A shuffled deck is cut by four players. Ace is high. Highest card is the dealer. In the event of equal highest cards, suit precedence is: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣.
The dealer starts by dealing one card to each player. After the round is over, the player to the dealer's left becomes the dealer. He or she deals two cards to each player. Each time the dealer moves round and the number of cards dealt increases. After thirteen, the cards dealt moves back to one.
For each round, players play one card face-up, one at a time, starting on the dealer's left. This is a trick. The first player to play a card can choose any card to play. Subsequent players must match the suit of the first card played if they have a card matching that suit in their hand. Otherwise they may play any card.
Each trick is won by the player who played the highest card in the same suit as the first card. That player takes the four cards and places them in a face-down pile in front of them. This is worth one point. That player then plays the first card of the next trick until all cards have been played. Then the round is over.
In any given round, a suit may be designated as trumps. If a trump card is played by any player, the highest card of the trump suit will win that trick, regardless of whether that suit matches the first card played. Remember that a card not matching the suit of the first card can only be played if the player has no matching cards in his or her hand.
Before each round is started but after the cards have been dealt and players have taken a look at their hands, each player, starting with the player on the dealer's left, nominates how many tricks that player thinks he or she can win.
In rounds where each hand contains four or more cards, the total number of tricks nominated must not equal the number of cards in each hand. This means at least one call will be wrong. The final player to nominate may not choose a number that makes the total equal to the number of cards in each hand.
If, at the end of a round, a player has won the exact number of tricks he or she nominated, that player scores ten extra points.