How to Play Trumple

Trumple is a card game for 4 players. You bet on how many tricks you think you’ll win — then try to win exactly that many. Not more, not less.

The Basics

Card Order (weakest to strongest)

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace

Suit Order (weakest to strongest)

Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts, Spades

Part 1: Bidding (Making Your Bet)

At the start, you pick one or more cards from your hand as your “bid.” These cards are shown to everyone, but here’s the important part — you keep them in your hand to play with later. You’re not giving them away.

How much is your bid worth?

Add up the values of the cards you picked:

Your total is the number of tricks you’re betting you’ll win. For example, if you bid a 5 and a 3, your target is 8 tricks.

What is Trump?

“Trump” means one suit is more powerful than all the others for this game. Think of it like a superpower for that suit.

How trump gets decided:

Who wins the bid?

The player who bid the highest total wins and gets to go first. If there’s a tie:

  1. A player who set a trump beats a player who didn’t
  2. The player whose bid cards have the highest suit wins
  3. The player who used fewer cards wins

The 13 Rule (special twist)

If everyone’s bids add up to exactly 13, the bid winner gets a bonus choice — they can push everyone’s target UP by 1 or DOWN by 1. This lets them mess with the other players’ plans.

Part 2: Playing Tricks

The game has exactly 13 tricks. A trick is one turn where everyone plays a card into the middle — whoever plays the strongest card wins that pile. Here’s how each trick works:

Step by step

  1. Someone leads — The trick leader plays any card they want
  2. Everyone else follows — You must play a card of the same suit if you have one. This is called “following suit”
  3. Can’t follow suit? — If you don’t have any cards in that suit, you can play any card from your hand
  4. Trump cards are secret — If you play a trump card when you can’t follow suit, it’s placed face-down. Nobody sees it until the trick is over

Who wins the trick?

The winner of each trick leads the next one.

Scoring

After all 13 tricks, you score based on how close you got to your bid:

If your bid was 1 or more:

What happened Points
Won exactly your bid +bid value (nailed it!)
Won fewer than your bid -1 for each trick you missed
Won more than your bid -2 for each extra trick

If your bid was 0 (a gutsy move):

What happened Points
Won 0 tricks +5 (you pulled it off!)
Won 1 trick -5
Won 2+ tricks -5, then -2 more for each trick after the first

The key takeaway: Getting your bid exactly right is everything. Going over your bid is punished more than going under. And bidding zero is a bold all-or-nothing gamble.

Playing Multiple Games

After scoring, the host can start another game or end the session. If you keep playing, scores add up across games. Whoever has the highest total score at the end wins the whole session.

Tips for Beginners