Rules of the 56 card game
Origin
56 is a popular card game played in India, especially in the Southern State of Kerala. Some variations are played in other parts of the world as well. The number signifies the maximum number of points that a team can score in a single game. It is a team game that requires strategy and memory power to win.
Players and Cards
56 is always played in teams. The standard format of the game is to have two teams of 3 players each. It is also possible to play among 4 or 8 players by reducing or increasing the number of cards.
The players of each team take alternate positions on the table.
Game is played with two standard decks of 52 cards but not all cards are required to play the game. Cards are picked based on the total number of players (4, 6 or 8). Each player always start the game with 8 cards (regardless of the number of players). Below table show the cards that would be picked based on the total number of players in the game.
| Card | Points per card | Total points (8 cards in card set used) | Cards included based on the version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack (J) | 3 | 24 | 4,6 and 8 player versions |
| Nine (9) | 2 | 16 | 4,6 and 8 player versions |
| Ace (A) | 1 | 8 | 4,6 and 8 player versions |
| Ten (10) | 1 | 8 | 4,6 and 8 player versions |
| King (K) | 0 | 0 | 6 and 8 player versions |
| Queen (Q) | 0 | 0 | 6 and 8 player versions |
| Eight (8) | 0 | 0 | 8 player version only |
| Seven (7) | 0 | 0 | 8 player version only |
| Total points in game | 56 |
Game Overview
Goal of the game is for your team to win the maximum card values. Games are usually grouped to form matches (e.g. match of 12 games) and the points won from the games are accumulated to declare the match winning team.
Each game can be broadly classified into 2 phases - "Bidding" and "Card play".
Bidding phase - Game starts with Bidding Phase. Players place their bid within an allowed format to disclose to their partners their cards and in the process raise the points that their team can win and a possible Trump card. See Bidding section for more details on bidding.
Card Play phase - Once the bidding phase is closed with a winning Bid, the card play phase starts. Each player strategically discards one card on the table, followed by the next player. One round with one card discarded by all players is called a trick. Once all players have played their cards, the 'trick' is won by the person who played the card that has the highest power. This is determined based on the highest point card in the suit that was first played - or the highest point card of the trump suit. If two cards have the same number of points, the card priority is used to determine the winner of the trick. Trump always superceeds other cards. The total value won in the trick is awarded to the team of the winning person.
Play ends when -Shuffle and order of play
The first player shuffles the cards and hands it over to the dealer who is to the right. In this online version, the first player starts a 'new game' and cards are shuffled and distributed by the computer to all players. The player to the right starts bidding.
Bidding
During bidding, the intention of each player is to communicate the cards that they have effectively to their team mates. The idea is to device a game strategy to win as many tricks and points based on the cards the team possess. Remember that the bids are visible to your team mates and the opposition team. Remembering your team mates and oppositions bids are critical in formulating a game play strategy
Allowed bid formats based on International 56 game rules
Based on International 56 game rules, below are the allowed bidding formats that can be used to communicate the cards.|
Bid style |
Example |
Bid value |
Trump |
Meaning of the bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number followed by a suit |
28♥ |
Bid value is set to the number |
Trump is set to the suit |
One Jack with at least 3 other cards of the same suit. To indicate additional Jacks or 9s of the same suit the number can be incremented accordingly in the bid. e.g: the number could be incremented by 2 from the previous bid to indicate 2 Jacks or incremented by 3 to indicate 2 jacks and a 9. |
|
Suit followed by number |
♥28 |
Bid value is set to the number |
Trump is set to the suit |
No Jack, but there are 4 or more cards in this suit. This is generally known as reverse bid. |
|
Plus followed by number and suit |
+1♥ |
Bid value is increased by the number that follows the plus sign |
Trump is set to the suit |
Indicates singleton card. If this is the first bid in this suit, or if a Jack in the same suit has already been bid, it indicates singleton Jack. If both Jacks have been bid, it indicates the next highest level singleton card, i.e 9 etc. |
|
Suit followed by plus and a number |
♥+1 |
Bid value is increased by the number that follows Plus sign |
Trump is set to the suit |
Indicates a singleton card of lower order. It helps to indicate that you have a card in this suit and a cut in the second round of play in this suit. |
|
Number followed by No Trump(NT) |
32NT |
Bid value is set to the number |
There is no Trump Suit |
There are 3 or more Jacks but usually not enough in a suit. |
|
Plus followed by number and No-Trump |
+1NT |
Bid value is increased by the number that follows the plus sign |
There is no Trump Suit |
This has the same meaning as Number followd by No-Trump(NT) and can be used to keep the bidding to No-trump or indicate an additional Jack or 9 that could potentially win a trick if there is no trump. |
|
Number followed by Noes(NS) |
33NS |
Bid value is set to the number |
There is no Trump Suit |
This is to communicate to you team mates that you do not have any cards of the last bid suit. If this becomes the final bid then it is taken as a No-Trump. 33NT in the example. |
|
Number followed by Pass |
28Pass |
Bid value is set to the number |
There is no Trump Suit |
This can be used as an initial obligatory bid. If you do not have good cards to share or just don't want to share anything yet then this bidding style can be used. |
|
Plus followed by a suit |
+ ♥ |
Bid value is increased by 1 |
Trump is set to the Suit |
Shows minimum 2 or 3 cards in this suit. If a Jack has already been bid in this suit, or if it is the first bid in this suit -then it means that you have a Jack and one or two more cards of the same suit. If both Jacks have been bid, then it indicates that you have the next highest level card plus one or two more of the same suit. |
|
Plus followed by a number and Noes(NS) |
+1 NS |
Bid value is increased by the number that follows the plus sign |
There is no Trump Suit |
No cards in the suit bid before with the number indicating the number of previous bids. This is a nice way to camoflauge the NS call. |
|
Pass |
Pass |
does not affect |
does not affect |
No additional bids to make (either because you do not have good cards to communicate or because you agree with the current highest bid). |
Bidding tips:
Double and Redouble
Double indicates a challenge to the opposite team that they cannot win the number of points bid. Redouble indicates a challenge back. This affects the number of points scored after the game. See scoreboard for details.
Scoreboard - Number of points awarded
|
Bid Points |
Bidding team wins |
Bidding team loses |
Opposite team doubles but bidder wins (x2) |
Opposite team doubles but bidder loses (x2) |
Bidder redoubles and wins (x3) |
Bidder redoubles and loses (x3) |
|
28-39 |
1 |
-2* |
2 |
-4* |
3 |
-6* |
|
40-47 |
2 |
-3* |
4 |
-6* |
6 |
-9* |
|
48-55 |
3 |
-4* |
6 |
-8* |
9 |
-12* |
|
56 |
4 |
-5* |
8 |
-10* |
12 |
-15* |
* A negative number indicates the number of points awarded to the opposite team. There is no negative points as such.