6-Card Kitty Rules

Bid Whist is a partnership trick-taking game. It is played with a standard 52 card deck plus 2 jokers, for a total of 54 cards. The two jokers must be distinct: one is called the big joker and the other is the little joker. There are 4 players consisting of two teams of two; each player sits opposite their partner. The game starts with each team at zero, and the object of the game is to win sheet first then highest points to win the tournament. Points are scored by bidding for and winning tricks, which in this game are called books.

When the game first starts, the deck is shuffled and dealt around, and the person that draws the first diamond becomes the first dealer. Cards are dealt one at a time in a clockwise order. Each player is to receive 12 cards for a total of 48 cards. During the deal, six cards are to be placed face down in the center of the table to form a kitty. The first four cards and the last four cards cannot be put in the kitty; apart from this the dealer can deal the kitty cards at any stage during the deal, but no consecutive cards can go in the kitty.  After each hand, the turn to deal passes to the left.

The turn to bid goes around the table only once starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Each bid consists of a number from 4 to 7, and a numeric number only is used for an "uptown" bid, suffix "special" (downtown bid), or "no trump" (no jokers bid).  The number indicates the number of books the bidder's team will contract to win - for example all bids total eight (8), so to set a bid of 5 the opponent needs to make 3 books (3+5=8). As there are 13 books in all, 7 is the highest possible bid. 

- Uptown (or "high") means you intend to name a trump suit, and that high cards will win (Ace, King, Queen). 

- Downtown (or "low") means that you intend to name a trump suit, and that low cards will win Ace, deuce, three). 

- No Trump means that there will be no trump, and that if you win the bid you will then determine whether high or low cards will have preference. 

Each player in turn must either pass or name a bid which is higher than the previous bid. A bid of a higher number outranks a bid of a lower number, and a bid in no trumps outranks a bid of the same number uptown or downtown. Bids of the same number uptown and downtown are equal to each other - neither can be bid over the other (Progressive bidding). Therefore, the possible bids, from lowest to highest, are as follows: 

Uptown Bids

Four (4); Five (5); Six (6); Seven (7)

Downtown Bids

Four (4) special; Five (5) special; Six (6) special; Seven (7) special

No Trump Bids

Four (4) No; Five (5) No; Six (6) No; Seven (7) No

You don't name which suit you intend to name as trumps until you win the bidding. On the other hand when bidding a no trump, you do not indicate which direction (uptown or downtown), until you win the bid.

If the first three players pass, the dealer is forced to bid, and he must bid a four (4), four (4) special, or four (4) No as the minimum bid.

The highest bidder names the trump suit, or in the case of a "No trump" bid specifies whether it will be played uptown or downtown. The bidder then picks up the 6-card kitty and throws away six cards. The cards thrown away can come from the bidder's dealt hand, the original kitty, or any combination of these. In a "No Trump" the bidder must throw the jokers away in the kitty if he has any in his hand, or any is in the kitty must remain in the kitty. The six cards which are thrown away are placed face down in front of the bidder and count as the first book won by the bidder's side.  

The bidder then leads the first card. Any card may be led, and the other players must follow the suit led, if they have it in their hand. A player who does not have the led suit in their hand has the option to play a trump or play a different suit. A trump always beats any non-trump cards played in the book. If there is more than one trump played the highest ranking trump based on the type of bid taken will win the book. If no one plays a trump the highest ranking card to the suit led wins the book. The winner of each book leads to the next.  The ranking of the cards within the suits depends on the bid. The rankings from high to low are as follows:

- Uptown trumps: Big joker, little joker, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. 

- Uptown non-trump suits: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. 

- Downtown (Special) trumps: Big joker, little joker, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.

- Downtown non-trump suits: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.

If the bid is no trumps all the suits are non-trump suits. In this case the jokers are of no value, and cannot win a book. They can be played if you have no card of the suit led. In the unusual case where a player leads a joker, the next player may play any card, and the first card played which is not a joker determines the suit that must be followed in that book. The highest card played of this suit wins the book.  Renege: If a person fails to follow suit when they have a card of that suit in their hand, this is called a renege. When this occurs, 3 books won by the reneging team in that hand are given to the non-reneging team. If the reneging team won fewer than three books, the hand is scored as though the non-reneging team won all 13 books.  Scoring

- Playing out of turn, Play wrong suit, Bidding out of turn **Points automatically goes to the Opponent Team at the next highest bid. (Ex. Bid is 5 Opponent gets 6; Bid is 5 No Opponent gets 11) Unless opponent wants to play hand out for more points. 

- Misdeal - If team was going to make the bid, or team was set it stands, so count your cards before play. 

- Bidding/Playing Out of Turn - The Bid is voided, and the opponent gets to bid from scratch, or the opponent wins the bid plus one (1), so don't bid out of turn.

Each team begins with a score of zero. At the end of each hand the score is noted on the score sheet. This is done for four (4) hands. After four (4) hands the scores for each team is added for a total. The team with the highest points wins the score sheet.