King (Kierki, Rentz)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. The ten deals
4. Playing a deal
5. Scoring
6. Winning the game
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants
9. Kierki (Poland)
10. Rentz (Romania)

Overview

King is a compendium game: a session is made up of several different games, called contracts, played one after another. It is a trick-taking game – a trick is one card from each player, and the best card wins them all. In the first six deals you try to avoid something: tricks, hearts, Kings and Jacks, Queens, the King of Hearts or two particular tricks. Each costs penalty points. In the last four deals there are trumps, and every trick you win earns a point back. Everyone plays for themselves; at the end the scores add up to zero.

The game goes by the English name King in Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Colombia and Brazil, with slightly different rules everywhere. The main rules below are the Flemish Kingen. Poland's Kierki and Romania's Rentz follow as full sections at the end.

King, Barbu and Trix: in Barbu and Trix each declarer chooses which contract to play, and both have a contract in which you lay out cards in suit sequences instead of playing tricks. Barbu also has doubling. Basic King is simpler: the contracts come in a fixed order, nobody doubles, and the points are won back with four trump deals instead.

• Players: 4 (King for 3 and 5 under Variants; Rentz 3–6).
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, a score sheet and pencil.

Setup

In every suit the cards rank from high to low: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. Deal and play go clockwise.

1. Dealer: choose the first dealer at random. After each deal, the turn to deal passes to the left.
2. Shuffling: the dealer shuffles thoroughly before the first deal, and the player on the right cuts. Traditionally the cards are not shuffled between deals – the previous dealer only cuts.
3. Deal: the dealer deals all 52 cards clockwise, first 4 cards to each player, then 4 each again, then 5 each, so that everyone has 13 cards.

The ten deals

The contracts are always played in this order:

A card is taken when it is in a trick you win. After six deals the penalties add up to −52; the four trump deals give back +52.

Trumps: in deals 7 to 10, the dealer shows the last card they dealt to themselves. Its suit is trumps for that deal – a suit that beats all the others. Each player deals one of the four trump deals.

Playing a deal

1. The player on the dealer's left leads (plays the first card to) the first trick.
2. The others play one card each, clockwise. You must follow suit – play a card of the suit led – if you can. If you can't, you may play any card.
3. Who wins the trick: in deals 1 to 6 there are no trumps, and the highest card of the suit led wins. In the trump deals, the highest trump wins if any trump was played; otherwise the highest card of the suit led. You never have to trump or overtrump.
4. The winner of a trick leads to the next one. Once a card is on the table, it can't be taken back. You may look at the last trick even after it has been gathered.

Example: Deal 3, no Kings or Jacks. Anna leads the 10♣, Ben plays the Q♣, Carla has no clubs and throws away the K♥, Dan plays the J♣. Ben's Queen is the highest club, so Ben takes the trick – and 2 penalty points for the K♥ and J♣.

Scoring

Write each player's running total after every deal. After the sixth deal all totals are negative (or zero) and together make −52. After the tenth deal they add up to 0 – an easy check.

Example: After six deals: Anna −9, Ben −17, Carla −12, Dan −14 (together −52). In the four trump deals Anna wins 14 tricks, Ben 12, Carla 15, Dan 11 (together 52). Final: Anna +5, Ben −5, Carla +3, Dan −3.

Winning the game

After the ten deals the player with the highest total wins. If you play for stakes, the totals show what each player pays or receives.

Tips for beginners

• Early in the negative deals, get rid of high cards in suits where you are long, while the others must still follow suit.
• A void (a suit you don't have) is gold: when that suit is led, you can throw away your most dangerous card – the K♥, a Queen or a Jack.
• In No 7th and last, count the tricks. Keep a low card for the last one.
• In the trump deals, count trumps. When the others are out of them, your long suit wins trick after trick.

Variants

• Tournament rules (IWWA): no heart may be led in No hearts and No King of Hearts unless you have only hearts. In the penalty deals, you must play a penalty card whenever it can't win the trick. When trumps are led you must beat the highest trump if you can; if you can't follow suit you must trump, or overtrump a trump already in the trick if you can. The dealer chooses trumps in the last four deals.
• Dealer chooses trumps: common at home too. Some then let the other players buy the choice: each may once offer the dealer a number of their tricks. If the dealer accepts the best offer, that player names trumps, and their first tricks, up to the number offered, count for the dealer instead.
• Other values: the K♥ may cost 4 instead of 5; the 7th and last tricks then cost 3 each. Some play Queens before Kings and Jacks, or replace the K♥ with another single card, such as the 10♦.
• Three players: remove the 2♠, deal 17 each and play nine deals: tricks −1 each, hearts −1, Kings and Jacks −1, Queens −1, K♥ −4, the 10th trick −3 and the last −2 (−51 in all), then three trump deals at +1 per trick.
• Five players: remove the two black 7s, deal 10 each and play eleven deals: the six penalty deals (7th and last trick −3 each, −50 in all), then five trump deals.
• Double King (Dubbelkingen): 20 deals. The dealer chooses each contract after looking at their cards: two trump deals and three penalty deals per player, and each penalty contract may be played only twice in all.
• Turkish King (Rıfkı): played anticlockwise over 20 deals. Each player is declarer five times and chooses the contract as in Double King (in a trump deal they name trumps); the declarer always leads. Penalties: K♥ −320, each Queen −100, each King or Jack −60, each heart −30, each of the last two tricks −180, each trick −50; trumps +50 per trick. If you can't follow suit you must trump.

Kierki (Poland)

Kierki ("little hearts") is Poland's favourite compendium game. A match has 12 deals: seven negative ones (rozgrywka) and five positive ones (odgrywka). The deal passes to the left; all 52 cards are dealt one at a time, 13 each.

The negative deals

No trumps. The player on the dealer's left leads; follow suit, otherwise play any card.

• In No hearts, No King of Hearts and Rozbójnik you may not lead a heart unless you have nothing else. You may always throw hearts away on another suit.
• In Rozbójnik, a trick with the K♥ costs at least −220: 20 for the trick, 20 for the heart, 30 for a "gentleman" and 150 for the K♥.
• Deals 1–6 together cost −1300, and Rozbójnik another −1300.

The positive deals

• Four trump deals: the dealer looks at the first five cards they receive, names trumps, and then finishes the deal. The dealer leads. Follow suit if you can; you never have to trump or beat the trick. Each trick scores +25.
• Loteryjka ("little lottery"): no tricks – the cards are laid out in four rows, one per suit. The dealer begins; in turn, each player must add one card if they can, otherwise pass. You may play a 7 to start a new suit, or the next higher or lower card of a suit already started (the 6 or 8 next to its 7, and so on, up to the King and down to the Ace, which is low here). The first player out of cards scores +800, the second +500.

The positive deals are worth +2600 – exactly what the negative deals cost, so the match adds up to 0. The highest total wins.

Example: In Loteryjka Anna plays the 7♥. Ben has no 6♥ or 8♥ but plays the 7♠. Carla may now play the 6♥, 8♥, 6♠, 8♠ or another 7.

Three players: remove the 2♣ and deal 17 each. Tricks cost −15, the K♥ −140, the 7th and last trick −70 each. There are three trump deals (the dealer looks at six cards first), and Loteryjka pays +790 and +485.

Kierki variants: many groups leave out both Rozbójnik and Loteryjka to reduce luck. Some play the last penalty deal as −150 for the last trick only, or −75 for each of the last two. On PlayOK, the dealer opens Loteryjka with any card, and its rank starts every suit.

Rentz (Romania)

Rentz (or Renț) is played by 3 to 6 players with 8 cards each. Take out the low cards so that 8 per player remain:

There are eight games, and every player chooses each of them once, so four players play 32 deals. The turn to choose passes clockwise; the chooser picks a game after looking at their cards, marks it on the score sheet and starts the play. There are never trumps: follow suit if you can, and the highest card of the suit led wins.

The Rentz game has no tricks. Starting with the card shown in the table above, the cards of each suit are laid out in rows, built up to the Ace and down to the lowest card. In turn, each player adds one fitting card or passes. Playing an Ace lets you play another card at once. Playing the lowest card of a row makes the next player miss a turn. The first to get rid of all their cards wins the most points.

• Refusing Rentz: a player holding three "ends" (Aces or lowest cards) may refuse the Rentz game when another player chooses it; the cards are then dealt again. After that, refusing needs four ends.
• Blind: a chooser who picks the game before looking at their cards scores it double. Nobody may then refuse a blind Rentz unless they hold four ends, three of them of the same rank.
• The values vary a lot from group to group – K♥ −100, Queens −40 or Whist +50 per trick are also common. Agree on them before you start. The highest total wins.