How to play King

King is a Russian trick-taking card game for four players, every one for himself. In Russia it is often called "ladies' preference", and its relatives are played all over Europe and beyond: Barbu in Belgium, Rıfkı in Turkey, Kierki in Poland. A match is a fixed series of deals. In the first part, each deal has its own penalty: don't take tricks, don't take hearts, don't take jacks, don't take queens, don't take the last two tricks, don't take the king of hearts, and finally Eralash, where everything is punished at once. Then come the trump deals, where every trick scores and the players take turns naming the trump. The penalties and the rewards add up to exactly zero, so the match is decided by who loses least in the first part and wins most in the second. Reading the cards, remembering what has gone and getting rid of a dangerous card at the right moment make it a real game of skill.

How to play on skill.games

When you open the game, the settings appear. Choose a difficulty (Easy, Normal, Hard or Crazy) and the match (Full King or Short King), then press PLAY.

• The table: you sit at the bottom. Lily on your left, Max across and Zoe on your right play against you and against each other. Each name shows that player's total for the match, a "D" marks the dealer, and a badge shows what the player has scored in the current deal.
• The contract: at the top, a chip shows the deal number (such as 3/15), the contract and what it costs or pays, such as "No girls, −4 a queen". Under it a strip of marks shows the whole match: red marks are the penalty deals, green marks the trump deals, the current deal is outlined and pulses, and deals already played are dimmed. Once a trump has been named, its mark shows the suit.
• The score table: press TABLE at any time to see every deal of the match with each player's points and the totals. The game waits while it is open; press CLOSE to go back. The table also opens by itself after every deal, with the new totals counting up; press NEXT DEAL to continue.
• Playing: tap a card or drag it onto the table. Playable cards are lifted and glow. A card that isn't allowed shakes and the status line explains why, such as "You must follow suit" or "Hearts can't be led while you hold another suit".
• Naming the trump: in a trump deal where it is your turn to choose, you get your first three cards only. A panel shows the four suits and NO TRUMPS; tap your choice and the rest of the cards are dealt.

You can drag cards within your hand to rearrange them. The menu button in the top-left corner pauses, starts a new match or turns the sound off, and the "?" button opens this guide. The match is saved as you play, so you can press CONTINUE later. At the end, the results screen shows your place, every player's total, your penalty and trump-deal points and your statistics.

Rules

The cards. A 32-card deck: seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace in each suit, with the ace high. Each player gets eight cards, dealt two at a time.

The deal and the lead. The first dealer is chosen at random and the deal passes to the left after every deal. The player on the dealer's left leads to the first trick. You must follow the suit that was led if you can. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a trump was played, and the winner leads to the next trick.

The penalty deals. The first seven deals are played without trumps, always in this order:

1. No tricks: −2 for every trick you take.
2. No hearts: −2 for every heart in your tricks.
3. No boys: −4 for every jack in your tricks.
4. No girls: −4 for every queen in your tricks.
5. No last two: −8 for each of the last two tricks.
6. No King: −16 for taking the king of hearts, the "King".
7. Eralash: all six penalties at once.

Each of the first six costs 16 points in all, shared between the players who take them, and Eralash costs 96.

Special rules in the penalty deals. In No hearts, No King and Eralash you may not lead a heart while you hold a card of another suit. In No King and Eralash, if you cannot follow suit and you hold the king of hearts, you must play it. A deal ends early as soon as there is nothing left to punish: when all the hearts, all the jacks, all the queens or the king of hearts have been taken.

The trump deals. Then come eight trump deals worth 3 points a trick. The player on the dealer's left looks at their first three cards only and names the trump: one of the four suits, or no trumps. Then the rest of the cards are dealt and that player leads. Because the deal passes to the left, every player names the trump twice. If you cannot follow suit in a trump deal, you must play a trump if you have one.

Winning. After the last deal the highest total wins. The penalties (−192) and the trump deals (+192) balance, so the four totals always add up to zero. Two players tied at the top share first place, which counts as a draw for you.

Strategy tips

• Get rid of your high cards early in "No last two". The first six tricks cost nothing, so win them with your aces and kings and keep low cards for the end.
• Make a void. Being out of a suit lets you throw away your dangerous cards when that suit is led. Lead your short suits first.
• Throw the expensive card first. When you can't follow, discard the king of hearts, a queen or a jack, whatever the contract punishes, before anything else.
• Lead low into high cards that are still out. A seven is a safe lead when the eight, nine and ten of its suit haven't been played; an ace with nothing higher out will win.
• Duck with your highest safe card. When following, play the highest card that still loses the trick. You keep your small cards for later, when nobody else may have higher ones.
• Remember the voids. A player who didn't follow suit has no more of that suit, and in the King deal a player who couldn't follow and didn't play the king of hearts doesn't have it.
• Hunt the King. In No King, keep leading suits the holder of the king of hearts may run out of, so they are forced to give it up.
• Name a trump with length. With three cards, a suit you already hold two of, or a high card with a companion, is usually the best trump. All high cards in different suits point to no trumps.
• Draw trumps when you are strong. In a trump deal, lead your top trumps to pull the others' trumps out, then cash your aces.

Difficulty levels

The difficulty you choose sets all three computer players:

• Easy: knows the rules and plays sensible cards, but often slips, remembers nothing that has been played and names the trump from the suit it has most of.
• Normal: plays a careful strategy for each contract: safe leads, ducking under the winner, throwing away its most expensive cards, and taking tricks in the trump deals. It still remembers nothing that has been played.
• Hard: counts every card that has been played, notices who has run out of a suit, and before each card plays out a number of possible deals that fit what it has seen. It names the trump by playing out imagined deals for each choice.
• Crazy: the strongest: many more imagined deals, deductions from the King and heart rules, and in the last tricks of a deal it calculates every remaining possibility exactly.

Modes

• Full King: seven penalty deals including Eralash, then eight trump deals. Fifteen deals in all.
• Short King: six penalty deals without Eralash, then four trump deals, so every player names the trump once. Ten deals in all.

Statistics are kept for each difficulty and each match length.