EIGHTY-THREE

OBJECTIVE OF EIGHTY-THREE:

 The objective of Eighty-Three is to be the first team to reach 200 points.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 Players

MATERIALS:

 A 52-card deck plus one joker, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.

TYPE OF GAME

: Trick-Taking Card Game

AUDIENCE:

 10+

OVERVIEW OF EIGHTY-THREE

Eighty-Three is a trick-taking card game for 4 players. These 4 players will split into two partnerships of 2 players and teammates will sit opposite of each other.

The goal of the game is to reach 200 points. Teams do this by bidding on how many tricks they think they can win in the round and winning certain point cards.

SETUP

The first dealer is chosen at random and passes to the left after each round. The dealer will shuffle the deck and deal each player a hand of 12 cards, 3 cards at a time. A kitty of 5 cards is dealt face down into the center play area. Then the bidding round can begin.

Card Rankings and Values

Eighty-Three has two different rankings, one for the trump suit and one for non-trump suits. For Eighty-Three the trump can change each round, this can change the cards in the rankings. The 5 of the suit that is the same color as the trump suit is also considered a trump card. So, if hearts are trumps, the 5 of diamonds is also a trump.

The ranking for trump suit is Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 (the one of the suit), 5 (the one of the other suit of the same color), 4, 3, 2, and joker (low). The other suits follow the same ranking of Ace (high). King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 (when applicable), 4, 3, and 2.

Eighty-Three also assigns certain cards with values for scoring. The only cards worth points are of the trump suit. The Ace of trump is worth 1 point, the king of trump is worth 25 points, the queen is worth 20 points, the jack of trump is worth 1 point, the ten of trump is worth 1 point, the 9 of trumps is worth 9 points, the five of trump is worth 5 points, the other 5 of trump is also worth 5 points, the 2 of trumps is worth 1 point, and the joker is worth 15 points.

BIDDING

The bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s left. They can either bid or pass. If bidding a player will need to bid higher than the previous bid. The bid can be a minimum of 30 points or a maximum of 83 points.

There is one bid higher than 83 points, called 83 doubled. It has the same requirements as a bid of 83. You must win all the points in a round, but it scores doubled the number of points, for a success, or loses doubled for a failure.

Players are bidding for the chance to call the trump suit. The bid continues until 3 players have passed. keonhacai

If all three previous players passed with no bid made the dealer must bid at least 30.

The winner of the bid takes the kitty into their hand and will call the trump suit. Then each player discards down to a 6-card hand. if a player has more than 6 trumps, they may pass extra trumps to their partner. If together the partners have more than 12 trumps, they must discard the excess trumps, but cannot discard scoring trumps.

GAMEPLAY

Each team is trying to win the tricks containing the point cards. The team that won the bid will also need to win at least the number of tricks they bid to score their point cards.

The player who won the bidding round will start the game and from them players clockwise in order. The player will lead any card they wish. If a trump is led all following players must play a trump if possible. If a non-trump suit is lead players may follow suit or play a trump.  Tricks are won by the highest trump played, or if not applicable, by the highest-ranked card of the suit led. The winner of a trick will lead the next.

SCORING

Once all tricks have been played out players will score their tricks. The players who did not win the bid will score any points acquired through cards regardless of whether the other team completed their bid.

If the bidding team completes their bid, they will also score all points won during tricks, but if they did not complete their bid, they will lose points equal to those won in tricks.

For bids of 83 double, you will either earn 166 points for a successful bid or lose 166 points for a failure.

END OF GAME

Teams keep cumulative scores over several rounds and the first team to 200 points wins the game.