Welcome to Bugami!

Bugami is a super cool card game created by the amazing David Parlett. It’s kind of like Hearts, but with a twist. In Bugami, the goal is to avoid winning tricks that have a specific suit. But here’s the catch: each player has a different suit to avoid!

The Cards and the Deal

For Bugami, you’ll need a regular deck of 52 cards. The 2s are the lowest cards, and the Aces are the highest. But that’s not all! Each player will also need one card from each suit from a separate deck. These cards will be used to show which suit you want to avoid. Make sure you place these cards face down in front of you, so you don’t mix them up with the rest of the deck.

Alright, let’s get started! First, we need to decide who will be the first dealer and keep track of the scores throughout the game. So, deal the deck of cards evenly among all the players, one card at a time. If there are any leftover cards, set them aside for now. Make sure to keep them face down so no one knows what they are.

Now, it’s time to play!

Choosing a Suit to Avoid:

Before each round starts, each player will decide which suit they want to avoid capturing. This is done at the same time by flipping over the suit avoidance card. If a player believes they won’t capture any tricks, they can leave all their suit avoidance cards face down.

Let the Game Begin!

When we play a card game, it’s important to know the rules. Let me explain how this one works.

The game starts with the player on the left of the dealer. They have to lead the trick by playing a card. Then, each player after that must follow suit if they can. If they don’t have a card of the same suit, they can play any card. The trick is won by the player who plays the highest card of the same suit as the one that was led. And the player who captures the trick gets to lead the next one.

But here’s an interesting twist. The player who wins the final trick also gets all the leftover cards from the deal, if there are any. It’s like a little bonus for them!

Now, onto the scoring. Pay attention!

For each trick they capture, a player earns 10 points. Once they add up all the points, they divide that total by the number of cards they have in the suit they tried to avoid. Make sure to round down the result. Let me give you an example. Let’s say a player captured 4 tricks, which would be 40 points. And they had 2 cards in the suit they wanted to avoid. In that case, they would earn 20 points for that round. Got it? Good!

Another example: If a player captured 5 tricks but had 3 avoided cards, they would earn 16 points. It’s a clever way of rewarding skillful play!

If I don’t capture any cards of the suit I wanted to avoid, I get double points. So, if I capture four tricks with no avoided suits, I earn 80 points.

WINNING

The first player to earn 250 points or more wins the game.

The first player to earn 250 points or more wins the game.