INTRODUCTION - PAIRS OHHELL

Pairs Whist is a trick-taking cards game for 4 players arranged in couples (teams).

Number of rounds can be defined differently for that game, but the objective of the game remains the same, getting the highest score at the end of all the predefined rounds.

Game Variations:

- 4 rounds with 13 cards in each round (13, 13, 13, 13)

- 7 rounds ascending & descending cards in each round (10, 11, 12, 13, 12, 11, 10)

- 10 rounds with ascending number of cards in each round (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)

Playing Cards: Standard 52-card deck. A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

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THE DEAL

In Each round, cards are dealt to all players. Each player is getting the same number of cards as defined in that round. The cards are dealt faced down, beginning on the dealer's left. The dealing proceeds clockwise. The players then pick up their cards and arrange them by suits

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TRUMP

Every round, after dealing, a random card is selected from the remaining deck. That card is defined the TRUMP.

A trump defines the strongest suit for that specific round. The trump can be any of the available suits (SPAEDS, HEARTS, CLUBS or DIAMONDS)

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THE BIDDING

The player to the dealer's left bids first. Each player must bid. Legal bids range from 0 to the number of cards dealt for that round.

For Example: If four cards are dealt, legal bids range from 0 to 4. Players should bid the number of tricks they think they'll win in that hand.

Sum of bids is not allowed to be the number of dealt cards in the round. Therefore, The last bidder is forbidden of bidding a number that causes the total biddings count to be same as the number of dealt cards

For Example:

Each player gets 8 cards. 1st player bids 2, 2nd player bids 3, 3rd player bids 1. So the 4th player is not allowed to bid 2 (2+3+1+2 = 8). So the fourth player can bid 0,1,3,4,5,6,7 or 8 (Except 2)

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GAME PLAY

The player to the dealer’s left plays first ('leads'). Play continues clockwise. Each player must follow suit (i.e. play the same suit that was led) if possible.

Generally, each trick is won by the player who played the highest rank in the suit led. However, if the suit led was not trump, and one or more players played a trump card, then the trick is won by the player who played the highest rank of trump. When a trick is won, the winning player sets the trick in front of himself so that it's easy to tell how many tricks each player has won.

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For Example:

- Assume the trump is HEARTS.

- 1st player Leads with 8-SPADES.

- 2nd player has SPADES cards, so follows by 10-SPADES.

- 3rd player has no SPADES cards, so he decided to follow by 7-CLUBS.

- Fourth player has no SPADES either, he decided to follow by 2-HEARTS (TRUMP).

- The winner of that trick is the 4th player with the highest trump card

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SCORE

Each player makes his bid in his turn. Teamed players sum the total bids. Teams target is to score points by precisely predicting the number of hands they would win. Otherwise, A bid that is too high or too low than the bidding, scores points by calculation the difference between the winning tricks and the bidding count. Each Team who makes its bid exactly, scores 5 points for each trick. Bidding 0 and succeeding not taking any tricks, scores with 4 points.

Example 1:

- 1st Team bids 4, won 4 tricks and scores 20 points (4*5)

- 2nd Team bids 3 and won 9 tricks and scores 6 points (9-3)

Example 2:

- 1st Team bids 6, won 4 tricks and scores -2 points (4-6)

- 2nd Team bids 0 and won 9 tricks and scores 9 points (9-0)

Example 3:

- 1st Team bids 0, won 0 tricks and scores 4 points (4)

- 2nd Team bids 10 and won 13 tricks and scores 3 points (13-10)

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WINNING

The player with the highest total score at the end of the game is the winner