Twenty Down

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and tricks
3. Setup
4. Exchanging cards
5. Staying in or dropping out
6. Playing the tricks
7. Scoring
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Twenty Down (German Zwanzig ab) is a quick trick-taking game for four. Everyone starts with 20 points and counts down: each trick you win takes a point off your score. But if you stay in a deal and win nothing, five points are added. Before each deal you may drop out if your cards look too weak. The first player to reach zero wins.

• Players: exactly 4, each playing for themselves.
• You need: a 52-card deck with the 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s removed – 32 cards, A down to 7 in each suit – plus paper and pencil.

Card order and tricks

In each suit the cards rank from high to low:

A – 10 – K – Q – J – 9 – 8 – 7

Note that the 10 is second-highest, above the King.

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card face up. One suit is chosen as trumps each deal; trumps beat all cards of the other suits. A trick is won by the highest trump in it, or – if no trump was played – by the highest card of the suit that was led (played first). The winner of a trick leads to the next one.

Setup

1. Write 20 next to each player's name.
2. Deal: play goes clockwise. The dealer gives each player two cards, face down.
3. Trumps: the player to the dealer's left looks at their two cards and names the trump suit (♣, ♠, ♥ or ♦).
4. The dealer then deals three more cards each, so everyone has five. The rest of the cards stay face down in front of the dealer as a small stock.
5. The deal passes to the left after every hand.

Exchanging cards

Starting with the player to the dealer's left and going clockwise, each player may discard up to three cards at once, face down, and gets the same number of new cards from the dealer (from the stock). You may also keep all your cards.

Staying in or dropping out

Now each player in turn, clockwise from the dealer's left, says whether they stay in or drop out for this deal. A player who drops out puts their cards away and scores nothing this deal – neither plus nor minus.

• The trump maker (the player to the dealer's left) must stay in. So the player opposite the dealer decides first.
• If diamonds (♦) are trumps, everyone must stay in.

If everyone except the trump maker drops out, the trump maker wins all five tricks without playing and takes 5 points off (10 if hearts are trumps).

Playing the tricks

Five tricks are played. The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick (any card). Then each player still in plays one card, clockwise:

• You must follow suit – play a card of the suit led – if you can.
• If you can't, you must play a trump if you have one.
• Only if you have neither may you play any other card.

You do not have to play a higher card than the ones already in the trick.

Example: Spades are trumps. Ben leads K♥. Carla has hearts and plays 7♥. Dan has no hearts but a trump, so he must play it: 8♠. Anna follows with A♥. Dan wins with the only trump, 8♠, and leads next.

Scoring

After the five tricks:

• Each player deducts 1 point for every trick they won.
• A player who stayed in but won no trick adds 5 points.
• If hearts (♥) were trumps, all of this counts double (2 per trick, +10 for no trick).
• Players who dropped out keep their score.

Example: Hearts are trumps; everyone stayed in. Anna takes 3 tricks, Ben 2, Carla and Dan none. Anna 20 → 14, Ben 20 → 16, Carla and Dan 20 → 30.

After eight deals: if nobody has reached zero after eight deals, all further deals are played with hearts as trumps (so no choosing) and nobody may drop out – scores are doubled, so the game ends quickly.

Winning the game

The first player whose score reaches zero or less wins. If several get there in the same deal, the one with the lowest (most negative) score wins. If that is still a tie, play more deals until there is a single winner.

Tips for beginners

• Choose trumps from strength: with two cards of one suit, or an Ace, name that suit.
• Exchange boldly. Low cards in side suits rarely win a trick – swap them for a chance at trumps.
• Drop out with a weak hand. Five penalty points are much worse than missing one or two tricks – but remember that ♦ trumps keep everybody in.
• Hearts are double. A strong hand in hearts is the fastest way to zero; a weak one the fastest way back up.

Variants

These alternative rules, all optional, are described on pagat.com:

• Jass order: in trumps the order is J – 9 – A – 10 – K – Q – 8 – 7; the other suits stay as normal.
• Three first cards: the first deal is three cards each. The trump maker may choose trumps from these; or say "next" – their fourth card is dealt face up and its suit is trumps; or choose blind before looking, doubling all scores for that deal. Holding only 7s and 8s, they may demand a new deal.
• Drop out first: players decide whether to stay in before exchanging; only those staying in may exchange.
• Clubs instead of diamonds force everyone to stay in.
• There must be at least two players in each deal: if all others drop out, the dealer must stay in.
• You may not drop out twice in a row, and not at all with a score of 5 or less.
• No endgame: play on without the eight-deal rule until someone reaches zero.
• Standard order: Scott McNeely's Ultimate Book of Card Games uses the usual order A – K – Q – J – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7, with the 10 below the Jack.