Piratbridge
RULES

How to play Piratbridge

A trick-taking game for 3–6 players with a regular deck of cards. Bid exactly, take your tricks, and score the most points.

01

Card ranking

Piratbridge is played with a standard 52-card deck, no jokers. 2 is the lowest card and ace is the highest.

2 of spades
3 of spades
4 of spades
5 of spades
6 of spades
7 of spades
8 of spades
9 of spades
10 of spades
J of spades
Q of spades
K of spades
A of spades
LOWESTHIGHEST
02

Rounds

The game is played in rounds. In every round one player is the dealer, and the player to the dealer's left starts the first trick. The dealer moves clockwise after each round.

The first round has the most cards. After that everyone gets one card fewer each round, down to 1 card. The 1-card round is played twice in a row, and then it goes back up to the same number as in the first round. So the number of rounds is cards in the first round × 2. The first round can have at most as many cards as the deck allows: 17 for 3 players, 13 for 4, 10 for 5 and 8 for 6.

EXAMPLE | 8 CARDS16 rounds
03

Trump & unused cards

4 of hearts
TRUMP
  • The cards that aren't dealt stay in the deck, face down.
  • The top card of the deck is turned face up and sets the round's trump suit. If every card is dealt (4 players with 13 cards), there is no card to turn, and spades are trump.
  • Not all cards are in play. Keep that in mind when you bid.

Trump is the strongest suit of the round and beats all other suits. A trump can also beat a lower trump. The three other suits are equally strong and only win tricks in the suit that was led.

04

Playing tricks

  • The player who starts the trick plays the first card and sets the lead suit.
  • You must follow suit if you can.
  • If you don't have the lead suit, you are void and may play any card, including trump.
  • The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the lead suit wins.
  • The winner of a trick starts the next trick.
EXAMPLE | TRUMP ♥
9 of spades
Mads | starts
K of spades
You
4 of hearts
Freja | wins the trick
2 of spades
Ida

Spades are led. Freja is void and trumps with 4♥, which wins the trick over the king of spades.

05

Bids

Before each round, everyone bids at the same time on how many tricks they expect to take, from 0 up to the number of cards in hand. It's not about bidding high, but about bidding right: only an exact bid scores points.

BID3
TRICKS2
At the table you always see your bid and how many tricks you've taken.

When everyone has bid, the bids are added up. The total decides the type of the round:

Fight for the tricks10 bid | 8 tricksMore tricks are bid than there are. Someone will miss.
Creeper6 bid | 8 tricksFewer tricks are bid than there are. Someone will get too many.
Even8 bid | 8 tricksThe total adds up. In principle everyone can make their bid.
06

One-card rounds

One-card rounds are played differently: you can see everyone else's card, but not your own. You bid 0 or 1 based on what you can see and the trump suit.

Q of spades
Freja
7 of diamonds
Mads
10 of hearts
Ida
PB
YOU

Starting and suits work as usual: the player to the dealer's left starts, and trump beats the other suits. Once everyone has bid, the cards are revealed and the trick is settled automatically.

07

Scoring

  • If you make a bid of 1 or more tricks, you get 10 points plus 1 point per trick.
  • If you bid 0 and take 0 tricks, you get 5 points.
  • If you miss your bid, you lose 1 point per trick of difference, whether you took too few or too many.
BIDTRICKSPOINTS
3310 + 3+13
00made 0+5
321 off−1
341 off−1
022 off−2
08

Optional rules

Under Advanced settings you can switch on two extra rules: in the lobby, if you host an online game (Ranked or Multiplayer), and when you set up a singleplayer game. Both are off until someone chooses them.

  • 0 tricks gives 10 points: If you bid 0 and take 0 tricks, you get 10 points instead of 5. The rest of the scoring is the same.
  • Spades are always trump: Spades are trump in every round. No card is turned over from the deck, so all cards that aren't dealt stay face down.
EXAMPLE | SPADES ARE ALWAYS TRUMP ♠
A of hearts
Mads | starts
K of hearts
You
2 of spades
Freja | wins the trick
A of diamonds
Ida

Hearts are led. Freja is void and wins the trick with the 2 of spades, because spades are trump.

Online, the host also chooses how much time each player has for a bid or a card: 10, 20, 30, 60 or 120 seconds, or unlimited. Normally there is no time limit. With a time limit, the game can be paused if everyone at the table says yes, and it continues when everyone has pressed Ready. Singleplayer has no time limit.

09

End of the game

When all rounds have been played, the points are added up. The player with the most points wins. If two or more players end on the same total, they share the placement.

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10

Rank

When you play Ranked games against other players, you win or lose rank points, and your rank goes up or down. Games in Multiplayer lobbies, games against bots and games with only one real player don't give rank points.

How many points you get depends on your placement. The winner gets 50, the last place loses 20, and the places in between are spread evenly. If you share a placement with someone, you share the points. If you leave the game early, you count as last.

PLAYERS1.2.3.4.5.6.
3+50+15−20–––
4+50+27+3−20––
5+50+33+15−2−20–
6+50+36+22+8−6−20

Your rank matters too. If you beat a player with a higher rank, you get more, and if you beat one with a lower rank, you get less. If you lose to someone with a lower rank, you lose more, and if you lose to someone with a higher rank, you lose less. If you're on the same rank, it's exactly the numbers in the table. Bots don't count in the comparison.

  • Bronze0–999 points
  • Silver1000–1999 points
  • Gold2000–2999 points
  • Platinum3000–3999 points
  • Diamond4000–4999 points
  • Master5000+ points

Each rank has five steps, from V (lowest) to I (highest). There are 200 points between each step and 1000 points between each rank. You start at Bronze V. Once you've reached a rank, you can't fall out of it again, but you can drop a step within it.