How to Play Bid Whist

Bid Whist is a team trick-taking game where partners sit across from each other and try to win enough books, or groups of four played cards, to make a contract. You need a normal deck of cards plus two jokers, and you can get a regular deck of playing cards from Playmore. This guide uses one common standard partnership version; house rules can vary.

Quick facts

Players	4, in two teams of two
Cards	52 cards plus a big joker and little joker
Cards per player	12, with 6 cards in a kitty
Goal	Reach 7 points or make the other team reach -7
Special words	Book = trick; kitty = six-card pile

What you are trying to do

Each hand begins with bidding. A bid says how many books above the first six your team promises to win and whether the hand will be played high, low, or no-trump. The winning bidder becomes the declarer. Their team must win at least six books plus the bid level. For example, a bid of 3 requires at least 9 books, counting the kitty as one book.

Winning the bid is powerful, but it creates a challenge: if your team misses its contract, your team loses points. Think of the bid as a promise, not just a guess.

What you need

Use a 54-card deck: the usual 52 cards and two different jokers. Mark one joker as the big joker and the other as the little joker so everyone can tell them apart. You also need a flat place to play and paper or a notes app for the team scores.

Make two teams of two. Partners sit opposite one another. Choose a first dealer at random. After every hand, the deal moves one seat to the left.

Set it up

The dealer shuffles and deals clockwise. Each player receives 12 cards. Six cards go face down in the middle as the kitty, leaving 48 cards in players’ hands. The kitty may be dealt during the round, but it cannot use any of the first four or last four cards dealt.

Everyone checks their hand without showing it to the other team. Bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s left and goes around the table once. If the first three players pass, the dealer must make the minimum bid of 3.

How to play

1. Bid or pass. A bid has a level from 3 through 7 and a direction. “High” or “uptown” means there will be a trump suit and high cards rank normally. “Low” or “downtown” means there will be a trump suit, but low cards beat high cards. “No-trump” means there is no trump suit; the winner later chooses high or low ranking. A higher level beats a lower level. At the same level, no-trump beats high or low, while high and low are tied with each other. You may pass, but you cannot bid lower than the current bid.
2. Choose the contract. The highest bidder names the trump suit if the bid was high or low. If the bid was no-trump, the declarer chooses high or low. This final bid and choice are called the contract.
3. Exchange with the kitty. The declarer picks up all six kitty cards, then discards six cards face down. The cards discarded may come from the original hand, the kitty, or both. The discarded pile counts as one book for the declarer’s team, so twelve more books are played with the remaining cards.
4. Lead the first book. The declarer leads any card. Going clockwise, each player must follow suit, meaning play a card of the same suit, if possible. If a player has no card of that suit, they may play any card, including a trump when there is one.
5. Compare the cards. In a high trump contract, the big joker is highest, then the little joker, then ace through 2 in the trump suit. In a low trump contract, the jokers are still highest, followed by ace, 2, 3, and upward through king. A trump beats every non-trump card. If no trump is played, the highest card of the suit led wins. In high play, suits rank ace, king, queen, jack, 10 down to 2. In low play, they rank ace, 2, 3, 4 up to king.
6. Continue the books. The player who wins a book gathers those four cards and leads the next one. Keep following suit whenever possible. In a no-trump contract, jokers cannot win a book; if a joker is led, the first non-joker played establishes the suit that must be followed for that book.
7. Count and score. When twelve played books are finished, add the kitty book to the declarer’s team total. Compare that total with the contract, then record the hand score.

How you win

Count all 13 books. If the declarer’s team wins at least six plus its bid level, it scores the bid level plus one point for every extra book above the contract. For instance, a 4 bid needs 10 books; 11 books scores 5 points. If the team wins fewer than required, it is set and loses points equal to the bid level.

No-trump contracts score double, whether they succeed or fail. A successful 3 no-trump contract with 10 books therefore scores 8 points: 3 points for the bid, 1 extra point, then doubled. A failed 3 no-trump contract loses 6 points. The other team does not normally gain or lose points from the hand. Keep playing hands until a team reaches 7 or more, or falls to -7 or less. The team with the winning score wins the game.

Easy first-game tips

Before bidding, count your strong cards and notice whether one suit has many cards. A long, powerful suit is useful when you can choose it as trump. Do not bid high just because you have one excellent card; your partner’s hand must help you win several books.

Remember that the kitty is already one book for your team, but you still need to win the rest of the contract. After picking it up, discard cards from suits you expect to lose and keep cards that can control later plays. During play, watch which suits opponents cannot follow. That is a clue they may be ready to use trump. Talk with your partner only through legal card play, never by revealing your cards or giving secret signals.

Quick questions

What does “3 high” mean?

It means your team promises to win at least 9 books, including the kitty book, with a trump suit and normal high-card ranking.

Can I play a trump whenever I want?

No. You must follow the suit led if you have that suit. You may play a trump only when you do not have a card of the led suit.