Call Break

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Calling
5. Playing the tricks
6. Scoring
7. Winning the game
8. Call Break and Spades
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Call Break, also called Call Bridge or Lakdi, is one of the most popular card games in Nepal, and it is widely played in India and Bangladesh as well. Everyone plays alone. Before each deal, every player calls – says how many tricks they will win. Spades are always trumps. Make your call and you score it; fall short and you lose it. After five deals the highest total wins.

• Players: exactly 4, each playing for themselves.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and paper and pen for the score.

The cards

In every suit the cards rank from high to low: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. The cards have no point values – only the number of tricks counts.

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card face up; the best card wins all four. Spades are the trump suit in every deal: any spade beats any card of another suit.

Setup

Dealing and play go anticlockwise (to the right).

1. Dealer: choose the first dealer at random. After each deal the player on the dealer's right deals next.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles and deals all 52 cards one at a time, face down. Everyone has 13 cards.

Calling

Each player makes exactly one call: the number of tricks they promise to win, at least 1. The player on the dealer's right calls first, then the others in turn to the right; the dealer calls last. Calls don't have to be higher than the previous ones – everyone simply says their own number.

Write all four calls down. There is no trump to choose: spades are always trumps.

Example: Anna calls 3, Ben 4, Carla 2 and Dan 3. Together they have called 12 of the 13 tricks.

Playing the tricks

1. The player on the dealer's right leads – plays the first card – to the first trick. After that, whoever won a trick leads to the next. You may lead any card, spades included.
2. The others each play one card in turn to the right. You must follow suit – play a card of the suit that was led – if you can.
3. You must win the trick if you can. This is what makes Call Break different: - If you can follow suit, play a card higher than the best card of that suit in the trick, if you have one. If you have none, or if the trick has already been trumped, any card of the suit led will do. - If you have no card of the suit led, you must play a spade – and if a spade is already in the trick, a higher spade. - Only if you have no card of the suit led and can't win the trick with a spade (no spade at all, or none high enough) may you play any card you like.
4. Who wins: the highest spade in the trick; if there is no spade, the highest card of the suit led.
5. The winner takes the trick, lays it face down in front of them and leads to the next one.

Example: Anna leads the 9♥. Ben holds K♥ and 4♥ – he must play the K♥, because it beats the 9♥. Carla has no hearts, so she must trump, and plays the 5♠. Dan has no hearts either and holds the Q♠ and the 3♠: he must beat the 5♠ with the Q♠. Dan wins the trick.

Each player keeps their own tricks in a pile, so they are easy to count. After 13 tricks the deal is over.

Scoring

Count everyone's tricks and compare them with their calls:

• Call made – at least as many tricks as called: you score your call, plus 0.1 points for every trick above it.
• Call failed – fewer tricks than called: you lose your call.

Scores can go below zero.

Example: Anna called 3 and won 5: she scores 3.2. Ben called 4 and won 3: he scores −4. Carla called 2 and won 2: 2. Dan called 3 and won 3: 3.

The extra 0.1 points only decide close games. The real reward is for calling high – and then making it.

Winning the game

A game is five deals. Add up each player's scores; the highest total wins.

Call Break and Spades

Call Break looks like Spades, and both belong to the same family: spades are fixed trumps and everyone bids tricks. The differences are big, though:

• There are no partners – each player bids and scores alone.
• You must win a trick if you can, and you must trump when you can't follow suit. In Spades you may always play low.
• Spades may be led at any time; they don't have to be "broken" first.
• There is no Nil bid and no bag penalty – an extra trick only earns 0.1.
• A failed call costs exactly the call; the game is only five deals long.

Tips for beginners

• Count sure tricks: Aces, Kings with at least one more card of the suit, and high spades. Long spades are worth extra – they win tricks once the other suits run out.
• Call low rather than high at first: a failed call costs its full value, but extra tricks hardly help.
• Short suits win tricks: once you have no cards of a suit, you must trump it – which is good if you still need tricks.
• Watch the others' calls. A player who has already made their call wants no more tricks – but the must-win rule may force them to take some anyway.
• Remember the spades: 13 are in the game. Knowing which high spades are gone tells you when your King or Queen of Spades is safe.

Variants

All optional – agree on them before you start.

• Clockwise: many apps deal and play clockwise; the player on the dealer's left then calls and leads first.
• Free following (pagat.com): if you can follow suit, you may play any card of that suit, high or low. The must-win rule then only applies when you have to trump.
• Exact scoring (pagat.com): you make your call with exactly the called number of tricks or one more; two or more extra tricks count as failed. The lowest call is 2. A call of 8 or more scores 13 if made.
• At least 10: if the four calls add up to 9 or less, the cards are thrown in and the same dealer deals again. This stops players from calling too low on purpose.
• Spadeless hand: a player dealt no spade at all may ask for a new deal.
• No spade first: at some tables nobody may lead a spade to the first trick.
• Eight wins: in some apps a player who calls 8 and makes it wins the whole game at once.
• Longer game: play 10 deals instead of five.