How to play King: rules, penalties and scoring

How do you play King?

King is played by four players with a 52-card deck and no jokers. Each player is dealt 13 cards; dealing and play go counterclockwise. Everyone plays for themselves, there are no partners. Cards rank in the usual order: the ace is highest, then king (K), queen (Q), jack (J), and the numbers from 10 down to 2.

Each deal has 13 tricks. The suit of the first card played is the suit of that trick; the others each play one card in turn. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick; in the trump game, the highest trump played wins. Whoever wins the trick leads the next one.

• If you have a card of the suit led, you must follow suit.
• If you are void in that suit, what you play depends on the game: a penalty card in the penalty games, a trump in the trump game (details below).

A game lasts 20 deals. Scores are written down after every deal; at the end of the 20th deal, the player with the highest total wins.

Who picks how many penalties and trumps?

The game played in each deal is named by that deal's chooser. Whoever holds the two of diamonds chooses for the first deal; after that the right to choose passes to the next player, the one on the right, every deal. That way everyone chooses 5 times in 20 deals.

• Under the default rule, each player picks 3 penalties and 2 trumps.
• Each penalty game is played at most twice in the whole game: 6 penalties × 2 = 12 deals.
• Trumps are played 8 times in total: 4 players × 2 = 8 deals. 12 + 8 = 20 deals.

The chooser names the game after looking at their cards; if they choose trumps, they also name the trump suit (there is no no-trump game). The chooser also leads the first card of that deal. Once a penalty has been played twice it is closed and can no longer be chosen. Naming the right game at the right time for the cards you hold is the most important skill in King.

What are the penalties in King?

There are six penalty games. In each one, the goal is to avoid that game's penalty:

One round of all six penalties adds up to −2600. Since each penalty is played twice, the total penalty handed out over 20 deals is 2 × 2600 = −5200.

The games where cards carry the penalty (Kupa Almaz, Erkek Almaz, Kız Almaz, Rıfkı) end early once all the penalty cards are out; in Kız Almaz, for example, the deal closes as soon as all four queens have been taken, without playing the remaining cards. El Almaz and Son İki are played through all 13 tricks.

What is Rıfkı?

Rıfkı is the name of the king of hearts, and it is the most expensive card in King: the player who takes it scores −320. The same name is also given to the penalty game whose only goal is to avoid taking this card.

• In the Rıfkı game, if you are void in the suit led and you hold the Rıfkı, you must discard the Rıfkı; you can't keep it hidden in your hand.
• If hearts were led and a heart higher than your Rıfkı (the ace of hearts) has fallen on the trick, you must give up the Rıfkı.
• You can't lead hearts until a heart has been played (unless you have only hearts left).
• The deal ends the moment the Rıfkı is played; the remaining cards are not played.

At some tables, a player who is void may discard any heart instead of the Rıfkı. In our game you choose this on the Table rules screen with the "In Rıfkı, if you're void" setting; the default is to discard the Rıfkı.

Following suit and giving up penalty cards

King's rules don't make dodging penalties easy; penalty cards reach the table through obligations:

1. Follow suit: If you have a card of the suit led, you must play that suit.
2. If you're void, discard your penalty card: In the penalty games, if you have no card of the suit led and you hold that game's penalty card, you must play it. You discard a heart in Kupa Almaz (no hearts), a king or jack in Erkek Almaz (no kings or jacks), and a queen in Kız Almaz (no queens).
3. If a higher card has fallen, give up your penalty card: In Erkek Almaz, Kız Almaz and Rıfkı (king of hearts), if a higher card of the suit led has fallen on the trick and you hold a lower penalty card in that suit, you must play it. For example, in Kız Almaz, if spades were led and the king of spades has fallen and you hold the queen of spades, you play the queen.

In El Almaz (no tricks) and Son İki (last two) there are no penalty cards, so if you're void you can play any card you like. In our game, if you tap a card you can't play, a short message tells you why, naming the rule.

When can hearts be led?

In the Kupa Almaz (no hearts) and Rıfkı (king of hearts) games, you can't lead a heart until someone has discarded a heart because they were void in the suit led. This is called breaking hearts. Once a heart has been played, leading hearts is allowed for the rest of that deal.

The one exception: if the player on lead has only hearts left, they have to lead a heart, and that is allowed.

This rule stops a player who wants to dodge the penalty from pushing hearts onto the table from the start, and keeps the game balanced. At some tables the ban on leading hearts applies in every penalty game. In our game you can choose "In Kupa Almaz and Rıfkı" (default) or "In all penalty games" with the "No heart leads" setting on the Table rules screen.

What does making a King mean?

In the trump game the goal is the opposite of a penalty: you score +50 for every trick you take. The chooser names one of the four suits as trumps; there is no no-trump game. A trump deal hands out 13 × 50 = 650 points in total, and trumps are played 8 times in the whole game.

• If you have a card of the suit led, you follow suit.
• If you are void, you must play a trump, even if that trump can't win the trick.
• The highest trump played wins the trick; if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins.

Taking all 13 tricks in a trump deal is called making a King. It still scores 13 × 50 = 650, with no extra points added, but at the table it is celebrated as a big moment. In our game, making a King is celebrated on screen, recorded in your statistics and earns a bonus to your King points.

How does King scoring work?

At the end of each deal, its score is written in the four players' columns: penalties taken in the penalty games as minus, tricks taken in the trump games as plus. At the end of the 20th deal, the player with the highest total wins.

The penalty total and the trump total balance each other exactly: add up the four players' scores and the result is always zero. In other words, one player's gain is the others' loss. Example: a player who takes 5 tricks in a trump deal writes +250; a player who takes two queens in a Kız Almaz (no queens) writes −200.

In a game that ends early the whole penalty has still been handed out, so the balance holds. In our game the scoresheet shows all 20 deals: who chose what in which deal, how many points each player got, and every player's total.

Table rules and King on CetinsGame

King is played a little differently from region to region. In our game you can set these differences on the Table rules screen; the defaults are the most common rules:

• Choice limit: Everyone 3 penalties + 2 trumps (default) or Free (each penalty still at most 2 times, trumps at most 8 times).
• Must play higher: None (default), Trumps only or Every game. When on, if you have a card of the suit led that can beat the trick, you must play higher.
• No trump lead until trumps are broken: Off (default) or On.
• No heart leads: In Kupa Almaz and Rıfkı (default) or In all penalty games.
• In Rıfkı, if you're void: Discard the Rıfkı (default) or Discard any heart.

Besides these, the screen always shows: the current deal's game and the remaining penalties in the top bar, the Choices table showing who chose what in which deal, the Scoresheet for all 20 deals, Last trick showing the most recently closed trick, and an optional card counter. Computer opponents don't cheat: they can't see your cards or the other players' cards, they only know the cards played to the table.

Common mistakes

• Thinking you can keep a penalty card when you're void: in the penalty games, if you have no card of the suit led, you must discard your penalty card.
• Trying to lead a heart in Kupa Almaz or Rıfkı: someone has to discard a heart first.
• Playing another suit in the trump game when you're void: you must play a trump, even if it can't win the trick.
• Using up your trump picks early and leaving the penalty games for the last deals: if your hand doesn't suit it, you may be stuck choosing a hard penalty.
• Forgetting that in Erkek Almaz and Kız Almaz you must give up your penalty card when a higher card has fallen.
• Thinking Rıfkı is only the king of hearts itself: the same name is also the name of the penalty game built on not taking that card.
• Judging the score by looking only at your own column: since the 20 deals add up to zero, someone else's penalty changes your place too.