How to Play Bid Whist

Bid Whist is a partnership game for four, played with a full 54-card deck, both jokers included. You and the player across from you bid for the right to name trump, then try to take the tricks you promised. A hand takes a few minutes. The rules below take about ten to read, and you can try each one as you go.

Short on time? Sit down at a table and three bots will deal you in. Nothing here is required reading.

The deck, and the two jokers

Fifty-four cards: the standard fifty-two, plus the big joker and the little joker. Every player is dealt twelve, which uses forty-eight, and the six left over go face down in the middle as the kitty.

The jokers are the whole character of the game. In any contract with a trump suit, the big joker is the strongest card in the deck and the little joker is next, and both of them outrank the ace of trump. They are not wild and they are not a suit of their own: they are simply the top two trumps, and they must be played when trump is led.

Uptown, downtown, and no-trump

This is the rule that surprises people coming from other trick games. Before a card is played, the winning bidder chooses which direction the whole deck reads.

• Uptown ranks cards the way you expect: ace is high, two is low.
• Downtown turns every suit upside down. The two is now the strongest card and the ace is the weakest. The jokers do not move; they stay on top.
• No-trump has no trump suit at all. The jokers are powerless and the bidder discards them, and the bidder says whether aces are high or low for the hand.

The auction, and what a book is

Starting to the dealer's left, each player either passes or names a bid that beats the last one. A bid has two parts: a number from 3 to 6 and a direction.

The number is not how many tricks you will take. Six tricks is the book, and it belongs to the bidding side before anyone bids anything. Your number is how many tricks you will take on top of the book. So a bid of 4 is a promise to take ten of the twelve tricks, with your partner's help and with whatever the kitty gives you.

That is why the bidding stops at 6. A bid of 6 is a promise to take every trick, which has a name: a Boston.

Naming trump and taking the kitty

Whoever wins the auction names the trump suit, or for a no-trump contract says whether aces are high or low. Then they pick up all six cards of the kitty, which gives them eighteen, and discard any six face down. Those six are gone for the hand.

The kitty is a real advantage and it is the reason bidding is worth doing. It is also a trap in no-trump, where both jokers are dead cards the bidder has to throw away, and that is two of the six discards spent before any choosing starts.

Playing a trick

The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick, and after that whoever won the last trick leads the next. The rules in order:

1. Follow the suit led if you can. If you have a card of that suit, you must play one.
2. If you cannot follow, play anything, including a trump.
3. The highest trump wins. If nobody played a trump, the highest card of the suit that was led wins.

"Highest" means highest for this contract. Downtown, the two of the led suit beats its ace.

Winning the hand

Count the tricks the bidding team took.

• Made it: they took at least six plus their bid. They score a point for every trick over six. Take nine on a bid of 3 and that is 3 points; take eleven on the same bid and it is 5.
• Set: they fell short. They lose the number they bid, whatever the margin. A failed bid of 5 costs 5 whether they took eight tricks or two.

That asymmetry is the judgment in the game. Bidding high pays more and costs more, and a hand that looks like nine tricks is often eight.

Common questions

How many cards are used in Bid Whist?

Fifty-four: the standard fifty-two plus both jokers. Twelve to each of the four players, six in the kitty.

What is a book?

Six tricks. Your bid is how many you will take beyond the book, so a bid of 4 means ten of the twelve.

What beats the big joker?

Nothing, in a trump contract. In no-trump it is a dead card and the bidder has to discard it.

Can you bid 7?

No. Six is the highest bid, because six plus the book is all twelve tricks. There is nothing above taking every trick.

Is Bid Whist the same as Spades?

No. Both are partnership trick-taking games, but Spades has a fixed trump suit and every player bids their own tricks. In Bid Whist the auction decides who names trump, which direction the deck reads, and who gets the kitty.

Do I need an account?

No. The table is free and there is nothing to sign up for.