Cinch

Bid for points, draw down to six trumps, and guard your pedros: two fives worth five apiece. 4 players, in partnerships.

Who To Play With

or
bots

How to play Cinch

  1. 1Four players in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite. Everyone gets nine cards; the rest wait face down as the stock.
  2. 2Starting left of the dealer, each player bids once: from 6 to 14, higher than the bid so far, or passes. The bid is how many of the hand's 14 points your side promises to take. If the first three pass, the dealer must bid 6.
  3. 3The winning bidder names trump. The five of trump is the right pedro, and the five of the other suit of the same color is the left pedro: it counts as a trump for the whole hand.
  4. 4Then everyone, starting left of the dealer, throws away cards and draws back up to six from the stock. You may not throw away a trump unless you hold more than six; then you keep six and show the trumps you throw away, which can't be point cards. The dealer goes last and takes every card left in the stock before choosing six to keep.
  5. 5Trumps rank ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, right pedro, left pedro, 4, 3, 2. The bidder leads first. When trump is led you must play a trump if you can. When a plain suit is led you may follow it or play a trump; with neither, play anything. Each trick goes to the highest trump, or else the highest card of the suit led.
  6. 6Points go to the side that wins them in tricks: 1 each for the ace (High), the two (Low), the jack and the 10 (Game) of trump, and 5 for each pedro.
  7. 7If the bidding side takes at least its bid, both sides score the points they took. If not, the bidders lose the amount of the bid and the other side scores its points. The first side to 62 wins; the bidders go out first if both get there.
  8. 8If nobody has won after 40 hands, the higher score wins.

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