The Twists
Six things your current Rung app does not do
Everything you know still holds — follow suit, trump beats everything, the most hands takes the round. The Twists are what we built on top: new ways to bend a round, and table sizes the traditional games never had.
02
Undeclared Trump
Nobody chooses it. The deal does.
No call and no pause: all thirteen cards come straight down, and the round starts with no trump. It stays that way until the first time somebody cannot follow suit.
Whatever that player throws becomes trump for the rest of the round. A throwaway two can crown a suit — so every early discard is a decision about what everyone else will be ruffing with.
- No trump-caller — the opening draw only decides who leads.
- The first off-suit card played sets the trump.
- A court pays a flat +2, whoever sweeps it.
03
Double Trick
Win twice to keep anything.
A hand won is not a hand kept. Won hands stack face down in the middle of the table, and nobody banks a thing until someone wins two hands in a row — then they sweep the entire pile.
The first two hands always go on the pile, so the earliest sweep is the third hand. Piles of five and six build up, and one well-timed pair can swing a round. Whatever is left after the thirteenth hand goes to whoever took it.
- Two hands in a row sweeps the whole pile.
- The earliest possible sweep is hand three.
- The count starts again after every sweep.
- Only collected hands count towards the round.
04
The Ace Rule
Your strongest card, on a timer.
An extra layer on Double Trick. Win a hand with an ace and you cannot lead the next hand with another ace.
It stops a hand full of aces marching down the pile two at a time, and turns every ace into a question of timing rather than strength. If aces are all you have left, the rule steps aside.
- Applies right after you win a hand with an ace.
- Blocks only leading the next hand with an ace.
- Nothing but aces left? You may lead one.
05
Weapons
One move per round that breaks the rules.
Switch weapons on when you set up a game and every player gets one weapon turn per round. Straight after the trump call, the caller’s opponents may overrule it with the Lance. Once all thirteen cards are down, each player in turn may use the Dagger to replace a card from the deck, the Arrow to seize one from a rival, the Cannon to throw in their hand and redraw, or the Crossed swords to trade with their partner.
Two attacks can be answered on the spot. An Arrow lands and its target has ten seconds to raise the Shield and take their card back; a Lance changes the trump and the caller can raise the Banner to put their suit back. A defence is that player’s weapon for the round, so every answer has a price.
- One weapon per player per round — an attack or a defence, never both.
- Lance: change the trump. Banner: the caller reinstates it.
- Arrow: seize a card at random. Shield: take it back.
- Dagger and Cannon at two and three players; Crossed swords at four.
- Win weapons from mystery boxes and the lucky draw.
06
Two and three players
The games you know were built for four.
Rung, Hukm and Whist are four-player partnership games, so the traditional apps cannot give you a quick game against one opponent, or a three-way free-for-all.
Here a Duel goes head-to-head with 26 cards left in the deck. A Battle puts three players at the table, every player for themselves, with its own tie-break when all three take a round each. Four players still play in fixed partnerships, sitting across from each other.
- Two players: a Duel, head-to-head.
- Three players: a Battle, everyone for themselves.
- Four players: two teams of two, partners opposite.
- Every size plays three rounds, or a seven-round Epic War.
See them for yourself
Every twist is live today — against bots, at public tables, or with friends.
New to Whist? Start with How to Play.