Hokm: rules of the Persian trump game
Also called Hokm card game, Hakem
Hokm is a classic Persian card game for four players in two partnerships. The player chosen as Hakem (ruler) picks trump after seeing their first 5 cards, and the teams race to win tricks.
Hokm spread to South Asia, where it became Court Piece, Rung and Hukum. The deal, the trump call and the trick rules are almost identical.
Where the name Hokm comes from
Hokm means command or decree in Persian, and the Hakem is the one who gives it. In Urdu and Hindi the same word became hukum.
How to play Hokm
Players, teams and cards
Four players play in two fixed partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other. A standard 52-card deck is used, with no jokers.
Cards rank from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Play passes anti-clockwise round the table, as it traditionally does in India and Pakistan.
Dealing in two stages
- The dealer shuffles and gives every player 5 cards.
- Trump is decided by looking at those 5 cards only, before anyone sees the rest of their hand.
- The dealer then deals the remaining 8 cards each, so everyone holds 13.
Playing a trick
- The player who decided trump leads the first trick. After that, whoever won the last trick leads.
- Everyone must follow suit if they can.
- A player with no card of the led suit may play any card, including a trump. Playing a trump like this is called cutting (katna).
- The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins.
Bidding for trump
- After the first 5 cards, bidding goes once round the table, starting with the player after the dealer.
- Each bid is a number of tricks from 7 to 13 together with a suit, for example “8 Hearts”. A bid must be higher than the highest bid so far, or the player can pass.
- A bid of 13 ends the bidding immediately, because nobody can beat it.
- The highest bidder's suit becomes trump, and that player leads the first trick.
- If all four players pass, the first player to bid is forced to take 7 and chooses trump from their 5 cards.
Scoring
All 13 tricks are played. If the bidding team takes at least as many tricks as it bid, it gains its bid: making 8 scores +8.
If it falls short, it loses points. A failed 7 costs 7, and any failed bid above 7 costs double: 8 costs 16, 9 costs 18, and 13 costs 26. The defending team's score never changes.
The two scores are shown as one gap between the teams. When a team falls 52 points behind, it loses the game.
Who deals next
Dealing is seen as a chore, so the deal goes to the losing side. If the dealer's team lost the round, the same dealer deals again; otherwise the deal passes to the next player.
The classic version without bidding
Many families play without any bidding. The player next to the dealer simply names trump from their first 5 cards, and the first team to win 7 tricks wins the round. It counts as a Kot (a whitewash) when the trump-calling team wins the first 7 tricks in a row, and in many houses also when the other team reaches 7 first.
Our version keeps the same deal, trump and trick rules but adds bidding, so every round has a contract to make or break.
Hokm FAQ
- Is Hokm the same as Court Piece?
- They are close relatives. Court Piece grew out of Hokm and keeps its 5-card trump call and partnership play. Scoring and the Kot rules vary by region.
- What is the Hakem?
- The player who chooses trump for the round and leads the first trick. In our bidding version, the highest bidder plays this role.
- How many tricks do you need to win?
- In classic Hokm, 7 of the 13 tricks. In the bidding version, the number your team bid.