Jabberwocky (card game)

Jabberwocky is a card game.

Number of Players: 3 to 5

Origin: Jabberwocky may have originated on the Big Island of Hawaii in the early 1980s. If anyone knows of an earlier origin, they should edit this line.

Equipment: Standard deck of cards, pencil and paper for scoring.

Dealing:

• At the start of the first round, the dealer gives three cards to each player. In the next round, four cards are dealt to each player. The number of cards increases by one each round until nine cards are dealt. After that, the number of cards dealt decreases by one each round. After the end of the 13th round, when three cards are again dealt to each player, the game ends. This list shows the number dealt each round: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3.
• Deal passes to the left after each round.
• A player may only declare a misdeal for receiving the wrong number of cards, or receiving cards out-of-order. The number of ranks or suits of the cards in the hand may not be a factor in declaring a misdeal. If a hand was misdealt, the dealer shall recall all cards, shuffle and deal again.
• Like other trick-taking games, each round goes through these phases: dealing, bidding, playing, and scoring.

Trump: Once the cards have been dealt to the players, the dealer shall turn over the top card of the remainder of the deck. (Alternate rule: the player to the left of the dealer may turn over the top card.) The suit of that card shall be the trump suit, and that card shall remain face-up during the round. Any trump suit card shall outrank any non-trump suit card. Cards within a suit are ranked from Ace (highest value) down to 2 (lowest value).

Bidding: Bidding shall proceed to the left, and the player to the dealer's left shall bid first. A player may bid any number from 0 up to the total number of cards that were dealt to each player for that particular round. The dealer bids last, and the dealer may not bid a number that would make the total number of bids for the round equal to the total number of tricks that may be taken during that round. (For example, if there are four players playing a round in which six cards have been dealt to each player, and Player #1 has bid 2, Player #2 has bid 0, and Player #3 has bid 3, then the final bid of the dealer may not be 1. This is because a bid of 1 would cause the total number of bids to equal 6, which is forbidden because that is the total number of tricks that will be in play during the round.)

Playing:

• The player to the left of the dealer shall lead the first trick. The player who has the lead shall choose a card and place it face up. Play then commences to the left with each player in turn selecting a card from their hand to place face up as part of the trick.
• A person must follow suit if they have a card matching the suit of the lead card. If a player has, but does not play, a card of the proper suit, the other players may deduct 3 points from the score as a penalty. If a player does not have any cards of the lead suit, any another suit may be played instead.
• A trump card shall not be played first in a trick unless the trump suit has already been played or the player has only trump cards available. (Trump is said to be "broken" the first time a trump card is played in a round.)
• The person who played the highest card in the suit that was led first shall take that trick unless a trump card was played, in which case the person who played the highest trump card takes the trick.
• Whenever a player takes a trick, that player must then lead the next trick.
• The round ends when all available tricks have been taken.

Scoring: Once a round has finished, players are given one point for acquiring the exact number of tricks that they bid. Players who acquired fewer or more tricks than the number that they bid will earn no point for that round.

Winning: The players(s) with the most points at the end of all 13 rounds wins. Tie wins are possible.