Players and deal
Three people use a standard 52-card deck. Deal thirteen cards to each player and thirteen to a face-down spare hand. Everyone begins the match with 9 points. The deal and play move clockwise.
Eastern Canadian trick game · 3 players
Neuf.
Begin at nine. Reach zero by taking more than your share of the tricks.
Spare hand
Y
You13 cards · 0 tricks
01 How to play
Four tricks
is even.
This table plays the three-player game: you against West and East, with an unseen fourth hand that may be exchanged before the first trick.
Trump cycle
The trump suit changes automatically each deal: Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades, then no trumps, before returning to Hearts. Cards rank Ace high, then King through Two.
Exchange the whole hand
Beginning with the player after the dealer, each person in turn may exchange all thirteen cards with the unknown spare hand or keep their own. A player who exchanges leaves their old hand face down for the next person to consider. The final spare hand is set aside.
Play thirteen tricks
The player after the dealer leads first; each trick's winner leads the next. Follow the led suit if you can. Otherwise play any card. Highest trump wins, or, when no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit.
The quota of four
Each player aims to win at least four tricks. After the deal, subtract one point for every trick above four, or add one for every trick below four. Exactly four tricks leaves the score unchanged. As thirteen tricks are played against a combined quota of twelve, the three scores together always fall by one point per deal.
Win at zero
The first player to reach zero or less wins. If two players cross zero on the same deal, the lower score wins; an equal lowest score makes them joint winners. The spare hand remains hidden from everyone until the deal is over.
02 History & variants
Nine points
to lose.
Names around Eastern Canada
French-speaking players, particularly in Quebec, call the game Le Neuf or Chômeur. The spare hand explains the second name, meaning “unemployed”. In Newfoundland and Eastern Ontario, Nines is the common English name. Acadian players in Nova Scotia also know the game.
The exchange gives each player a risky choice: keep a known hand or swap it for thirteen cards that may have already disappointed another player.
Four-player Nines
A Newfoundland variant uses four players in fixed partnerships, deals all 52 cards and has no spare hand or exchange. Each team begins at nine and has a six-trick quota. This page plays the three-player form, where each person has a four-trick quota.
Groups can also choose a different order for the trump suits or let the dealer exchange first. Those choices leave the main quota scoring idea intact.