Welcome to Thunee!

Thunee is a card game that originated in South Africa and has now gained popularity worldwide. If you enjoy strategic team play and trick-taking games like Euchre, then you’re in for a treat! It may take a little time to get the hang of it, but once you understand the rules and gameplay, you’ll be hooked.

Getting Started

Before we dive into Thunee, let’s set up the game. Grab a standard deck of 52 cards and remove the nines, tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and aces. These are the only cards you’ll need for Thunee. Now, let’s form the teams – each team consists of two players.

To determine the dealer for the first round, one player will start dealing cards face up to each player. The player who receives a black Jack becomes the dealer. The player to their right becomes the Trump man and gets to choose the first trump suit.

So here’s how the game works: First, the dealer gives each player four cards. Then, it’s time to start playing!

GAMEPLAY

Once the cards are dealt, the bidding phase begins. The team that includes the dealer gets to make the first bid or call. Bids have to be made in increments of 10, with the maximum bid being 100.

After all the bids are made, it’s time to decide the trump suit. The highest bidder reveals the trump card. If the opposing team doesn’t have a card of that suit, they can request a new deal.

While the team that called the trump suit tries to win the hand, the opposing team is trying to capture 105 cards in tricks throughout the game.

When we start a game of trump, the player to the right of the trump setter plays the first card. We don’t know yet what the trump card is, but that will be revealed soon. The trick is won by the player who plays the highest trump card. However, if no trumps are played, then the player with the highest scoring card takes the trick. Every card that is captured during the game has a certain number of points associated with it.

Points System

If a team manages to earn exactly 105 points, they get one point. If they’re not able to earn 105 points, then the trump callers score one point instead.

The round ends and a new one begins. This goes on until one of the teams has accumulated a total of 12 points.

Game Over

The game continues until one team reaches 12 points. Once that happens, the game comes to an end and that team is declared the winner!