FIFTY-FIVE (55)

Hey there, I wanna tell you about this cool card game called 55. It’s a game you can play with 2 to 9 people. It’s kinda like another game called 25, but with some important differences. In 55, we do something called bidding, and we also have a different target score to aim for.

Before we start playing, we should all decide on the target score. Usually, we choose between 55, 110, and 220 points, or even more if we want the game to last longer.

So here’s the goal of the game: we need to earn the target score by winning tricks and completing bids to get points. It sounds fun, right?

SETUP AND BIDDING

Hey there! Let me walk you through the process of dealing cards in a game. First things first, we need to decide who’s going to be the dealer. To keep it fair, we’ll choose the dealer randomly. Once we’ve got our dealer, the fun begins!

The dealer will shuffle the deck of cards and then pass it to the player on their right for a quick cut. This ensures that the deck is mixed up nicely. After the cut, it’s time for some serious dealing!

Starting with the dealer and moving in a clockwise direction, each player will receive a hand of 5 cards. If you want to shake things up a bit, you can deal the cards in batches of 2 and 3 instead. Whatever floats your boat!

Now here’s where it gets interesting. In the middle of the table, we’ll also deal an extra hand of cards. This special set of cards is called the kitty. Why do we need the kitty, you ask? Well, it’s going to be used later on during the bidding part of our game.

So, now you know how to deal the cards like a pro! Have fun playing and may luck be on your side!

Once the cards are dealt, it’s time for the bidding. Here’s how it works: the person who wins the bidding gets to swap some of their cards with the ones from the kitty, and they also get to choose the trump suit. The bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer. You have a few options when it’s your turn to bid: 10, 15, 20, 25, or 60. Your bid represents how many tricks you think you can win. Each player, going clockwise, can either pass or increase the bid from the previous player, up to a maximum bid of 60. Only the dealer can start the bidding, and they have the advantage of being able to bid the same amount as the previous highest bidder. If the bidding reaches 60 and nobody else bids, the dealer can choose to bid again or pass. The bidding will continue until someone bids 60 and it’s called, or until one of the players decides to pass before then.

When you win the bid, you take the kitty and select 5 cards from your hand to place facedown in the center. After that, you have the option to choose a trump suit for the round.

Now, let’s talk about the ranking and values of the cards. The trump suit’s ranking is determined by its type, and each non-trump suit also has its own ranking.

If hearts are the trumps, they rank high with 5, followed by jack, ace, king, queen, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, and 2 as the lowest.

When diamonds are trumps, their ranking is 5, jack, ace of hearts, ace of diamonds, king, queen, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, and 2 as the lowest.

For clubs as trumps, they rank 5, jack, ace of hearts, ace of clubs, king, queen, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 as the lowest.

Lastly, if spades are trumps, they also rank 5, jack, ace of hearts, ace of spades, king, queen, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, from high to low.

Non-trumps

When it comes to non-trump suits, the ranking is as follows: Hearts go king (high), queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (low).

For Diamonds, the ranking is king (high), queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and ace (low).

Clubs are king (high), queen, jack, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 (low).

As for Spades, their ranking is king (high), queen, jack, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 (low).

GAMEPLAY

I am the one who starts the game with the player to my left acting as the dealer. When it’s my turn to lead, I have the freedom to play any card I choose.

Once I play a non-trump card, the other players must either follow suit or, if they don’t have a card of that suit, they can play a trump or any other card. However, I always have the option to play a trump card, regardless of whether or not I can follow suit.

So here’s how it works when I’m playing cards:

If the card I start with is a special trump card, you have to play a trump card too, but not the three most powerful ones (the 5, jack, and ace of hearts). You don’t have to play those three unless someone else plays a trump card that’s even higher than what you have. But if you don’t have any trump cards at all, you can play any card you want!

And here’s an important thing to remember: when we’re following the suit, the ace of hearts counts as a trump card, not a regular hearts card.

When it comes to winning a trick, there are a few rules. First, if there’s a trump card in play, the highest trump card wins the trick. But if there are no trump cards, then the highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick. And whoever wins a trick gets to lead the next one. Oh, and don’t forget to keep the tricks you win in your score pile.

SCORING

After we finish a round of play, we need to calculate our scores. For each trick we win, we earn 5 points. On top of that, if we have the highest-ranking trump card, we get an extra 5 points. The other players (except for the bidder) can add these points to their overall score.

Now, let’s talk about the bidder. They can only score points if they’ve bid equal to or more than the points they actually earn. If they score less than their bid, they lose that many points. Be careful though, because it’s possible to end up with negative points!

If a player bids 60, they’re trying to win every single trick in the round. If they succeed, they earn 60 points. If not, they lose 60 points. However, if they win all the tricks without bidding 60, they only get 30 points.

The game comes to an end when a player or team reaches the targeted score. But here’s the catch – even if someone reaches the target, we still play out the current round to see if the bidder wins or loses their contract. And if multiple players reach the target in the same round, the first one to reach it is declared the winner.