Shelem
Iran’s bidding game for partners. Bid for points, take the four-card widow, and your first lead names trump. Take every trick for a shelem. 4 players, in partnerships.
How to play Shelem
- 1Four players in two partnerships; partners sit across from each other. Everyone gets twelve cards and four more go face down in the middle as the widow. Aces are high.
- 2Points come from cards and tricks: each ace and ten is worth 10, each five is worth 5, and every trick is worth 5. That makes 165 in a hand.
- 3Starting after the dealer, players take turns bidding how many points their side will take, from 100 up to 165 in steps of 5, each bid higher than the last. Once you pass you are out of the bidding. It ends when everyone else has passed. If nobody bids, the last player left must open at 100.
- 4The bidder picks up the widow and sets any four cards aside face down. Those cards count for the bidder's side as an extra trick, points and all.
- 5The bidder leads the first trick, and the suit of that card becomes trump for the hand. Follow the suit led if you can; otherwise play anything. The highest trump wins, or else the highest card of the suit led.
- 6If the bidding side takes at least its bid, it scores what it took; if not, it loses the bid, or twice the bid if it took less than the other side. The other side always scores what it took. Taking every trick is a shelem, worth 330. The first side to 1000 wins.
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