A SEAT AT THE TABLE STARTS HERE
How to play Twenty-eight
Two partners, twenty-eight points, and a secret at the heart of every hand.
Card-play practice is available when the runtime is connected. The full Kerala House auction and match policy are still being settled.
01. Know the pack
Use J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8 and 7 in each of the four suits. That is also the order from strongest to weakest: the Jack beats the nine, which beats the Ace.
A Jack is worth 3 points, a nine 2, an Ace 1 and a ten 1. Kings, Queens, eights and sevens have no card points. Each suit is worth 7 points, making 28 in the pack.
02. Find your partner, deal the cards
Four players form two teams. Partners sit opposite, so each player sits between opponents. Deal and play proceed anticlockwise. The player to the dealer’s left cuts; the player to the dealer’s right speaks first and leads the first trick.
Deal four cards to each player, one at a time, for the first auction. The highest bidder conceals one chosen card to set trump. The remaining four cards are dealt before the second auction stage. The concealed card is not in the bidder’s playable hand until it is exposed.
03. A bid is a promise
The minimum opening bid is 14 and the first speaker cannot pass. A bid promises that your team will collect at least that many card points. Overcalling your own partner requires at least 20.
Standard bidding continues until three consecutive passes. Kerala House is a different, one-chance auction with restricted speaking rights. The source also distinguishes a silent-side raise minimum of 20 for Kerala House from 24 for Standard. These are named house differences, not interchangeable rules.
The complete two-stage Kerala House auction still needs confirmation. A practice table must not be mistaken for an approved full-house match. Check the mode and ruleset shown before playing.
05. The bidder has extra responsibilities
While trump is concealed, the bidder cannot lead that suit unless the remaining playable hand contains no other suit. A forced lead still has no trump power, and the hidden card stays down.
If another player leads the concealed trump suit, the bidder follows from hand if possible. If the bidder has none of that suit in hand, they must discard another suit without voluntarily exposing. The face-down card is not available simply because its suit was led. This applies whether it is a seven, a Jack or any other rank.
If a non-trump suit is led and the bidder cannot follow, they may discard a different non-trump suit, or expose and play the concealed card. They may not simply discard a concealed-suit card from hand while leaving trump hidden.
Compulsory last-card exception: when the concealed card is the bidder’s only remaining card, it must be exposed and played on their turn, even when following the concealed trump suit. If the bidder wins trick seven with trump still hidden, they expose and lead that card to trick eight.
06. Two moments that change a trick
Example 1. South leads 8♥. East, who has no hearts, discards A♣ without calling. North has no hearts, calls trump, and a club is exposed. North plays Q♣. West follows with A♥. North wins: Q♣ is a live trump, but the earlier A♣ is not.
Example 2. North leads J♠. West is void, calls, and South the bidder exposes 8♠. West has no spade and discards a diamond. South plays K♠, which now beats the earlier J♠. East then plays 9♠ and wins: it is the highest live trump.
07. Count card points, then game points
For the documented four-player scoring bands, a bid of 14–19 earns +1 when made or −2 when broken; 20–24 earns +2 or −3; 25–28 earns +3 or −4. There is no extra tier at 24. These are the bidding side’s deal outcomes, not a settled policy for updating both teams’ match scores.
Match ending is a separate room policy. A points target, a fixed number of deals and a tables system are different choices. No complete Kerala House match format is claimed until that decision is settled.
08. Agree the house rules before the deal
Documented redeals include a first speaker with no point card in their first four cards, and a player holding all four Jacks. The all-trumps team condition is that the bidding team holds all eight trumps and the defenders none, discovered after exposure. It is not simply “one player’s hand is all trumps”. The same dealer redeals.
Optional variations include no Jack discard in an unled suit, an eight-card pointless-hand redeal, and Cot. Kerala House also describes a more-than-one-card, all-trumps calling restriction. Its bidder exception and private-information implications remain under review, so do not assume every option is active at a practice table.
Thani is a separate, configuration-gated declaration: the bidder alone must take every trick, with no trump. A partner winning even one trick breaks it. The documented outcome is +4 for success or −5 for failure.
A note on this guide
Compiled from the project’s supplied rules and owner corrections dated 13 September 2026. House variations and unresolved decisions are labelled, not silently filled in. Malayalam text is a draft awaiting native-language review.