King rules
Dodge tricks in the negative hands, win them in the positive ones, with an auction. 4 players
Players and cards
4 play, every player for themselves. 52-card deck, 13 each. From highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 … 2. To decide who deals first, cards are dealt face up, one each, until the King of hearts comes out: whoever gets it deals. After that, the player on the left deals.
Tricks
Play goes to the left and the dealer leads the first trick. You must follow suit; if you cannot, play any card. The highest card of the suit led wins (or the highest trump, in positive hands with trumps). Whoever wins the trick leads the next one.
The 6 negative hands
They are played in this order. Tricks: −20 per trick. Hearts: −20 per heart (no leading hearts while you have another suit). Queens: −50 per Queen. Jacks and Kings: −30 each. King of hearts: −160 for whoever takes it; no leading hearts, and whoever holds it must play it as soon as hearts are led or they cannot follow suit. Last two: −90 for each of the last 2 tricks. In total, −1300.
The 4 positive hands
In each one, the dealer is the owner: they look at their cards and choose to play up (+25 per trick, with a trump suit or no trumps) or down (everyone starts with 325 and loses 75 per trick). Each positive hand is worth 325 in total. You only play a trump when you cannot follow suit.
Auction
Instead of choosing, the owner can open an auction. Starting on their left, each player offers tricks up (25 each) or nulls (75 each), always more than the previous bid, up to 8 up. Whoever passes is out. Whoever speaks earlier has preference: they can match a later bid on the same terms. At the end, the owner accepts (the buyer plays and pays the bid from the points they make in that hand; if it is not enough, they pay what they made) or refuses and plays themselves. If nobody bids, or the best bid is up to 3 up, the owner can skip the hand and score 4-3-3-3. Ultimatum "8 or nulls": only 8 up is accepted; if nobody offers it, the owner plays down.
End
After the 10 hands, whoever has the most points wins. Everyone's points always add up to 0.
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