1: Four players in two partnerships, partners facing. Use 32 cards: the 7s up to the aces.Take the 2s to 6s out of a regular deck. They are used as markers and score cards.
2: In every suit the cards rank jack, 9, ace, 10, king, queen, 8, 7.The jack is the highest card, in trumps and in the other suits alike.
3: Card points: jack 3, nine 2, ace 1, ten 1. Kings, queens, 8s and 7s count nothing.That makes 28 points in the deck.
4: Deal four cards each. From the dealer's left, bid the points your side will win, or pass.The lowest bid is 15 and the highest 28. Three passes in a row end the bidding.
5: The high bidder picks the trump suit in secret: a spare low card of that suit, face down.Nobody else knows the suit yet.
6: The dealer deals four more cards each. The player on the dealer's left leads.Everyone now holds eight cards.
7: Follow suit if you can. The first player who cannot asks the bidder to show the trump suit.From that trick on, the highest trump in a trick wins it.
8: A trick with no trump in it goes to the highest card of the suit led.A player who cannot follow may play any card. Nobody is forced to trump.
9: After eight tricks the bidding side counts its card points. Bid reached: 1 game point.Bid missed: lose 1 game point. The first side to 6 game points wins.
1: Four players in two partnerships, partners facing. Use 32 cards: the 7s up to the aces.Take the 2s to 6s out of a regular deck. They are used as markers and score cards.
2: In every suit the cards rank jack, 9, ace, 10, king, queen, 8, 7.The jack is the highest card, in trumps and in the other suits alike.
3: Card points: jack 3, nine 2, ace 1, ten 1. Kings, queens, 8s and 7s count nothing.That makes 28 points in the deck.
4: Deal four cards each. From the dealer's left, bid the points your side will win, or pass.The lowest bid is 15 and the highest 28. Three passes in a row end the bidding.
5: The high bidder picks the trump suit in secret: a spare low card of that suit, face down.Nobody else knows the suit yet.
6: The dealer deals four more cards each. The player on the dealer's left leads.Everyone now holds eight cards.
7: Follow suit if you can. The first player who cannot asks the bidder to show the trump suit.From that trick on, the highest trump in a trick wins it.
8: A trick with no trump in it goes to the highest card of the suit led.A player who cannot follow may play any card. Nobody is forced to trump.
9: After eight tricks the bidding side counts its card points. Bid reached: 1 game point.Bid missed: lose 1 game point. The first side to 6 game points wins.
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Bidding and choosing trumps 9
1: Each bid must be higher than the one before it.A bid is a number of card points, not a number of tricks.
2: When all three players before the dealer pass, the dealer must bid 15.So every deal is played by someone.
3: The spare 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s are the trump markers. Each player takes one of every suit.The bidder puts the marker of the chosen suit at the bottom of the pile.
4: Variation: the lowest bid is 16.Then a pair cannot bring the target below 16.
5: Variation, seventh card: the bidder's seventh card, dealt later, sets the trump suit.It lies under the markers. The bidder may look at it and nobody else may.
6: Variation, no trumps: a joker at the bottom of the marker pile means no suit is trumps.Each player's markers then include a joker.
7: Variation, double: before the second four cards are dealt, a defender may say double.The hand is then worth 2 game points. The bidding side may redouble to 4.
8: Variation, single hand: with all eight cards, a player offers to win every trick alone.No trumps, the partner sits out, and 3 game points are won or lost.
9: Variation: play runs to the right, and the player on the dealer's right bids and leads.Some regions play this way.
The pair, and counting the points 9
1: The pair is the king and queen of trumps held in one hand.It is also called royals or a marriage.
2: Show the pair once trumps are known and your side has won that trick or a later one.Both cards must still be in your hand.
3: When the bidding side shows the pair, its target drops by 4, but never below 15.A bid of 21 with the pair needs 17.
4: When the defenders show the pair, the target rises by 4, but never above 28.A bid of 18 against the pair needs 22.
5: A worked bid (ours): bid 17 and show the pair. The target is 15, not 13.Fifteen is the floor.
6: A worked count (ours): two jacks, a nine, two aces and a ten in your tricks make 11.3 and 3, 2, 1 and 1, and 1.
7: The last trick: in the older count the side that wins it adds 1 point, making 29 in all.Most tables now leave it out and play with 28. Agree before the deal.
8: The four jacks hold 12 of the 28 points and the four nines hold 8.Aces and tens hold the other 8.
9: The defenders win the hand when the bidding side falls short.With 28 in play and a bid of 16, the defenders need 13.
Keeping score with the sixes 9
1: Each side takes one red 6 and one black 6 from the spare cards.They are laid so that some pips show and the rest are covered.
2: Red pips are game points won. Black pips are game points lost.At the start no pips show.
3: Bidding side makes its bid: show one more red pip, or cover a black one.A side on two black pips that wins a hand goes to one black pip.
4: Bidding side misses its bid: show one more black pip, or cover a red one.A side on one red pip that loses a hand goes back to none.
5: Six red pips win the game. Six black pips lose it.The other side then wins without six red pips of its own.
6: Only the bidding side's score moves on a hand.The defenders' sixes stay as they were.
7: Variation: a bid of 21 or more is worth 2 game points, won or lost.The bidding side then shows or covers two pips, not one.
8: Variation: a bidding side that wins less than half of its bid loses double.Bid 20 and count 9: 2 game points lost.
9: A session can be several games of six points.Some tables mark each game won with a red spare card and each loss with a black one.
Wrong cards and dead deals 6
1: Trumps never shown by the end of the hand: the deal is dead and nobody scores.It can happen when every player can follow suit to every trick.
2: A mistake in play, such as not following suit: one source has that side lose the hand.The other source names no penalty. Agree on one before the first deal.
3: A player dealt eight cards with no point card among them: the deal is thrown in.One source gives this rule.
4: In one version, a first or second bidder with no point card in four has the deal thrown in.The next player then deals.
5: The dealer shuffles, and the player on the dealer's right cuts.Where play runs to the right, the cut comes from the left.
6: Variation: a player who cannot follow suit need not ask for trumps and may throw any card.A player who does ask must then play a trump if they hold one.
How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-10-13, in our own words. 29, or Twenty-Nine, is a traditional South Asian trick-taking card game with no governing body, and its rules vary from region to region. The sheets were checked on 2026-10-13 against the card game rules site Pagat: https://www.pagat.com/jass/29.html, and against English Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, Twenty-eight (card game), the article that covers 29 as a variant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-eight_(card_game). Wikipedia marks that article as needing more citations, so the standard sheet follows Pagat row by row and Wikipedia is named only where a row says one source. Both give four players in partnerships, 32 cards ranked jack, 9, ace, 10, king, queen, 8, 7, card points of 3, 2, 1 and 1 for a total of 28, four cards dealt before the bidding and four after, a trump suit chosen in secret, the pair of king and queen of trumps that moves the target by 4, one game point won or lost by the bidding side, the red and black sixes as score cards and a game of six points. Where the sources differ the sheets say so: Pagat's standard game runs to the left with a lowest bid of 15 and Wikipedia's runs to the right; Pagat says most players no longer count the point for the last trick, and Wikipedia gives that point as the reason for the name. The dealer's forced bid, the trump markers, the seventh card, no trumps, double and redouble, the single hand and the optional asking for trumps are as Pagat gives them. A deal with no point cards thrown in and the forfeit for a mistake in play are as Wikipedia gives them, in a section without citations, and the rows say one source. Neither source gives rules for two players, so this page prints none. Rows marked ours are this site's own worked examples and are not official; their sums were counted from the card points. Licence: own work
How it works
29, or Twenty-Nine, is a trick-taking card game from South Asia for four players in two partnerships. It uses 32 cards, the jack and the 9 are the two highest cards of every suit, and the trump suit stays hidden until someone cannot follow suit.
Read the full guide
How to play the 29 card game: one hand
Your first four cards are the jack, 9 and ace of hearts and a small club. You bid 16, win the auction and lay a spare heart face down as the trump marker. Four more cards are dealt, and the player on the dealer's left leads. When someone cannot follow suit, you show the heart, and from that trick on hearts beat every other suit. Your side counts 17 card points: 1 game point.
The pair, and a wrong card played
The pair, and counting the points covers the king and queen of trumps, which move the target by 4. Wrong cards and dead deals has what the sources say about a mistake in play and a deal that is thrown in.
Jacks and nines hold 20 of the 28 card points, so four cards with neither make a weak hand to bid on.
Questions and answers
How do you play the 29 card game?
Four players in two partnerships use 32 cards. Deal four each and bid points; the high bidder picks trumps in secret. Deal four more and play eight tricks. Jacks count 3, nines 2, aces and tens 1. Making the bid wins a game point.
Why is the card game called 29?
The cards hold 28 points, and in the older count the side that wins the last trick adds 1, which makes 29. Most tables now play without that point, and the name has stayed.
Can you play the 29 card game with 2 players?
The two sources this page follows give 29 as a game for four players in two partnerships. Neither sets out rules for two, so this page has no two-player sheet.
What happens when a wrong hand is played in the 29 card game?
The sources differ. One says a side that makes a mistake in play, such as not following suit, loses the hand. The other names no penalty. Agree on one before the first deal.
Is there a 29 card game rules PDF?
Press Print this list and choose Save as PDF in the print window. To save another sheet, such as the scoring with the sixes, pick it from the menu first.