Bid Whist

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Card ranking
4. Bidding
5. Playing the hand
6. Scoring
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Bid Whist is a trick-taking game for four players in two fixed partnerships, a descendant of Whist with an auction. A trick – here called a book – is one card from each player; the best card wins all four. Before play, the players bid: they offer to win a certain number of books. The side that bids highest chooses how the deal is played – with high cards winning (uptown), with low cards winning (downtown), or with no trumps at all – and takes the six extra cards of the kitty. If they make their bid, they score; if not, they lose points. The first side to reach 7 points wins.

• Players: 4, in two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other.
• You need: a standard 52-card deck plus two jokers that look different – one is the big joker, the other the little joker (54 cards). Paper and pencil.

Setup

1. Partners: agree on partners, or draw cards. Partners sit opposite each other.
2. Dealer: deal cards face up one at a time; whoever gets the first diamond deals first. After each hand the deal passes to the left.
3. Deal: the dealer shuffles, has the deck cut (the player on the right lifts off part of the deck and puts it underneath), and deals the cards face down one at a time, clockwise, starting on the left. Everyone gets 12 cards – their hand.
4. The kitty: during the deal, the dealer puts six cards face down in the middle of the table instead of giving them to a player. This pile is the kitty – extra cards that the winner of the bidding takes. The dealer may put a card into the kitty at any time, except that the first four and the last four cards of the deal must go to players.

12 × 4 + 6 = 54: every card is in play.

Card ranking

How the cards rank depends on the bid:

• Trumps are the suit chosen by the bidder; any trump beats any card of another suit. With a trump suit, the two jokers are the two highest trumps and count as cards of the trump suit.
• The Ace is always the highest card of its suit, even downtown.
• In no trump, the jokers are worthless: they belong to no suit and can never win a book. You play a joker when you can't follow suit. If someone leads a joker, the next player may play any card, and the first card that isn't a joker decides the suit that must be followed.

Bidding

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player in turn gets one chance to bid or pass. A bid is a number from 3 to 7 plus uptown, downtown or no trump (for example "4 uptown" or "5 no trump").

• The number is how many books above six the bidder's side promises to win. A bid of 4 means at least 6 + 4 = 10 books out of 13.
• Each bid must be higher than the one before. A higher number always beats a lower one. For the same number, no trump beats uptown and downtown; uptown and downtown of the same number are equal – neither can be bid over the other.
• From low to high: 3 uptown/downtown, 3 no trump, 4 uptown/downtown, 4 no trump … 7 no trump.
• If the first three players pass, the dealer must bid – at least 3 uptown or downtown.

The highest bid wins. The bidder now:

1. names the trump suit (for an uptown or downtown bid), or, for a no-trump bid, says whether it is played uptown or downtown;
2. picks up the kitty and adds it to their hand;
3. discards six cards face down. These six cards count as the first book won by the bidder's side.

Example: West bids 4 downtown and wins the bidding. West names clubs as trumps and takes the kitty. In this hand the big joker is the top trump, then the little joker, then A♣, 2♣, 3♣ … K♣. In the other suits the Ace is highest, then the 2, 3, 4 and so on, with the King lowest.

Playing the hand

1. The bidder leads (plays the first card to) the first book. Any card may be led.
2. The others play one card each, clockwise. You must follow suit: play a card of the suit that was led if you have one. If you can't, you may play any card – a trump to try to win the book, or any other card.
3. Who wins the book: the highest trump in it; if there is none, the highest card (by this hand's ranking) of the suit led.
4. The winner collects the book face down in front of their side and leads to the next one.

Play all 12 books. Together with the bidder's discard there are 13 books.

Renege: failing to follow suit when you could is a renege. The reneging side must give 3 of its books to the other side. If it has fewer than three, the hand is scored as if the other side had won all 13 books.

Scoring

Only the bidding side scores in a hand. Count its books, including the discard.

• Made it: if the side won at least 6 + its bid, it scores 1 point for every book over six – including any extra books.
• Set: if it won fewer, it scores nothing for its books and loses the number it bid.
• No trump: in a no-trump hand, the score is doubled (both a win and a loss).

The opponents score nothing in that hand, however many books they win.

Example: North–South bid 4 uptown. Counting the discard, they win 11 books – 5 over six, so they score 5 points. Had they bid 4 no trump and won 11 books, they would have scored 10. Had they won only 9 books in 4 uptown, they would have been set and lost 4 points.

Winning the game

A side wins when it reaches 7 points or more – or when the other side falls to −7 or below.

Tips for beginners

• A strong hand with many high cards suggests uptown; lots of Aces and small cards (2, 3, 4) suggest downtown.
• Count the jokers: whoever holds them in a trump hand holds the two best cards.
• Remember the kitty adds six cards – a bid can be worth making even if your hand is one or two books short.
• When your partner has won the bid, help them: don't waste your trumps on books they are already winning.

Variants

• Minimum 4: many players don't allow bids of 3.
• Downtown first: some let a downtown bid overcall an uptown bid of the same number; others say all bids of the same number are equal, so you must raise the number.
• Sporting the kitty: in a hand with trumps, the bidder turns the kitty face up for everyone to see before taking it.
• Jokers any time: in no trump, a joker may be played at any time, even if you could follow suit – it still never wins.
• Jokers out: in no trump, jokers are removed from play; anyone holding one exchanges it for a card from the kitty.
• Defenders score: if the opponents win more than six books, they score 1 point per book over six (2 in no trump).
• Boston: a bid of 7 (all 13 books) is called a Boston; at some tables it wins or loses the whole game.
• Two sets only: a side whose bid fails for the third time loses the game.
• One joker: play with one joker and a five-card kitty.