Thirteen cards are dealt singly in turn to each of the four players.
The player who is dealt the two of clubs on the first deal gets to call the first "trump suit".
The Play
The player that calls the initial trump suit plays a card and all other players must play a card of that suit if they have it. Highest card wins. If the player doesn't have a card of that suit but has a card of the trump suit, he/she may play that card and win unless another player plays a higher card of that suit. The trump suit cannot be played until a player is out of a suit and cuts the hand. If a card of neither suit is played, the player loses that hand. After the first hand, the call of the trump suit passes to the left.
Scoring
To score, each team must win a certain number of times. The team with the call must get eight books before earning plucks and the team without it must get five. After all thirteen books have been played, that's the end of the first round and the cards are re-dealt. The first team that reaches ten points wins.
Plucking
The team with the most plucks after each round then gets to pluck the other team. This means that for every point earned, someone from that team may give a card to someone of the other team. That person must then give the person who is plucking the highest card of that particular suit.
Shooting the Moon is when a team wins all thirteen books in one round. Some also refer to this as "Going to Boston" or simply "Boston".
Strategy
One of the most primary strategies is plucking. One must know whom to pluck and in what suit to pluck. Also, it is wise to choose a cut suit that at least one person in the team is strong in. It also takes skill to know when to cut over ones partner. For example, if the Queen of a suit has been played by your side and you suspect that the player after has the King, you play the Ace.
Pluck for three
Pluck is a three-person trick-based card game. It's different from most of these games in at least one way: it's explicitly designed for three players. On a complexity level, it's probably a little less challenging than spades: the trump is declared by the dealer, but the number of tricks each player must take is fixed. First player to get 10 plucks wins the game.
The Deck
It uses the standard 52-card deck, with some modifications: remove all twos except the two of clubs; add both of the jokers into the deck, and make sure that the two jokers have different faces. One of these will be the "big joker" and the other will be the "little joker"; these are the highest-ranked trump cards in any turn. This should leave you with a deck of 51 cards. Since there are three cards played every trick, this gives us 17 tricks per hand. Aces are high.
The Goal
The point of each round is to win at least as many tricks as your position dictates. Of the 17 total tricks per round, you need to take:
Dealer: 7 tricks
Left of dealer: 6 tricks
Right of dealer: 4 tricks
Falling short of this goal in one round means you will get plucked at the beginning of the next round. If you fell short, someone else must have an excess—and that person is the one who gets to pluck from you!
The Order of Play
Shuffle and Deal
Each round starts by having the dealer shuffle, and dealing out all 51 cards.
Plucks
There are no plucks in the first round. The person who has the most plucks goes first. If two players are entitled to the same number of plucks, start with the dealer and go left. To pluck, the plucker passes a card face-down to the. After looking at this card, the must pass back the highest-ranked card in the same suit. The jokers are not in any suit, and are always valuable—so, a plucker would not want to pass one, and a cannot be forced to give them up.
Dealer declares trump
After plucking, the dealer has to declare trump. Since they have to take the most tricks, they get this serious advantage. They can pick any suit; as with any trick-based game, this is a tradeoff between quantity and quality. Finally, the dealer should remember that there are two jokers in the game, and they are higher than any card in the actual trump suit.
Play opens with the Deuce of Clubs
Whoever is holding the deuce of clubs puts it down as the first lead card. This has two side effects: one, it's a guaranteed loss; and, if clubs were chosen to be trump, then trumps are open from the very start.
Play 17 tricks
This portion of the game should be very similar to any other trick game. Whoever took the last trick has to lead for the next trick. You have to play in suit if you can; if you have a void in that suit, you can either slough or trump. You can't lead trumps until they have been opened For the purposes of determining which cards are in what suit, the jokers are considered to be the same suit as trump. A trick is taken by the highest-ranked lead-suit or trump card on the pile.
Determining Plucks
Players receive as many plucks as they won tricks over their targets. Unless player receives 0 books.
Deal passes to the left
After a hand is scored, deal passes to the left of the current dealer.
