Trix rules — how to play

Overview

Trix uses a full 52-card deck, Ace high, with no trump suit. All 52 cards are dealt every deal — 13 to each of the four players — and there are no redeals: every deal is played, however lopsided the hands.

A game is exactly four kingdoms, and each player owns one. The player dealt the 7♥ in the first deal owns the first kingdom. The owner alone picks its contracts — after seeing their own 13 cards, any contract not yet played in that kingdom, in any order, with no bidding and no say for a partner — then leads the first trick, or plays first in the Trix contract. The last remaining contract is picked automatically, and if the owner’s clock runs out Koutchina picks for them. Once all the owner’s contracts are played, the next player owns the next kingdom.

While the owner chooses, every other player sees their own hand face down, so no reaction can give anything away; the cards turn face up once the contract is announced.

The five contracts

Four of the contracts are trick games. The owner leads the first trick and the winner of each trick leads the next. Follow the suit led if you can; otherwise play any card. The highest card of the suit led wins — there are no trumps. Any card may be led, hearts in the King of Hearts and diamonds in Diamonds included, and nothing forces you to throw a penalty card when you cannot follow suit.

King of Hearts: whoever takes the K♥ scores −75, and the deal ends with that trick. Queens: −25 for each queen taken; the deal ends with the trick that takes the fourth queen. Diamonds: −10 for each diamond taken; the deal ends with the trick that takes the thirteenth diamond. Tricks (Ltoosh): −15 for every trick taken, and all 13 tricks are played. When a deal ends early, the cards still in hand are never shown.

The fifth contract, Trix, is not a trick game: the players lay their cards out in four rows and race to empty their hands (see below).

The Trix contract

The board has four rows, one per suit. A jack opens its suit’s row; the row then grows up from the jack — J → Q → K → A — and down — J → 10 → … → 2. A playable card is any jack, or the card one rank above the top or one rank below the bottom of its suit’s row. Jacks may go down in any order, at any time.

The owner plays first, then each next player in turn. If you hold a playable card you must play exactly one — any one you like, so you may hold back a jack while you play another card. With no playable card you pass: Koutchina passes for you and shows it to everyone, and nobody may pass while holding a playable card. Players who have run out of cards are skipped.

Players score by the order in which their hands empty: +200 for the first out, +150 for the second, +100 for the third. When three players are out, the fourth takes +50 and the deal ends.

Doubling (dabal)

In the King of Hearts you may double the K♥; in Queens, any queen; in Complex, the K♥ and any queen. Diamonds, Tricks and Trix have no doubling. Only a card’s holder may double it; one player may double several cards, the owner included; there is no redoubling. Doubling is always on.

Doubling is closed and simultaneous. Once the contract is announced and before the first lead, every player picks their doubles in secret and presses Ready. When everyone is ready — or the timer runs out, which commits whatever each player has selected — the doubled cards are revealed together, and each one sits face up beside its holder until it is played. A doubled card stays in your hand, still counts for following suit, and you are never forced to play it.

Scoring a doubled card (worth 75 for the K♥, 25 for a queen): whoever takes it scores double the penalty — −150 or −50 — and the player who doubled it scores +75 or +25. If you take your own doubled card, you pay the −150 or −50 and the +75 or +25 goes to the player who led that trick; if you led it yourself, you net −75 or −25. Either way a doubled card costs the table exactly what an undoubled one does, so every kingdom still adds up to zero.

How to play

1. Deal — All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each player. Whoever holds the 7♥ in the first deal owns the first kingdom.
2. Pick the contract — The kingdom’s owner looks at their hand and chooses a contract not yet played in their kingdom; the last remaining one is picked automatically.
3. Double — Before the first lead, whoever holds the K♥ (in the King of Hearts or Complex) or a queen (in Queens or Complex) may double it in secret; the doubles are revealed together.
4. Play the deal — In a trick contract, follow suit and avoid taking the penalty cards; in Trix, build the four rows out from the jacks and empty your hand first.
5. Pass the kingdom on — When the owner has played every contract, the next player owns the next kingdom. After four kingdoms the highest total wins — or, in partnership, the team in the plus.

Scoring & winning

• Classic contracts: King of Hearts −75; Queens −25 each; Diamonds −10 each; Tricks −15 per trick; Trix +200 / +150 / +100 / +50. A kingdom always adds up to zero: −75 − 100 − 130 − 195 + 500 = 0.
• Doubled cards: the taker scores −150 for the K♥ or −50 for a queen, and the doubler +75 or +25 — or the trick’s leader does, when the doubler takes their own card. Doubling moves points between players but never changes a deal’s total.
• Winning: after four kingdoms, solo play ranks the players by their totals, highest first, and tied players share their place. In partnership each team scores the sum of its two players; because every kingdom adds up to zero, one team is always in the plus and the other in the minus by the same amount. The team in the plus wins, and a 0–0 finish is a draw.
• On staked tables, solo play splits the pot by placement among the players who actually staked — bots never stake: two stakers 100% to the best-placed; three 70/30; four 60/30/10 — and the last of them takes nothing. Tied stakers split the shares of the places they span evenly. In partnership the winning team splits the pot, and a 0–0 draw refunds every stake.

The four variants

Koutchina plays the four mainstream modes of Trix, each over four kingdoms with doubling always on. Trix: every player for themselves, all five contracts in each kingdom — 20 deals. Trix Partner: two teams of two, all five contracts in each kingdom — 20 deals. Trix Complex: every player for themselves, Complex and Trix in each kingdom — 8 deals. Trix Complex Partner: two teams of two, Complex and Trix in each kingdom — 8 deals.

Trix Complex Partner, the most-played mode online, is Koutchina’s default Trix table — it is what Quick Play deals. Before you sit down, two choices — Solo or Partner, Classic or Complex — pick any of the four.

Trix Complex

In Complex, the King of Hearts, Queens, Diamonds and Tricks are played all at once, in a single 13-trick Complex deal. Each kingdom is then just two deals — Complex and Trix — and the owner chooses which to play first; the other follows automatically. The Trix contract is unchanged.

Each trick you win in Complex scores −15, plus −75 if the K♥ is in it, −25 for each queen and −10 for each diamond. The Q♦ counts as both a queen and a diamond: −35. The Complex deal hands out −500 in all — exactly what Trix gives back — so each kingdom still adds up to zero. It always plays all 13 tricks.

Doubling happens in the Complex deal, on the K♥ and the queens. A doubled Q♦ costs its taker −60 — −50 for the doubled queen and −10 for the diamond, which is never doubled — and pays +25 to its doubler, or to the trick’s leader if the doubler takes it.

Playing in partnership

In Trix Partner and Trix Complex Partner the four players form two teams of two, partners sitting opposite, and the kingdoms alternate between the teams. Each player still owns their own kingdom and picks its contracts alone. A team’s score is the sum of its two players’ scores; doubled cards are scored player by player, then added up.

At the start of every Trix contract, each 2 is shown face up beside the player who holds it until it is played — unless one team holds all four. In the Trix contract a team collects 350 for first and second place, 300 for first and third, and 250 for first and fourth or for second and third — the other team takes the rest of the 500.

Strategy

FAQ