Playing Rules

The rules as implemented in the game: the classic King, as played since the MS-DOS original of the early 1990s.

Players and cards

King is played by four players with a 32-card pack: the 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each suit. Each player is dealt 8 cards. There are no trumps.

A full game is 14 rounds. Each round is a separate deal with its own goal (a “contract”). The first seven rounds are the penalty stage, where taking cards costs you points; the last seven are the bonus stage, where taking the very same cards earns them back. The lead rotates: in each new round the first turn passes to the next player.

How a trick works

The player to lead plays any allowed card. Going clockwise, each other player must follow the led suit if they can; a player with no card of that suit may play any card. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, and its winner leads the next one.

Two special restrictions involve hearts:

In the hearts and King of Hearts rounds (and the combined rounds), you may not lead a heart while you still hold any other suit.
In the King of Hearts rounds, if you cannot follow the led suit and you hold the King of Hearts, you must discard it. You may not keep it back.

The penalty stage (rounds 1–7)

Avoid taking the cards each contract names. Every trick you take that contains them costs you points:

#	Round	Penalty	Total at stake
1	No Tricks	−2 per trick	−16
2	No Hearts	−2 per heart card	−16
3	No Boys	−2 per Jack or King	−16
4	No Queens	−4 per Queen	−16
5	No King of Hearts	−16 for the King of ♥	−16
6	No Last Two Tricks	−8 per each of the last two tricks	−16
7	Nothing	all of the above at once	−96

Across the whole penalty stage a total of 192 points is handed out: each of the six single contracts carries 16 points, and the combined “Nothing” round carries all 96 again.

The bonus stage (rounds 8–14): playing back

Now the same contracts return with the sign flipped: everything you had to avoid, you now want to take. Take tricks (+2 each), hearts (+2 each), boys (+2 each), queens (+4 each), the King of Hearts (+16), the last two tricks (+8 each), and finally Everything, where all bonuses apply at once. The heart-leading restrictions apply exactly as in the penalty stage.

Tallying of scores

Points are added to a running total after every round — penalties subtract, bonuses add. After round 14 the player with the highest total wins the game. In the app you can review the full round-by-round table at any time.

Tip: in the app, every round opens with a short reminder of its contract, and the “highlight playable cards” option dims cards that are not legal to play. Handy while you learn.