The Official Rules of Clubs
by David Poon
edited by Adam Cabrera

OBJECTIVE:

• To reach a score of 42 points.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Standard deck of 52 playing cards.
• Two partnerships; partners sit across from each other.

CARD VALUES:

• 2's through 10's have face value. Jacks through Aces value 11-14, respectively.
• Clubs always have a value of 3 more than their non-trump counter parts.
• Example: The 2 of Clubs always has a value of 5; The Jack, 14.
• Non-Clubs played out-of-suit have a value of 3 less.

GAME PLAY:

• Dealing of cards:
  • One player deals out all fifty-two cards so that each player receives 13; on subsequent hands, deal passes to the left.
• Passing:
  • Each player sets aside two cards from hand, designating one for "Hearts" passing and one for "partner" passing.
    • "Hearts" passing is done à la Hearts; this, according to Yahoo! Games, is: "On the first deal of a game, players pass cards to the player on their left; on the second deal, to the player on the right; on the third deal, to the player sitting across the table. No cards are passed on the fourth deal. After that, the cycle is repeated, with players passing cards left on the fifth deal, right on the sixth deal, etc." In the case of Clubs, only one card is passed in this manner.
    • "Partner" passing involves each player passing one card to his partner.
  • Cards are reinserted into their new respective hands.
• Showing:
  • Each player simultaneously reveals one card from his hand to all players. Return cards to respective hands.
• Playing & Bidding:
  • Trick Play.
    • Player to the immediate left of the dealer leads the first trick.
    • Each player lays down one card, in a clockwise manner, to constitute one trick; players must follow suit if possible.
    • A player may not lead Clubs unless Clubs have been played on an earlier trick ("been broken") or his hand consists entirely of Clubs.
    • Partners sum the values of their two cards; the higher sum wins the trick. In case of a tie, the team with the highest card wins the trick.
    • If Clubs were played on the trick, the highest card is the highest Club played on the trick. Otherwise, the highest card is the card with the greatest value in the suit led.
    • The player of the higher card of the winning partnership wins the trick. In the case of a tie, the winning partnership may choose who wins the trick.
    • The determination of the higher card is similar to that of the highest card; however, it is possible that both cards played by the winning partnership are out-of-suit. In this case, the card with the higher value is the higher card.
    • The winner of the trick then leads the next trick.
  • Bidding.
    • Players bid after winning their first trick.
    • After a player wins his first trick, he bids the number of tricks he believes he will take.
    • The sum of the bids may never total thirteen.
    • Bids made after playing the next to last trick of a hand must be zero.
    • Anyone who has not bid (and therefore, has not won a trick) after thirteen tricks of one hand have been played is assumed to bid zero.
    • Any bid of zero is called a nil bid.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

• Negative Ones:
  • A player who plays an out-of-suit non-Club 2 plays a Negative One.
• "Pulling an Adam":
  • A player "Pulls an Adam" if:
    • He plays the Ace or King of Clubs,
    • Neither opponent plays the Ace or King of Clubs, AND
    • The opponents win the trick.
  • A "True Adam occurs when a player "Pulls an Adam" twice in one hand.

SCORING:

• If a player wins at least as many tricks as he bid, he gets 1 point for each trick bid.
• If a player fails to do so, he loses 1 point for each trick he failed to win.
• If a player takes more tricks than he bids, he loses one point for each extra trick.
• Examples:
  • 3 tricks bid, 3 tricks won: 3 points
  • 4 tricks bid, 3 tricks won: -1 points
  • 3 tricks bid, 5 tricks won: 1 point
  • 2 tricks bid, 6 tricks won: -2 points
• 5 points per nil bid made.
• -5 points per nil bid failed.
• 2 points per played Negative One (for the person who played it).
• 5 points for the opponent of a player who "Pulls an Adam" exactly once.
• 13 points for the opponent of a player who "Pulls a True Adam".
• Scores may be negative.
• The first team to score forty-two points or greater wins. In case of a tie, play until one team has more points than the other; the team with more points wins.