Medium Standard
Whist
The ancestor of Bridge — follow suit and win tricks.
Whist is the grand ancestor of Bridge and Spades, played in the drawing rooms of 18th-century England. No bidding, no trump announcement — just follow suit, use trump wisely, and try to win more tricks than your partnership bid.
🎯 Objective
Win the most tricks with your partner. Score 1 point per trick won over 6 (the "book").
🃏 Setup
- Use a standard 52-card deck. Deal all 13 cards to each of 4 players.
- The last card dealt (dealer's card) is turned face-up to determine the trump suit, then added to the dealer's hand.
▶ How to Play
- The player left of the dealer leads any card to the first trick.
- Each player must follow suit if possible; if void, play any card including trump.
- Highest trump wins if any trump is played; otherwise highest card of led suit wins.
- The winner of each trick leads to the next.
- Play all 13 tricks.
📊 Scoring
Each trick won over 6 (the "book") = 1 point. Game is first to 5 points (English Whist), or across multiple hands. Honours (holding A, K, Q, J of trump) award bonus points in some variants.