Format
- Games will take place in a standard single-elimination tournament format.
- A tournament draw will take place prior to commencement, which will decide the seedings.
- Defeated teams will be eliminated while the winning teams will advance to the succeeding round until only one team remains: i.e., the tournament champion. There will also be a game for third place.
- Preliminary rounds will be a race to gain 7 tokens from your opponent to win the game and move into the next round. The final match will be a race to 10 tokens to determine the champion.
- The total number of teams will be capped at 32, however if fewer teams register, teams may be awarded walk-overs/byes.
Bracket example with 20 teams:
Prizes
1st Place – LKR 5,000 in Playtrix vouchers + LKR 4,000 in cash
2nd Place – LKR 3,000 in Playtrix vouchers
3rd Place – LKR 2,000 in Playtrix vouchers
Disputes
Misdeals will need to be re-dealt and all forms of cheating (this includes communication in any way, either verbal or non verbal, to your partner, opponent or otherwise) will incur penalties (-3 points) or disqualification. Any disputes that occur during the game will be addressed by the referee at the table and the referees decision is final. All disputes need to be raised as formal challenges, with the opponent making the challenge to the referee.
Players and Cards
There are four players, in two teams of two. Partners sit opposite each other: North and South play against East and West. Deal and play are counter-clockwise.
The cards game point values, and the rank of the cards from high to low in all suits is as follows:
| Rank | Jack | Nine | Ace | Ten | King | Queen | Eight | Seven |
| Point value | 30 | 20 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Deal
Each player will be dealt a card before the game commences. The player with the highest points (Three Nought Four points) deals first; after each hand the turn to deal passes to the right.
The dealer deals a batch of four cards to each player, beginning to dealer’s right, going round counter-clockwise and ending with the dealer.
Note on Shuffling, the dealer is permitted to shuffle the cards minimally, so that the order of cards is to some extent preserved from the way they fell in the previous hand. The theory is that any advantage that the dealer can gain from this can be nullified by the left-hand opponent intelligently cutting the deck before it is dealt. Only a single cut is allowed. The constraints of shuffling and cutting are:
- Players may not look at the face of any of the cards while shuffling, cutting or dealing;
- The dealer is not allowed to rearrange the cards deliberately in a particular way before the shuffle;
- Cards must not be counted out nor moved individually;
- After each shuffle or cut the whole pack must be squared up into a homogeneous whole;
- The shuffling and cutting must be carried out in full view of all players.
Bidding and Choosing Trump
Bidding with Four Cards
The players bid in turn: the highest bidder will have the right to choose the trump suit. We will call this player the trump maker. Each bid is a multiple of 10, the minimum bid is 160. Each bid must be higher than the last, and a player who does not wish to bid may pass.
Bids below 200 are subject to some constraints:
- A player who has already had a turn to bid or pass cannot bid less than 200 at his or her second turn to speak (but may pass);
- If the previous highest bidder was your partner, you cannot bid less than 200 (but you may pass).
If the four cards held by the player to dealer’s right are worth LESS than 15 points in total, then this player, instead of passing or bidding, may reject these cards demand a redeal. After the player to dealer’s right has bid, it is too late to demand a redeal.
The player to the right of the deal has to make a bid or ask his partner to bid in his place. At your turn to bid, you may ask your partner to bid in your place, and your partner must bid in accordance with the usual rules. This counts as a turn for both players, so after this neither partner is allowed to bid less than 200.
Bidding with Eight Cards
After the high bidder has chosen the trump card, the dealer completes the deal with another batch of four cards to each player. When everyone has looked at their eight cards there is a second round of bidding, beginning with the highest bidder from the four-card bidding round, and going once round the table counter-clockwise.
In the eight-card bidding round, bids must be not less than 250, and must be greater than the final four-card bid. Each player has only one chance to pass or bid in this round. Players cannot ask their partner to bid for them when bidding with eight cards, and if the previous highest bid in this round was by your partner, you must pass.
The highest possible eight-card bid is “Partner Close Caps”. This is an undertaking to win all eight tricks playing alone without help from partner.
Note 1. This process can be used by the highest four-card bidder to increase the bid and change the trump suit. Having won the four-card bidding, say for 200, the same player, having received four more good cards, could bid 250 and put down a new trump card in place of the old one.
Play
During the following trick, players are allowed to consult the cards that were played to the most recently completed trick, but not to any earlier tricks. If you play a card (ie place it on the table), this card is deemed to be played and cannot be retracted
Open Trump Games
After the eight-card bidding and before the first lead, the trump maker can elect to play an open trump game. In this case, the trump indicator card on the table is turned face up for all to see, and then returned to the trump maker’s hand. The game is now played according to the basic rules described above, and all cards are played to tricks face up.
Closed Trump Games
Most games are played with closed trumps. In this case, so long as the trump card is face down on the table, any player who is unable to follow suit must play a card to the trick face down. Also, the trump maker is subject to some constraints:
- If the trump maker is sitting to the dealer’s right, he or she is not allowed to lead a trump to the first trick in a closed trump game. If the trump maker wants to start by leading a trump, an open trump game must be played.
- The trump indicator card itself can only be played
- face down, to cut a non-trump trick led by another player, or
- in the eighth trick, when it is the trump maker’s only card.
- It follows that if a trump is led when the trump-maker has no trumps remaining in hand, but only the trump indicator card, the trump maker is unable to follow suit and must play a non-trump card face down from hand.
If any face-down cards are played, the trump-maker inspects these at the end of the trick, and announces whether any of them are trumps.
- If none of the face-down cards were trumps, they remain face-down and NO ONE ELSE may look at them. The trick is won by the highest card of the suit led.
- If any trumps have been played face down to the trick, the trump maker reveals all the cards played to the trick by the other players, and also reveals the trump indicator card. The trick is won by the highest trump played to it. If the trump indicator card was not played to the trick, it is picked up after all have seen it, and added to the trump maker’s hand. If the trump maker played a non-trump face down to the trick, this card is also shown to the other players.
Cards that are played face down and not revealed by the trump maker cannot be looked at by a player choosing to refer to the previous trick.
After the trump indicator card has been revealed, the trump is said to be open. From then onwards all cards are played face up to tricks, and the basic rules of play apply.
Special Rule for Bids of 250 or more
If the bid is 250 or more, then even if a closed trump game is played, the trump indicator card is revealed at the end of the first trick. After all players have seen it it is returned to the trump maker’s hand. From the second trick onwards, all cards are played to tricks face up, and the basic rules of play apply.
Spoilt Trumps
If the trumps maker’s opponents hold no trumps at all, any player who notices this is allowed to declare a spoiled trump game. In this case there is no score. The cards are thrown in, shuffled and dealt again by the same dealer. Spoilt trumps may be declared at any time before the last card of the last trick has been played. Once the last trick is complete, it is too late.
Caps
Winning all eight tricks is called Caps. If a team wins all 304 points but loses a zero-point trick, this does not count as Caps.
If a situation is reached where one of the players should know, from the information he has about the cards played so far, that if he plays his remaining cards in a certain order his team is certain to win all the tricks irrespective of how the other players play, the player must call Caps BEFORE the start of the 6th trick (ie 3 cards in hand, or 2 in hand and 1 closed trump indicator card). Not calling Caps and winning all 8 tricks is known as Wrong Caps and the team suffers a penalty. Calling Caps and losing a trick is incurs a larger penalty.
When calling Caps the player does not expose all his or her remaining cards, play goes on as normal. If the claim is correct and before the 6th trick, the calling team is rewarded with an extra scoring token (see below).
A player may call Caps AFTER the 6th trick but BEFORE the final trick, however no extra points are awarded.
A team is still penalised for Wrong Caps if they don’t call Caps but win all tricks. Deliberately losing a trick to avoid Wrong Caps penalty is allowed.
Partner Close Caps
When a player bids Partner Close Caps, the highest possible bid, the player’s partner’s eight cards are placed face down on the table. The partner takes no part in the play. The bidder chooses the trump indicator and leads to the first trick. Play is counter-clockwise between the bidder and the two opponents, skipping the bidder’s partner. No other player may look at the bidder’s partner’s cards until the play is over. All the other rules for a bid of 250 or more apply, except that:
- It is not necessary to call Caps. The bid succeeds if and only if the bidder wins all eight tricks;
Scoring
Each team begins with an equal number of scoring tokens. The first team that collects all their opponents tokens wins the game. You have to pay your opponent your tokens and you cannot pay them with tokens you have received from them.
| Successful bid | Failed bid | Comments | |
| Bid was less than 200. | Win 1 token | Lose 2 tokens | |
| Bid was at least 200 and less than 250. | Win 2 tokens | Lose 3 tokens | |
| Bid was at a number, at least 250. | Win 3 tokens | Lose 4 tokens | |
| Bid was “Partner Close Caps”. | Win 4 tokens | Lose 5 tokens | |
| Correct Caps announcement | 1 extra token | Only if announced before the start of the sixth trick | |
| Wrong Caps | Lose 2 tokens | Lose 2 tokens | No reward for the bid, even if it succeeds |
| Losing a trick after Caps was announced | Lose 5 tokens | Lose 5 tokens | Lose 5 instead of 2; no reward for the bid even if it succeeds |
Other Rules
Some allow a bid of “Half Court” with four cards. In this case no further cards are dealt and the bidder must win all four tricks, playing alone. This will not be allowed in this championship.
If the trump maker has all the remaining cards of the trump suit and leads one of them, none of the other players will be able to follow suit. If this happens, the trump maker is compelled to lead all the trumps from his or her hand before leading any other card. This rule is not in effect for this championship.