Kort rules

Kort is a team card game for four people. Two play against two, and partners sit opposite each other. The goal of a round is to be the first to take 7 tricks. Below are the full rules exactly as they work in KORT, with every detail.

The game in brief#

Unfamiliar words like trump holder, Sar, Trop, Kort and Bavan are explained below and collected in the glossary.

The deck and card ranking#

The game uses a full deck of 52 cards: four suits of 13 cards each, from two to ace. Each player gets 13 cards.

The suits are not equal:

• the trump suit is the highest: any trump beats any non-trump card;
• the lead suit, the suit of the first card in a trick, beats the other non-trump suits;
• a card of a third suit, neither trump nor the lead suit, can't take the trick, not even an ace.

Teams and seats#

There are four players at the table. Your partner sits opposite you, and the opponents sit to your left and right. Players take turns counterclockwise: on screen, that's you at the bottom, then the player on the right, your partner at the top and the player on the left.

On the scoreboard, your team's score is on the right (“WE”) and the opponents' is on the left (“THEY”). The “WINS” line shows the match wins in the same order: the opponents' on the left, yours on the right.

The deal and choosing the trump#

In every round, one of the players is the trump holder. They choose the trump and lead first in the round. The deal goes like this:

1. The trump holder gets the first 5 cards and chooses the trump based on them.
2. Once the trump is chosen, the other three players get 5 cards each.
3. Everyone is dealt 4 more cards, and then 4 more. Now everyone has 13 cards.

Any of the four suits can be made trumps, even one that isn't among your five cards. There is also a fifth button, 13: then the trump will be the suit of the last, 13th card the trump holder receives. During the deal, this card is shown face up to everyone for a second, and until it is dealt, the trump badge shows “13”.

The trump is always shown on the badge above the table: the suit symbol on both sides and a label in the middle. The label changes: Trump, Sar, Trop or Trop 7, depending on what has been declared.

Who holds the trump#

In Practice, you always hold the trump in the first round. After that, the trump always goes to the team that won the previous round, and within the team it passes like this:

How play goes#

• The first trick of the round is led by the trump holder. After that, each trick is led by whoever took the previous one.
• The player who leads a trick plays any card (leading a trump is covered below). Its suit becomes the lead suit.
• The others must follow the lead suit if they have it. On your turn, cards you can't play are dimmed.
• If you don't have the lead suit, you can play any card: a trump or a discard of another suit. You don't have to trump, and you don't have to play a higher card either.
• The trick is taken by the highest trump. If there are no trumps, by the highest card of the lead suit.
• As soon as one team has taken 7 tricks, the round ends and the remaining cards aren't played. The exception is Bavan, where play goes on to 13 tricks.

ChrisPartner

RyanOpponent

MikeOpponent

AlexYou

♥Trump♥

THEY0WE0

1. You lead first and play the king of spades. Spades are the lead suit.
2. Play goes counterclockwise. The opponent on your right must play a spade and plays the nine of spades.
3. Your partner has no spades. They can play any card, and they trump it: the five of hearts.
4. The opponent on your left plays the ace of spades: it's the highest spade, but a trump beats any non-trump card.
5. Your partner takes the trick: their five of hearts is the only trump in it.
6. The trick goes to your team, and your partner leads the next one.

Leading a trump: Sar and Trop#

You can't just lead a trick with a trump. When leading a trump, a player declares how their team will lead from then on: Sar or Trop. When you play a trump as the first card, the game shows a window with the choice (for when there's no choice, see below).

Sar#

Sar is a single trump lead. In the next trick, your team must lead a non-trump card. After that, the restriction is lifted.

• If the opponents take the Sar trick, the Sar is simply lifted.
• If the player who has to lead holds only trumps, the restriction doesn't apply to them: they have no other card anyway.

Trop#

Trop is a commitment to lead trumps three times in a row. The trick in which Trop is declared is the first of the three.

• As long as your team keeps taking tricks, whichever of you took the trick must lead a trump.
• If an opponent takes the trick, the Trop is lifted completely.
• If a player on your team takes the trick but has no trumps, the Trop is also lifted completely.
• Once the three trump leads have been played, neither you nor your partner can lead a trump (if you have other suits) until one of you leads a non-trump card.

ChrisPartner

RyanOpponent

MikeOpponent

AlexYou

♠Trump♠

THEY0WE0

TROP

1. Spades are trumps. You lead the ace of spades and declare Trop: this is the first of three trump leads.
2. The others play in turn. The opponent on your left has no spades and discards a diamond.
3. Your ace is the highest, so the trick is yours.
4. The second Trop lead: you lead a trump again, the two of spades.
5. Your partner takes the trick with the king of spades.
6. Now your partner leads. Trop has only been played twice, so they must continue with a trump: the three of spades.
7. You take the trick with the queen of spades. Three trump leads are done: the Trop is complete.
8. Now your team can't lead a trump until one of you leads a different suit. You lead the king of hearts.

When there's no choice#

• If you have fewer than three trumps, counting the card you're leading, Sar is declared automatically, with no window.
• If your team already has 5 tricks or more, only Sar is possible too. The exception is a team going for Bavan: it may also declare Trop.
• If your hand is all trumps, you don't need to declare anything: you lead a trump with no window.
• Sar and Trop don't affect the opponents: the restrictions apply only to the team that declared.

Trop to the end#

This is the boldest declaration in the game. A third button, Trop to the end, appears in the window if all three conditions are met:

• it's the first lead of the round, which only the trump holder makes;
• you have 7 trumps or more, counting the card you lead;
• nothing prevents you from declaring Trop.

Trop to the end works like a regular Trop, but with seven trump leads instead of three: your team commits to taking the first 7 tricks while leading only trumps. The badge shows Trop 7.

• Failure: the opponents take even one trick, or the trick is taken by a player on your team who has no trumps left. The round ends at once with “TROP FAILED”, and the opponents get 1 win.
• Success: you take all 7 tricks, 7:0. That's a Kort, and as after any Kort, the team then gets the option to go for Bavan.

Redeal#

If the trump holder gets a really weak hand, they can ask for a new deal. The Redeal button appears only if:

• you're the trump holder, the trump is already chosen and you have all 13 cards;
• the first lead hasn't been made yet;
• your hand has no face cards at all: no jack, queen or king. Aces don't count as face cards: you can redeal with aces.

After the tap, everyone sees “REDEAL” and all 13 of the trump holder's cards for a couple of seconds. Then the cards are dealt again: the trump holder stays the same and chooses the trump again, and the round and match score don't change. There's no limit on the number of redeals, but the condition is checked again each time.

ChrisPartner

RyanOpponent

MikeOpponent

AlexYou

♣Trump♣

THEY0WE0

REDEAL

REDEAL

1. You've got 13 cards, and the trump is already chosen. Look at your hand: two aces, but no jack, queen or king.
2. No face cards, so you can ask for a redeal. Aces don't count as face cards.
3. The “Redeal” button has appeared.
4. Tap it.
5. Everyone sees “REDEAL” and your cards.
6. The cards are dealt again: same trump holder, who chooses the trump again, and the score doesn't change.

End of a round#

The round is won by the first team to take 7 tricks. How many match wins they get depends on how the round ended:

Full details with all the examples are in the “Scoring and results” and “Kort and Bavan” sections.

The match#

• In Practice and in rooms, a match is played to 7 wins; in a ranked game, to 3 wins.
• There are no draws: only one team gets wins for a round.
• The match ends as soon as one team reaches the required number of wins. So an At-kort (7 wins) wins the match at once, and a Kort (5 wins) wins a ranked match.
• If there are spectators in the room, the match doesn't end. Every time a team reaches 2 wins, the spectators swap places with the losers, and the score starts over. More in the “Online and rooms” section.

Move time#

Time is limited only in online games. In Practice you can think as long as you like.

• A move: 10 seconds. If you run out, time is taken from your time bank: 20 seconds for the whole round, and the timer bar turns red. The time bank refills at the start of every round, including after a redeal.
• Choosing the trump: 30 seconds.
• Deciding on Bavan: 30 seconds.
• If your time and time bank run out, a bot plays for you, and you're marked “Away”. What that means and what to tap is in the “Help” section.

Practice and bots#

In Practice you play with three bots: a partner opposite you and two opponents. You choose the difficulty in the menu; the default level is Easy. Changing the level during a game restarts the match.

In online games, all bots are Hard, whatever level is set in Practice.

Details the in-game rules don't mention#

1. Kort and Bavan are decided together. At 7:0 the team first votes on Bavan, and only if they decline does the Kort or At-kort count.
2. An ordinary win always gives 1 win, however many tricks the losers took, one or six.
3. You can choose any trump, even a suit that isn't among your first five cards.
4. Everyone sees the 13th card when “13” is chosen: it's shown face up in the middle of the table.
5. You don't have to beat the card. You can follow suit with a low card and not trump, even if you have a trump.
6. Sar “passes” to whoever takes the trick. If your partner takes the trick after a Sar, it's now their job to lead a non-trump card.
7. A completed Trop bars both players on the team from leading a trump until one of them leads a different suit.
8. Only the trump holder can declare Trop to the end, because only they make the first lead of the round.
9. Redeals are unlimited, and aces don't count as face cards.
10. Bots never ask for a redeal.
11. Everyone sees the trump holder's hand on a redeal, so everyone can see there really were no face cards.

Tips from the in-game rules#

The KORT rules include the odds of the top cards taking a trick:

• An ace of any suit takes the trick about 97% of the time. It's smart to play aces before the opponents run out of that suit.
• A king wins about 81% of the time, as long as an ace doesn't beat it. Until the ace is out, hold on to your king.
• A queen wins only about 45% of the time. Better to wait until the ace and king have been played.
• Each suit has only 13 cards. If you hold 4 or more, you most likely have more of that suit than anyone else. And if it's the trump suit, that's an advantage.