Turkish King

Turkish King, is a trick-taking card game similar to Hearts and Barbu (popular in France) where four players take turns leading seven different sub-games (known as contracts) over the course of 20 deals.

King uses 52-card pack as for bridge or poker, ranking as usual from highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 in each of the four suits. In the course of a session, each player will get the chance to declare five contracts, so that there are 20 hands played in all.

Over the course of 20 hands, each player must declare a trump contract two times and a negative contract three times. Each of the six negative contracts can only be declared twice per game, so if a negative contract has been played twice, the declarer cannot choose that contract.

Trump Contracts

Declarer chooses a trump suit (notrump is not an option). The declarer leads to the first trick. A trick is won by the highest trump in it, or if it contains no trump, by the highest card of the suit led. Players must follow suit if possible -- if they cannot, they must play a trump if they have any (even if this forces them to underruff). The winner of a trick leads to the next. Each trick scores +50 points to the player winning it. The total score for the contract is therefore +650.

Card-based Negative Contracts

No King: The King of Hearts is the only penalty card, scoring -320 to the player winning it in a trick. Hearts may not be led unless they have already been discarded on a previous trick, or the player on lead has nothing but hearts in her hand.

No Queens: The four queens are penalty cards, each one scoring -100 points to the player winning it in a trick. The total score for the contract is therefore -400.

No Boys: The four kings and four jacks are penalty cards, each one scoring -60 points to the player winning it in a trick. The total score for the contract is therefore -480.

No Hearts: The thirteen hearts are penalty cards, each one scoring -30 points to the player winning it in a trick. The total score for the contract is therefore -390. Hearts may not be led unless they have already been discarded on a previous trick, or the player on lead has nothing but hearts in her hand.

Trick-based Negative Contracts

No Last Two: The last two tricks each score -180 to the player(s) that wins them. The total score for the contract is therefore -360.

No Tricks: Each trick scores -50 points to the player winning it. The total score for the contract is therefore -650.

The scores are cunningly chosen so that the total over twenty hands is 0.