3-2-5


3-2-5 or 5-3-2 is a popular card game which is commonly played in India and Pakistan. It is played among 3 players.

Cards

The game is played with a 30-card stripped deck limited to all 8s onwards for all suits except for the 7 of Hearts and the 7 of Spades. The 7s are considered high trumps except in some variants where they are regular cards.
The game is popularly called 2-3-5 and often referred as 3-2-5, or 5-3-2 depending on playing tradition.

Game play

Basic game

"3-2-5" is very similar to bridge, except that there are three players instead of four, and all play individually. There are a total of 3+2+5 = 10 possible tricks. On each trick, the highest of the led suit wins unless it is trumped.

Rules

  1. Each player becomes the dealer one by one.
  2. The dealer has to make 2 tricks, the next person 5, and the third 3.
  3. Dealing the Cards - First distribute a set of 5 cards to each, as a single block of 5. The first person dealt to chooses the trump suit. Then the cards are dealt in sets of 3 and two. The cards can be distributed as single cards from the beginning of the game. If the player choosing the trump does not like his or her first 5 cards, he or she may decide to ask the next set of 3 cards to be shown to all and the suit with the highest card in those 3 becomes the trump.
  4. First lead is by the player setting the trump, subsequent ones are by the one who wins the trick.
  5. In the end if someone makes more than what is required of him, then he is either "owed" tricks in the next round by those that made fewer than they were required to, or instead can 'pick' a card each for the extra tricks in the next round i.e. if player 1 makes 4 and player 2 makes 2 and player 3 makes 4, then player 1 has the option of pulling one card each from the cards of player 2 and player 3 in the next round but cannot take all trump cards of player 2 or player 3. In return, he can give back any of his unwanted cards, but should have 1 card of each color while giving back, regardless of he has the same suit or not.
  6. Optional Rule - If any one have no Trump card then game should be dismissed and the one who throws one card the next has to throw the high card
If someone wishes to play without disregarding the trump, they will need to make 5 in a row