Kaibosh Rules

Kaibosh is a Euchre variant where players bid to name trump. All cards below 9 are removed from a standard deck of cards.

Dealing

All the cards are dealt so that each player has six cards in their hand. The cut must be offered to the player sitting right of the dealer.

Bidding

Bidding begins with the player left of the dealer. Partners sit across from each other. Valid bids are pass, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and Kaibosh. You must bid higher than the previous highest bid or pass.

There are some simple conventions when bidding:

• 1 - Signals to your partner that you have two or more aces.
• 2 - Signals to your partner that you have one black Jack and one red Jack
• 3 - Is usually used to block the other team from signaling to each other

• If a player Kaiboshes bidding stops immediately, they name a suit and lead.
• Otherwise, the player who bid the highest names trump. After that the player to the left of the dealer leads.

When trump is named the Jack of trump becomes the highest card. The Jack of the same color becomes the second highest card. Jacks in other suits retain their value between Queens and Tens. For example, if Clubs is named trump, then the Jack of Clubs is the highest card and the Jack of Spades becomes the second highest card. If someone leads a Club and you only have the Jack of Spades in your hand you must play it since it is treated as a Club.

Play

Play continues clockwise. Each player plays one card. The highest card wins the trick. Trump cards are higher than any other suit. The suit that was led is higher than any suit except trump. The player who played the highest card leads any card to start the next trick. Play continues clockwise.

Scoring

When a hand is finished you tally the number of tricks that partners have made together. If the team that won the bid makes their bid or higher, they score as many points as they took tricks. If they do not make it, the other team earns a point for each trick they took and the team that won the bid loses the number of points that they bid. It is possible to have a negative score because of this.

Play continues with the deal moving to the left after each hand. Games can be played to any agreed upon score or number of deals.