with the higher total wins. If they are exactly equal the result is a draw for all four seats and no extra deal is played. Totals may be negative.

• Before choosing a contract (as Kingdom owner) look at your hand: every contract is played once, and the last one is mandatory.
• In trick contracts remember that following suit is compulsory; when you are void you can dump a penalty card on someone else.
• Doubling moves the penalty to whoever takes the card and rewards you, but if you take it yourself the result is only −75 / −25 (the original penalty).
• In Trix you may not pass while you hold a legal card; the Jacks are the only cards that open a suit.
• You cannot see your partner's cards, but everything you take affects your team's total.

• Kingdom — A cycle of five deals owned by one player; a match has 4 Kingdoms.
• Kingdom owner — The player who chooses the order of contracts and leads the first trick in trick contracts.
• Deal — One distribution of cards in which one contract is played.
• Trick — One card from each player; the highest card of the led suit wins it.
• K♥ — The King of Hearts.
• Queens — The four Q cards.
• Ltoosh — The contract where every trick costs its taker −15.
• Trix (layout) — The card-laying contract with rows that start at the Jack.
• PASS — Skipping a turn; in Trix allowed only when you have no legal card.
• Doubling — Doubling the penalty of the K♥ or a Queen before the first trick.
• Taker — The player who wins the trick containing the card.
• Legal card — In Trix: a Jack of an unstarted suit, or a card next to an end of its suit's chain.
• No trump — There is no winning suit; only the highest card of the led suit wins.
• Team Total — The sum of the two partners' cumulative scores.
• Partner — The player seated opposite you.