South Asian classic · 4 players

Twenty-Nine

Bid with four cards, choose trump in secret, and trust your partner across the table.

NorthYour partner

WestOpponent

EastOpponent

The auction is starting.

YouSouth

01 How to play

Four cards to bid.
Eight tricks to prove it.

This clockwise version uses the common modern total of 28 card points, without a bonus for the last trick.

Players and deck

Four players form fixed partnerships. Use 32 cards: J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8 and 7 of every suit.

The unusual order

J3 pts
92 pts
A · 101 pt
K · Q · 8 · 70 pts

Bid after four cards

Bidding starts at 15. Raise or pass; after a bid, three consecutive passes end the auction. If the first three pass, the dealer must bid 15.

Secret trump

The highest bidder secretly chooses a trump suit, then everyone receives four more cards. Trump remains hidden until a player cannot follow suit.

Play the tricks

You must follow the led suit when possible. Otherwise you may play any card. Once trump is revealed, the highest trump wins; without one, the highest card of the led suit wins.

Royals or Pair

After trump is revealed, a player holding its King and Queen may declare after their team wins a trick. It lowers their own team’s contract by four, or raises the opponents’ contract by four.

Score the contract

If the bidding team reaches its adjusted bid, it gains one game point. If it fails, it loses one. The defending team’s score does not change.

Win the match

Reach +6 to win. A team that falls to −6 loses the match. Aces and tens are worth one card point, nines two and jacks three.

02 History & variants

Jass ranking in a South Asian classic.

A game of the subcontinent

Twenty-Nine is widely played in northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Its unusual Jack–Nine ranking and card values connect it to the European Jass family, adapted into a compact partnership game with bidding and hidden trump. Twenty-eight card points plus the last-trick point give the game its familiar name.

Close relatives and table customs

Twenty-Eight is its best-known relative and usually changes the target, bidding range or treatment of the last trick. Other tables vary the minimum bid, the use of a trump-revealing card, pair or “royals” bonuses and the rules for a double or redouble. Six-player and longer-deck descendants preserve the same high-value Jack and Nine.