Welcome to the world of Sixty-Three!

Sixty-Three is an exciting card game that you can play with three of your friends. It’s a game of strategy and teamwork, where you and your teammate will work together to defeat the other team.

The aim of the game is to collect 152 points. To do this, you’ll need to bid on how many tricks you think you can win in each round and try to collect special point cards.

Setting Up the Game

To start the game, choose a dealer at random. After each round, the dealer will pass the role to the next player. The dealer will shuffle the deck and give each player a hand of nine cards, dealing them in sets of three. Then, it’s time to start the bidding!

Card Rankings and Values

So, here’s the thing about Sixty-Three: it’s a game that has not just one, but two types of rankings. See, in Sixty-Three, we have one ranking for the trump suit and another ranking for non-trump suits. Now, what makes things interesting is that the trump suit can actually change in each round, and this can totally shake up the rankings of the cards. Exciting, huh?

Now, let’s break it down further. When it comes to the trump suit, the cards are ranked like this: Ace is the highest, followed by King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 (but, hey, there’s a twist!). You see, the 5 card of the non-trump suit that has the same color as the trump suit is also considered a trump card. So, for example, if hearts are trumps, then the 5 of diamonds becomes a trump card too. Sneaky, right?

But we’re not done yet! Here’s how the other suits are ranked: Ace is still the big boss at the top, then we have King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and, again, 5 when applicable. Finally, we wrap things up with 4, 3, and 2, the low-ranking cards. And there you have it, my friend, the thrilling rankings of Sixty-Three! Are you ready to dive into the game?

In the game of Sixty-Three, certain cards carry scores. Specifically, only cards from the trump suit are worth points. Let me break it down for you:

The Ace of trump is worth just 1 point, while the king of trump holds a hefty 25 points. Surprisingly, the jack of trump is worth just 1 point, same as the ten of trump. Now, the 9 of trumps, that’s where the points start to pile up – it’s worth 9 points. Moving on, the five of trump and the other 5 of trump are both worth 5 points each. Get this: the 3 of trumps is quite valuable, as it’s worth a whopping 15 points. And finally, the 2 of trumps wraps it up with just 1 point.

Let’s Talk Bidding

When it comes to bidding in Sixty-Three, it all starts with the player sitting to the left of the dealer. They face a decision: bid or pass. If they choose to bid, their bid must exceed the previous bid. Here’s the range: you can bet as low as 1 point or as high as 63 points. What’s the enticing prize of bidding, you ask? Well, it’s the opportunity to declare the trump suit. The bidding process continues until three players pass on bidding.

If none of the three previous players made a bid, I have to make a bid of at least 1.

Once the bid is determined, the winning bidder gets to choose the trump suit. Then, each player is dealt 4 more cards. After that, all players must discard cards until they have a 6-card hand.

How to Play

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

The player who won the bidding starts the game, and then turns proceed clockwise. Each player can play any card they want as their first move. The other players must follow the suit led if they can, but if they can’t, they can play a trump card or any other card. The highest-ranked trump card wins the trick, or if there are no trumps, the highest-ranked card of the suit led wins. The player who wins a trick will lead the next one.

The Scoring System

Once we finish playing all the tricks, it’s time to tally up the scores. It’s important to keep in mind that even if our team didn’t win the bid, we still get to score any points we earned from our cards. It doesn’t matter if the other team completed their bid or not.

If the bidding team manages to complete their bid, they will score all the points they won during the tricks. However, if they fail to complete their bid, they will actually lose points equal to the number they won during the tricks.

Reaching the End

We keep track of our cumulative scores over several rounds. The first team that reaches 152 points is declared the winner of the game.

By following these rules, we can guarantee an exciting and enjoyable game night. So gather your friends, grab a deck of cards, and let the games begin!

I’m Amber (They/Them), and I’m an experienced gamer and writer from Austin. I’m known for my gaming expertise and my love for dogs, plants, and Dungeons & Dragons. Let’s have a great time playing together!