Dealing:
The dealer shuffles the deck and deals seven cards to each player, one card at a time, face down. The remaining deck is placed in the center of the table, face down.
Playing the Game:
On their turn, a player must play one of the following:
Play a lead card: The player can play any card from their hand face up to the table. This card becomes the lead suit for the trick.
Follow suit: If the player cannot play the lead suit, they must play a card of the same suit if they have one. If they do not have any cards of the lead suit, they can play any card from their hand.
Play a trump card: If the player cannot follow suit, they can play a trump card. A trump card is a card of the trump suit, which is designated before the game begins. The trump suit can be decided by flipping over the top card of the deck and designating that suit as the trump suit, or by any other method agreed upon by the players.
Once all players have played one card face up to the table, the trick is won.
Winning Tricks:
The winner of the trick is the player who played the highest card of the lead suit, or if there were trump cards played, the player who played the highest trump card.
The winner of the trick collects all of the cards that were played in the trick and places them face down in front of them.
Scoring:
Each trick that a player wins is worth 1 point.
Additionally, there are 3 special cards that can be scored:
Ace of trumps: 5 points
Jack of trumps: 4 points
Queen of trumps: 3 points
Ending the Game:
The game ends when all of the cards in the deck have been played.
The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Optional Rule:
Announcing: After the dealer deals the cards, each player must announce how many tricks they believe they will win. If a player wins the number of tricks they announced, they score double points for those tricks. If a player does not win the number of tricks they announced, they lose double points for each trick they fell short of their announcement.