Whist on PlayingCards.io

Team up with a partner for 2 vs 2 in this classic English trick-taking game!

Whist Rules

Objective

• In Whist, the goal is to win the most tricks.

Set-up

1. First, players need to decide partners. They can either do this on their own or deal 1 card to each player. The two highest cards determine one team while the two lowest cards determine the other.
2. Teammates sit across from each other (EXAMPLE: P1 - Team 1, P2 - Team 2, P3 - Team 1, P4 - Team 2)
3. Shuffle the 52 card deck and deal 13 cards to each player. The last card dealt to the dealer's hand is dealt face-up. This card determines the "trump" suit for the round. When it's the dealer's turn to play, they return this card to their hand before playing a card of their choice.

Playing the Game

• In Whist, each round will start with the player left of the dealer. Players will each play one card into the center, forming a "trick".
• The first card played each round can be of any suit or rank. Cards are ranked from high to low as follows : A > K > Q > J > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2. The trump suit each round will always beat other suits.
• Players must follow suit if possible. If they cannot follow suit, they may play any card from their hand (cards that do not follow suit or belong to the trump suit cannot win a trick.)
• After 4 cards are played, the player who played the highest ranked card according to rank and trump suit, wins the trick. (EXAMPLE: Clubs is the current trump suit. P1 started the trick with a 7 Hearts, P2 followed with a 10 Hearts, P3 followed with a 4 Hearts, P4 plays a 2 Clubs and wins the trick because Clubs is the trump suit.)
• The player who wins the trick sets the cards aside in a pile to be scored later. Each trick pile should be kept separated for scoring. They then start a new round by playing a card into the center.
• After all players have played all 13 cards in hand, tricks earned by each team are counted.

Scoring

• All tricks earned by each team are added together per team (EXAMPLE: Team 1 earned a total 7 tricks while team 2 earned a total 6 tricks.)
• Tricks in excess of 6 score 1 point each, meaning a team does not score any points unless they earn a minimum tricks.
• Players continue playing rounds of Whist until one team has reached 5 points.

Winning

The first team to reach 5 points wins the game!