How to play Preferans

Preferans (Преферанс) is the great thinking card game of Russia and the former Soviet Union, played for generations by students, scientists, chess players and long-distance train passengers. Three players use a short 32-card pack. Each deal starts with an auction for two hidden cards, the talon: the winner promises to take a number of tricks, and the other two decide whether to defend against the contract or let it go. When nobody wants to play a contract, everyone plays raspasy, trying to take as few tricks as possible. The score goes on the famous pulya sheet: the pulya (points for contracts made), the mountain (penalties) and whists (points written on other players), all settled in whists at the end.

How to play on skill.games

When you open the game, the settings appear. Choose a difficulty (Easy, Normal, Hard or Crazy), the rules (Sochi, Leningrad or Rostov) and the length of the pulya (10, 20 or 30). Then press PLAY.

• The table: you sit at the bottom, Misha on your left and Lena on your right. Play goes clockwise: you, Misha, Lena. A "D" marks the dealer. During the bidding the two talon cards lie face down at the top.
• The top band: the status line says whose turn it is. One chip shows everyone's score so far in whists, in each player's colour; tap it to open the pulya sheet at any time. The other chip shows the bidding or the contract with its trump and declarer.
• Bidding: on your turn a grid of bids opens in the middle: rows of levels 6 to 10, columns for spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts and no trump (NT), plus MISÈRE and PASS. Only the bids you may make are lit; tap one to bid. Each player's last call shows in a bubble by their name.
• The talon: when you win the auction the talon is turned up for everyone and joins your hand, so you hold twelve cards. Tap two cards to discard them (tap again to change your mind) and press DISCARD. Then the grid opens again: tap the contract you will play, your bid or higher.
• Defending: when someone else declares, you choose WHIST (to defend and earn whists) or PASS, and on 6 and 7 sometimes HALF-WHIST. If you are the only one who whists, choose OPEN to play both defending hands face up yourself, or CLOSED.
• Playing: tap a card or drag it onto the table. Playable cards are lifted, and a card that isn't allowed shakes while the status line explains why. When you play for an open hand, its cards stand as a column at the side: tap one there. The badge by each name counts the tricks taken.

After each deal the sheet opens with what happened and what the deal changed for each player. Switch between the classic PULYA drawing and a plain TOTALS table, then press NEXT DEAL. The menu button in the top-left corner pauses, starts a new game or turns the sound off, and the "?" opens this guide. The game is saved as you play, so you can press CONTINUE later.

Rules

The cards. Preferans uses 32 cards, the seven to the ace of each suit, ranking ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven. Only tricks count, not card points. Each player gets ten cards, two at a time, and two go face down to the talon. The deal passes to the left.

Bidding. The player on the dealer's left speaks first. A bid names a number of tricks, 6 to 10, and a trump suit. Spades are lowest, then clubs, diamonds, hearts and no trump, so the order runs 6♠, 6♣, 6♦, 6♥, 6NT, 7♠ and so on up to 10NT. Each bid must be higher than the last. A player who passes is out of the auction. Misère, a promise to take no tricks at all, ranks between 8NT and 9♠; you can only say it as your first bid, and once outbid you can't bid again. The auction ends when two players have passed.

The talon and the contract. The declarer shows the talon to everyone, adds it to their hand, discards two cards face down and announces the contract: the bid or anything higher. A misère stays a misère.

Whisting. The two other players, starting on the declarer's left, each say whist or pass. Whisting means defending: the whisters earn whists for their tricks, but must take enough of them between them, 4 tricks against a 6, 2 against a 7 and 1 against an 8, 9 or 10. If nobody whists, the contract counts as made without play. If only one player whists, they choose to play open (both defenders' cards face up, the whister plays both hands) or closed. On a 6 or 7, if the first defender passes, the second may half-whist: the deal is not played, the contract counts as made and the half-whister writes half of the defenders' whists.

Misère. Nobody whists against a misère. After the first card both defenders lay their cards face up and play together to force the declarer to take a trick.

The play. The player on the dealer's left always leads to the first trick, whatever the contract, and the winner of each trick leads the next. You must follow suit; if you can't, you must trump if you can; otherwise you may play anything. There is no duty to win a trick.

Raspasy. If all three pass, everyone plays for himself, with no trump, trying to take as few tricks as possible. With the Sochi and Leningrad rules the two talon cards are turned one at a time and set the suit of the first two tricks. Each trick taken costs mountain, a player who takes none gets a point of pulya, and raspasy in a row cost more each time; the deal after raspasy needs a higher minimum bid.

The pulya sheet. Each player has three places on the sheet. The pulya collects the value of contracts made: 2 for a 6, 4 for a 7, 6 for an 8, 8 for a 9, 10 for a 10 or a misère. The mountain collects penalties: a declarer who falls short writes the value times the missing tricks, and a misère player the 10 times every trick taken. The whists are points written on another player: each whister writes the value times the defenders' tricks on the declarer, and when the declarer fails both defenders also write the value times the missing tricks. A whister who doesn't take their share of the obligation pays the value per missing trick in the mountain.

The end. The game ends when everyone's pulya reaches the chosen length. A player whose pulya is full helps close another player's pulya and writes whists on them for it. Then the mountain is shared out at ten whists a point and each player's whists are added up: the player with the most whists wins.

Strategy tips

• Count tricks, not points. Aces and long suits headed by top cards win tricks; a long trump suit brings extra ones.
• Remember the raspasy. Passing a strong hand can be expensive when everyone passes and your high cards must take tricks.
• Discard for voids. Discarding a short side suit lets you trump it later.
• Whist with sure tricks. Aces and guarded kings are good reasons to whist; whisting without them risks the mountain.
• Play open when alone. A lone whister usually does better seeing both defending hands.
• On misère, lead low. Catch the declarer by leading the suits where their cards may be forced to win.
• Mind the progression. The raspasy stakes rise after each one in a row; a modest contract can be cheaper.

Difficulty levels

• Easy: bids by rough feel, whists on a hunch, forgets the cards gone and sometimes plays a careless card.
• Normal: tests its hand in a few imagined deals before bidding, remembers what has been played and plays sound cards.
• Hard: imagines many possible hands for the other players before every bid, discard, whist and card, consistent with everything shown, and solves each one perfectly to find the best play.
• Crazy: the strongest: far more imagined deals for every decision, and it plays for the score, not just for tricks.

Game options

• Rules: Sochi (the default): a lone whister collects all the whists and answers for the whole obligation; raspasy stakes go 1, 2, 3.
• Rules: Leningrad: the mountain and whists are written doubled; when a contract fails the two defenders share the whists; a whister short of the obligation pays half; raspasy stakes go 1, 2, 4.
• Rules: Rostov: the talon stays closed on raspasy and raspasy tricks cost whists instead of mountain; a short whister pays half in the mountain and half in whists.
• Pulya: 10 for a short game, 20 for the usual one, 30 for a long evening.

Statistics are kept for each difficulty.