Welcome to Rifki, the Turkish King game!

I’m here to guide you through this exciting compendium game designed for 4 players. The main objective is to achieve the highest score among all players by strategically winning or avoiding winning tricks throughout the 20 deals. Each player will have the chance to declare 5 times during the game.

Getting Started: Setup

Let’s set up the game. To determine the first declarer, we’ll choose a player randomly. The dealer will be the player seated to their left, and the player on their right will be responsible for cutting the deck. After each deal, the declarer will pass the role to the player on their right.

The dealer will shuffle the deck and then have the cutter make a cut. The cards will be dealt counterclockwise, one by one, until each player has a 13-card hand. When all the cards have been dealt, the declarer will have the exciting opportunity to choose their contract. This decision will heavily influence their strategy.

Understanding Card Ranking

In the world of Turkish King, the ranking of cards is steeped in tradition. The Ace reigns supreme, followed by the regal King, the graceful Queen, and the adventurous Jack. The numerical cards follow suit, descending from the number 10 all the way down to the lowly 2. It’s important to note that the higher-ranked cards hold more power and influence in the game.

Contracts: A Choice of Paths

When it comes to contracts, there are two distinct paths to choose from. The first path leads to the realm of trump contracts, also known as kozlars. These contracts involve the declaration of a special trump suit, which holds a higher rank than all the other suits. The second path, on the other hand, takes us down the road of negative contracts, also known as cezalars. Here, players have a choice of six different types of negative contracts to embark upon. During the game, the player must declare a contract a total of five times. They have the opportunity to choose a trump contract twice and a negative contract three times.

The Power of Trump Contracts

When I play a trump contract, I get to choose a suit to be the trump suit. But I can’t choose to have no-trumps. After I choose the trump suit, I lead the first trick. My goal is to win tricks and earn points. The way I play goes like this:

Negative Contracts

When I play a negative contract, there are no trumps. My goal is to avoid winning tricks or certain cards that are called penalty cards. There are 6 types of negative contracts: Rıfkı, Girls (also called Kiz), Boys (also called Erkek), Hearts (also called Kupa), Last Two (also called Son Iki), and No Tricks (also known as El Almaz). I can only choose each type of negative contract twice in each game.

When it comes to the game of Rıfkı, there’s one card that you don’t want to win – the king of hearts. If you end up with that card in a trick, you’re going to lose a whopping 320 points. It’s like a black cloud hanging over your head.

Now, let’s talk about Kiz. In this game, it’s the queens that can drag you down. If you win a queen in a trick, you’ll lose 100 points. Ouch, right?

Erkek is a game where you need to avoid the kings and jacks. If you happen to win one of them in a trick, you’ll see 60 points disappear from your score. It’s a real shame when that happens.

Lastly, we have Kupa. In this game, the hearts are the cards that can really sting. If you win a heart in a trick, it’s going to cost you negative 30 points. Those little hearts seem harmless, but they can really add up.

So, when you’re playing these games, keep these negative-scoring cards in mind. They can really throw a wrench in your plans. Good luck!

In the game Son Iki, the last two tricks can actually cost you points. If you win either of those tricks, you’ll lose 180 points.

In the game El Almaz, all tricks are worth negative points. In fact, each trick you win will result in a loss of 50 points.

When it comes to gameplay, things go like this: The declarer starts each deal, and the game is played counterclockwise. The specifics of the game vary depending on the contract declared, but they all have one thing in common: After each deal, players tally up their points and keep a running total throughout the entire game.

Now, let me tell you about the contract known as Kozlar.

When we play a game called trump contract, it’s a lot like other trick-taking games. I get to lead the first trick, and everyone else has to play a card of the same suit if they can. If they don’t have a card of the same suit, they have to play a trump card if they have one. And if they can’t do either of those things, they can play any card they want. The trick is won by the highest-ranked trump card, or if there are no trumps, by the highest card of the suit I led. And the person who wins a trick gets to lead the next one. It’s a pretty straightforward game, but it can also be a bit tricky!

Penalties

So, let’s talk about what happens in a game of negative contracts. First, the person who made the contract gets to start by leading the first trick. Everybody else has to follow the same rules for leading, depending on the contract we’re playing. If we’re playing a contract with penalty cards, and someone has already played a higher card of the same suit, then we have to play a penalty card, even if it doesn’t match the suit. If we can’t follow suit, then we have to play a penalty card if we can, otherwise, we can play any card we want. The winner of each trick is the person who played the highest card of the suit that was led, and they get to lead the next trick.

If a player wins any penalty cards in a trick, they have to place those cards in front of them. If all the penalty cards in a contract have been won by players, then the round is over and we don’t have to play any more tricks.

And now, let’s go over how the game ends.

The game comes to an end after we finish the 20th and final deal. At that point, we’ll finalize our scores, and the player with the highest score will be declared the winner of the game.