29 Card Game Rules: How to Play 29

The 29 card game rules are simple to learn once you remember one surprise: the jack and the nine are the most powerful cards. 29 is a trick taking game for four players in two teams, hugely popular in West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar and Bangladesh, and played in college hostels and family gatherings across India. One player bids for the right to secretly choose the trump suit (often called the rang), and the team then tries to collect enough card points in tricks.

Quick rules

• Four players, two teams, partners sit opposite each other.
• Use 32 cards: J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 in each suit.
• Card points: jack 3, nine 2, ace 1, ten 1. Total 28 points in the deck.
• Deal 4 cards each, bid from 16 to 28, and the highest bidder secretly picks trump.
• Deal 4 more cards each and play 8 tricks. Follow suit if you can.
• Holding king and queen of trumps (the pair) changes the bid by 4.
• Make your bid to gain a game point, fail and lose one. Plus 6 wins, minus 6 loses.

What you need

• A standard deck with the 2s to 6s removed, leaving 32 cards.
• Keep the four 6s aside. Each team uses a red 6 and a black 6 as a score counter.

Card ranking and points

That gives 7 points per suit and 28 in total. The name 29 comes from an older version that gave 1 extra point for winning the last trick. A few groups still play that way, so check before you start.

Setup

1. Choose the first dealer. Deal and play move anticlockwise in the traditional game, though many groups play clockwise. Agree on one direction.
2. Shuffle, have the player on the other side cut, then deal 4 cards to each player. Keep the other 16 cards aside for now.

How to play

1. Bidding

1. Looking only at their first 4 cards, players bid the number of points their team will win. The lowest bid is 16 and the highest is 28.
2. Each new bid must be higher than the last, or a player may pass. Bidding goes round until only one player remains.
3. The winning bidder chooses a trump suit and places one card of that suit face down on the table without showing it. That card is the trump indicator.

2. Second deal

The dealer now deals 4 more cards to each player, so everyone holds 8 (the bidder holds 7 plus the face down trump card).

3. Playing tricks

1. The player next to the dealer leads the first trick.
2. Everyone must follow the suit led if they can.
3. Until trump is revealed, the trick goes to the highest card of the suit led.
4. A player who cannot follow suit may ask the bidder to reveal trump. The bidder turns the indicator card face up and takes it back into hand. The player who asked must then play a trump if they have one.
5. After trump is revealed, the highest trump wins any trick it is played to.
6. The trick winner leads the next trick. Play all 8 tricks.

4. The pair (marriage)

A player who holds both the king and queen of trumps has the pair. It can only be shown after trump has been revealed, and after that player's team has won a trick following the reveal. If the bidding team shows the pair, their target drops by 4. If the other team shows it, the bidding team's target rises by 4. The target never goes below 16 or above 28.

Scoring

After 8 tricks, the bidding team counts the card points in the tricks they won.

Each team tracks its game points with its two 6s: the red 6 face up shows positive points by the number of pips showing, and the black 6 shows negative points. A pen and paper scoreboard works just as well.

How to win

A team that reaches plus 6 game points wins the game. A team that falls to minus 6 loses.

Variations

• Double and redouble: after trump is chosen, an opponent may double, making the hand worth 2 game points. The bidding team may redouble to make it 4.
• Single hand: after seeing all 8 cards, a player may declare they will win every trick alone. Success earns 3 game points, failure loses 3.
• Seventh card trump: the bidder may choose to make the seventh card dealt to them the trump, without seeing it.
• Minimum bid: some groups start bidding at 15 or 17 instead of 16.
• Calling for trump: details differ by region, such as whether the bidder's partner may ask for trump to be revealed, so settle this before the first hand.

Tips and strategy

• Jacks and nines in your first 4 cards are the key to bidding. Two jacks usually justify a bid of 17 or 18.
• Choose a trump suit where you hold the jack or nine, or at least length.
• Give points to your partner when they are clearly winning a trick, and play low cards when opponents are winning.
• Keep track of which jacks and nines have been played. There are only eight point heavy cards in the game.

House rules to agree first

• Clockwise or anticlockwise play.
• 28 points or 29 points (with the last trick bonus).
• Whether doubling, single hand and the seventh card trump are allowed.

Love Indian card games? Try our guides to teen patti for friendly play with chips, Indian rummy, and the related European game 66. For more family favourites see Indian traditional games and kitty party games.