3-5-8 – rules

3-5-8 is a card game for three: you and two computer players. The players take turns laying one card each, and the highest card takes them all. Each player must collect a set number of these rounds, called tricks: 3, 5 or 8. Below is everything, step by step.

How to play, step by step

Step 1

The table

You play with two computer players: they sit on your left and on your right. Each player gets 16 cards and only sees his own. The last 4 cards lie face down in the middle. That is the kitty: one of the players will get it later (step 6).

Step 2

A trick: one round of cards

The game is played in tricks. One player lays a card in the middle of the table, and the other two, in turn, each add one card of the same suit if they have one. Whoever played the highest card takes all three: that is one trick. Whoever took the trick starts the next one. One deal is 16 tricks.

Step 3

How many tricks you must take: 3, 5 or 8

In each deal the players have different tasks. One player deals the cards. The player on his left is the declarer: he chooses the game and must take 8 tricks. The dealer must take 3 tricks and the third player 5. That is 16 tricks, all of them. After each deal these roles move one seat to the left. How many tricks you have and need shows by your name, for example “tricks: 2/8”.

Step 4

The declarer chooses the game and trumps

Trumps are a suit stronger than the others: any trump beats any card of another suit, even an ace. The declarer chooses which suit will be trumps. He may also choose “No trumps” or “No tricks” (step 9). He chooses seeing only his first 6 cards; the other 10 turn face up after the choice. Each player chooses each of the six games only once in a whole game.

Step 5

The card exchange

From the second deal on, in a game with trumps, there is an exchange. A player who took more tricks than he needed in the last deal is “in plus”; one who took fewer is “in minus”. A player in plus may swap as many cards with a player in minus as he had tricks too many. Tap a card you want to give: in return you get the other player's highest card of the same suit. If he has none of that suit, your card comes back. If you give a trump, the other player gives back any card. “Stop exchange” ends it early. When you are the one in minus, the game gives back your highest card for you; only for a trump you choose the card yourself.

Step 6

The kitty

After the exchange the kitty turns face up for a moment, so everyone sees these 4 cards. Then the declarer takes it. He now has 20 cards.

Step 7

Lay 4 cards away

The declarer now has 4 cards too many, so he lays any 4 cards away, face down. These cards are out of the deal. Tap 4 cards (they lift up), then press “Lay away”. Low cards of suits you hold few of are best to lay away.

Step 8

Laying cards: the suit and trumps

The declarer starts the first trick. You must add a card of the suit of the trick's first card. If you have none of that suit, you must play a trump if you have one (it need not be higher than a trump already played). Only when you have neither that suit nor a trump may you play any card. The highest trump takes the trick; if no one played a trump, the highest card of the first card's suit. The game lights up the cards you may play and dims the rest, so you cannot play a wrong card.

Step 9

No trumps and no tricks

In “No trumps” no suit is trumps: the highest card of the first card's suit always takes the trick. In “No tricks” there are no trumps either, but the aim is the other way round: everyone tries to take as few tricks as possible. Then the declarer may take at most 3 tricks, the dealer at most 8 and the third player at most 5. There is no card exchange in these two games.

Step 10

Points and the winner

After 16 tricks the points are counted. For every trick over your number you get a point, and for every trick short of it you lose one. For example: the declarer took 10 tricks instead of 8, so he gets 2 points; the dealer took 1 trick instead of 3, so he loses 2 points. In “No tricks” it works the other way round: a point for every trick fewer than allowed. After the last deal the player with the most points wins. You choose the number of deals (3, 6, 9 or 18) before the game, in the Games window.

The rules in this game

3-5-8 is played a little differently in every home. Here the rules above apply.
You must play a trump when you have none of the suit of the trick's first card, but you do not have to beat a trump already played.
The card exchange is played only in a game with trumps.
A game of 18 deals is the full game: each player plays each of the six games once.

Scoring

Move	Points
Each trick over your number	+1
Each trick short of your number	−1

You win when your total is the highest after the last deal (a tie counts). A won game goes to your statistics and the Ranking with your total times 10.

Tips

Choose as trumps the suit you hold most of among your first 6 cards.
Lay away low cards of the suits you hold fewest of: once a suit is gone, you can take its tricks with trumps.
In the exchange, give a low card of a suit where you have no ace: the ace may come back to you.
In “No tricks”, get rid of your high cards when you have none of the first card's suit.