The game of 29 enjoys widespread popularity across various regions of the world, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Malaysia, among others. It is a captivating card game designed for precisely four players, employing 32 cards from a standard deck. Within this blog, we will delve into the intricacies of gameplay, elucidating both fundamental and advanced rules essential to know for mastering this enthralling pastime.
The Basic Rules
Number of players
In the game of 29, four players participate, forming two teams of two players each. Seated around a circular table, the players directly across from each other belong to the same team.
Card Values
The game consists of a total of 32 cards, comprising 8 cards from each suit. These cards are ranked in descending order of significance: J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, and 7, with J being the highest and 7 the lowest. Points are assigned to specific cards: J carries 3 points, 9 carries 2 points, while A and 10 each carry 1 point. The remaining cards hold no points. With four suits in play, the game accumulates a total of 28 points. An additional point is awarded optionally to the team that wins the final round, bringing the total possible points in the game to 29.
Card Distribution
In each game, a designated dealer (one of the 4 players) shuffles the 32-card deck and distributes 4 cards to each player for the bidding phase. Typically, the game proceeds in a counter-clockwise direction, though clockwise gameplay is also acceptable. The player seated to the right of the dealer (assuming counter clockwise game play) starts the bidding. Once bidding concludes, the dealer distributes the remaining 4 cards to each player.
Bidding Process
In the game, bidding commences with the player seated to the right of the dealer, assuming counter-clockwise gameplay. The minimum bid is set at 16, and players have the option to bid or pass. Should a player bid, another player, known as the challenger, must either pass or counter with a higher bid. The original bidder then has the opportunity to match the challenger’s bid or increase it further. Bidding proceeds until three players pass, leaving only one player with a successful bid.
The maximum bid achievable is typically 29 (although technically it could reach 33 due to Pair/Marriage – further explanation on this will be provided later). Once the winning bid is determined, the dealer distributes the remaining 4 cards to the players.
Let’s illustrate this with an example:
Imagine a game of 29 with four players: Alice, Bob, Carol, and Dave.
- Alice is the dealer, and the bidding starts with Bob, who sits to her right.
Bob decides to bid 16. - Now, Carol has the option to bid 17 or higher or pass.
- Let’s say Carol decides to pass.
- Dave can either bid 17 or higher or pass.
- Let’s say Dave bids 17. Bob can bid 17 or higher or pass. Bob bids 17.
- Dave can either bid 18 or higher or pass.
- Dave passes the bid.
Alice can either bid 18 or higher or pass. - Alice decides to bid 20.
- Bob can bid 20 or higher or pass.
- Bob passes the bid.
- Alice is the bid winner and the target points her team (Alice and Carol) has to collect to win the game is at least 20 points.
Trump Setting
When a player wins the bid, they gain the authority to determine the trump. It’s important to note that, at this stage, all players are only aware of their first 4 cards. The various types of trump cards include:
- Normal Suit Trump: The player can designate any of the 4 trump suits (♣️, ♦️, ♥️, ♠️) as the trump. This means that all 8 cards of the chosen trump suit will act as trump cards. [Strategy: If you have 2-4 cards of the same suit including some high cards like J and 9, then set that suit as the trump.]
- 7th Card Trump: This trump involves the bid winner selecting the suit of their 7th card (i.e., the 3rd card among the next 4 cards) as the trump suit. Importantly, the bid winner chooses this trump suit without seeing it. All 8 cards of the chosen trump suit serve as trump cards. Upon receiving the final four cards, only the bid winner can view the trump card, which is set aside until it is revealed during gameplay. The bid winner cannot use this card until the trump is disclosed. Once revealed, all players see the card before the bid winner incorporates it into their hand. [Strategy: If you do not have a strong choice for a trump card, then try your luck with the 7th card.]
- Joker Trump: Selecting the Joker as a trump implies that there is no designated trump suit, and the highest card in each round prevails. [Strategy: If possessing high cards of various suits without a dominant single suit, opting for the Joker trump can be advantageous.]
Card Play
The player seated to the right of the dealer (assuming counter clockwise game play) starts the game play. The player can play any card of their choice. Let us call the suit (♣️, ♦️, ♥️, ♠️) of the card played as ‘Lead Suit’. The next player (in counter clockwise direction) has to play a card of the Lead Suit, if they have it. If they do not have a card of the Lead Suit, they can play any card or ask to reveal the trump. If they decide to reveal the Trump, they must play a card of the trump suit – if they do not have a card of the trump suit, they can play any card.
Accordingly, the 3rd and the 4th player (in counter clockwise direction) plays their respective cards. This marks the end of round 1 and we need to decide who won this round. If there are no cards of the trump suit played, then the player who played the highest card of the Lead Suit (based on the precedence ordering mentioned here) wins the round. If there were cards of the Trump suit played, then the player who played the highest card of the Trump suit wins the round. The victor of the round collects all four cards played during that round.
This process repeats for the remaining 7 rounds, culminating in the conclusion of game 1 and we need to decide who won the game.
In 29, the bid winning team can either win or lose i.e. only the set score of the bid winning team changes positively or negatively. We will add up all the points of the cards collected by the members of the Bid winning team. If the bidding team accumulates points equal to or exceeding their bid, they win; otherwise, they lose the game.
The Set Scoring
After we decide whether the bid winning team has won or lost a game, we keep a track of the overall progress of the set using the set score cards.
The set score cards are maintained by using a ‘6’ red and a ‘6’ black card for each team.
| Team One | Team Two |
  |   |
Let’s illustrate the use of set scores with an example:
Suppose after 4 games, one team’s set score is +3 and that will be denoted as the following:
For the current game, this team wins the bid and also wins the game. So the set score needs to be increased by +1 and becomes +4. The updated set score of +4 would look like this:
Similarly, if a team’s score was +3 and they lose a game, the set score would change from +3 to +2:
| to |  |
 | to |  |
Advanced Rules
Double
After the trump is set, the team that did not win the bid can challenge the bid winning team to a Double. It means that the set score of the bid winning team will change by +2 or -2, depending on the team wins or loses, instead of +1 or -1, respectively.
Re double
If the bid losing team challenges with a double, the bid winning team can challenge back with a Re Double. It means that the set score of the bid winning team will change by +4 or -4, depending on the team wins or loses, instead of +1 or -1, respectively.
Winning/Losing all rounds
If the bid winning team wins all the 8 rounds of the game, then the team’s set score will change by an additional +1. Similarly, if the bid winning team loses all the 8 rounds, their set score will change by an additional -1.
Single Hand
After the trump is set and before the game starts, any player, irrespective of who won the bid, can declare a Single Hand play, let’s call this player the Caller. In this form of play, the partner of the Caller does not participate in the game play and keeps their cards face down. The 8 rounds are played by 3 players only. The Caller’s target is to win all the 8 rounds based on the highest card rule. The Caller is the first player of each round. There is no Trump in the game and if any double or re double was declared, they are nullified. If the Caller wins all the 8 rounds, their team’s set score increases by 3 and if they fail to win all the 8 rounds, the set score reduces by 3.
Pair (or Marriage) Rules
During gameplay, if a player realizes that they have the King and Queen of the trump suit, they can use that to change the target bid of the bid winning team. The King and Queen of the trump suit is called ‘Pair’ or ‘Marriage’. If a player of the bid winning team has the ‘Pair’, their target bid reduces by 4 (subject to a minimum of 16). Similarly, if a player from the bid losing team has the ‘Pair’, then the target of the bid winning team increases by 4. The ‘Pair’ can be declared by the player at any point of the game after Trump is revealed but must be declared before playing any of the two ‘Pair’ cards. Some additional constraints for ‘Pair’ to be applicable are:
1) Trump has been revealed already.
2) The player revealing the ‘Pair’, must have the King & Queen of the trump suit.
3) The team revealing the ‘Pair’ must have won atleast one round till now.
Under Trump
During a specific round, if a player has played a Trump card over a non-Trump Lead Sui, then another player who plays later in that round is not allowed to play a trump card smaller than the existing Trump card. The player has to play a Trump card higher than the existing one or a non-Trump card. The only exception is that the player has all Trump cards only and they are all smaller than the existing Trump card played.
Rules When Game Gets Cancelled
There are some situations when a game can be cancelled. Here are the situations explained:
Bid Losing team has no cards of the Trump Suit
When the Trump card is selected by the Bid Winning team and we identify that the other team (both players of the other team combined) has got no cards of the Trump suit, then the game is cancelled and a new bidding is started with new cards.
The 7th Card is the only card of that suit.
When the Bid winner selects 7th Card as the Trump card and it turns out that the 7th Card is the only card of that suit and the player has no other card of that suit amongst their other 7 cards, then the game is cancelled and a new bidding is started with new cards.
Trump is not revealed till the end of the game.
If all the 8 rounds are played and the Trump was not revealed by any player, then the game is cancelled and a new bidding is started.
Custom Rules
There are many rules which can be customized in our App. If you play with that rule you can enable it to match the rules with which you play in real life. Here are the rules which are supported by our App. The custom rules section in the game can be accessed using the following button:
Last Round One Point
An additional point is given to the team which wins the 8th round. This takes the total of the points in the game to 29.
Half Bid Point Rule
At the end of a game, if the bid winning team scores less than half of what they had set as bid, the bid winning team’s set score will change by an additional -1. For eg., if they had bid 19 and collected only 9 points (or lesser) which is less than half of 19, then they will lose an extra set score point.
Conclusion
Discover the thrill of 29 with Z Level Lab’s 29 app game! Experience the excitement of bidding, trump-setting, and strategic gameplay with friends and family. With intuitive rules and engaging features, Z Level Lab’s 29 app brings the classic card game to life on your device. Don’t miss out on the fun – download the app now and start playing!
