Rung (Rang) card game rules
Also called Rang, Rung card game, Rang card game
Rung, also written Rang, is a name for Court Piece used widely in Pakistan and Punjab. The game is named after its most important moment: calling the rung, the trump suit.
Two teams of two play 13 tricks, and any card of the rung beats every card of the other suits.
Where the name Rung comes from
Rang means colour, and here the colour is the trump suit. When someone says “rung kya hai?” they are asking which suit is trump this round.
How to play Rung
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.
Rung FAQ
- What does Rung mean in cards?
- The trump suit. Rang literally means colour, so calling the rung means naming the suit that beats all others this round.
- When is the rung chosen?
- After every player has seen their first 5 cards and before the remaining 8 are dealt.
- Is Rung the same as Court Piece?
- Yes. Rung, Rang, Court Piece and Hukum are regional names for the same family of games.