PEDRO: A Fun Card Game for 4 Players!

Hey there, I want to introduce you to Pedro, a super exciting card game that you can play with your friends! It’s a trick-taking game, which means you’ll have to use your wits and strategy to win. Let me explain how it works!

The game is played with 4 players, who will split into two teams of 2. You and your teammate will sit across from each other, ready to take on the challenge!

Your objective in Pedro is to reach 62 points. Sounds simple, right? Well, here’s the catch – you have to bid on how many tricks you think your team can win in each round. And winning those tricky point cards is the key to scoring big!

LET’S GET STARTED: SETUP

Before we dive into the action, let’s go over the setup. To decide who deals the first round, we’ll just choose a random dealer. After each round, the dealer role will pass to the player on the left. It’s all fair and square!

Once the dealer is determined, they will shuffle the deck and give each player a hand of 9 cards. They’ll do this by dealing 3 cards at a time to each player. Now we’re all set, and it’s time to get bidding!

UNDERSTANDING CARD RANKINGS AND VALUES

In Pedro, I have two types of rankings – one for the trump suit and one for non-trump suits. Now, what makes Pedro different is that the trump suit can change every round, which means the rankings for the cards can also change. Here’s something interesting: the 5 of the suit that has the same color as the trump suit is also considered a trump card. So, for example, if hearts are the trumps, then the 5 of diamonds is also a trump.

Let me explain the ranking system a little further. When it comes to the trump suit, the highest-ranking card is the Ace, followed by the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 (but not just any 5, it’s the one that belongs to the suit). After that, we have another 5, but this time it’s the one from the other suit of the same color. Finally, we have the 4, 3, and 2, which are the lowest-ranking cards.

Now, for the non-trump suits, the ranking follows the same order as the trump suit, starting with the Ace as the highest-ranking card, followed by the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 (when applicable). Finally, we have the 4, 3, and 2 as the lowest-ranking cards.

In the game of Pedro, certain cards are given values for scoring. Only cards in the trump suit have points. The Ace of trump is worth 1 point, the jack of trump is worth 1 point, the ten of trump is worth 1 point, the five of trump is worth 5 points, the other 5 of trump is also worth 5 points, and the 2 of trumps is worth 1 point.

The players who win tricks with the Ace, Jack, 10, and 5s score points. The player who is dealt the 2 at the beginning of the game also scores a point.

BIDDING

The bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s left. They can choose to either bid or pass. If the player decides to bid, they must make a higher bid than the previous player. Bids can range from a minimum of 7 tricks to a maximum of 14 tricks. The goal of bidding is to have the opportunity to choose the trump suit.

If all three players before the dealer pass, then the dealer must make a minimum bid of 7 tricks.

When I win the bid, I get to choose the trump suit. Then, I have to get rid of all my non-trump cards by discarding them face down. After that, I deal enough cards to the other players to bring their hand back up to 6 cards. If they already have 6 or more cards, I don’t give them any additional cards. Additionally, I go through the remaining cards in the deck and take all the trump cards into my hand. If I don’t have enough cards to make at least 6, I have to take other non-trump cards to fill my hand.

How to Play the Game

The goal of each team is to win tricks that contain point cards. The team that won the bid also needs to win at least the number of tricks they bid in order to score their point cards.

So, you’re all ready to start the game! The player who won the bidding round will be the one to kick things off. From there, we’ll go clockwise, taking turns one by one. Now, when it’s your turn to play, you can choose any card you like to lead the way.

Here’s the catch: the other players must play a card of the same suit if they have one. But if they don’t, they have the freedom to play a trump card or any other card they fancy. The trick, you see, is won by playing the highest trump card. And if there are no trumps in play, then it’s the highest-ranked card of the suit that takes the cake. The player who wins the trick gets the honor of leading the next one.

Now, when it comes to the first trick, things get a tad bit trickier. You see, if you happen to have more than 6 cards in your hand, you’ll need to do a little housekeeping. That means you have to discard some cards into the first trick. But don’t worry, you can’t put any point-valued cards on the table. These discarded cards will just sit right under the card you actually want to play. They won’t have any impact on the trick itself. The main purpose is to even out everyone’s hand size before we move on to the second trick.

SCORING

After all the cards have been played, we need to tally up our scores. Even if you didn’t win the bid, you still get points for the cards you collected throughout the game.

If the team that made the bid manages to collect all the cards they planned to, they earn the points from those cards. However, if they fall short and don’t complete their bid, they lose the same number of points.

Ending the Game

We keep track of the scores from each round, and the first team to reach 62 points wins the game.

If both teams have at least 55 points when a new round starts, we call it a “bidder goes out” round. In this round, if the bidding team completes their bid, they win the game. But if they don’t, the scoring continues as usual, and the opposing team usually ends up winning.

If both teams reach 62 points in a regular round, we play another “bidder goes out” round to determine the winner.