Nines is a trick taking game in which the trump suit for each hand changes. The game gets it's name from the fact that each player starts with nine points, and attempts to reduce his score to 0. The first to do so is declared the winner. It appears this is a fairly recent game, but is growing somewhat in popularity. This game should not be confused with the similarly named Crazy Nines, which, a variant of the card game Golf, is a completely different game.
Nines is designed to be played by three players, however a four player variant is described in the variations section, below. To play Nines, one standard 52 card deck is used. The ranking of the cards in this deck are as follows (from high to low); Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
Determination of seating positions and first dealer can be performed in a variety of ways, with drawing for high card a common method. If multiple players draw cards of the same denomination, those players should redraw, until each player has a card of a unique denomination. The players then seat themselves at the table in the order of cards drawn. The player drawing the highest card of all becomes the first dealer.
Once all the players have been seated, the dealer thoroughly shuffles the cards and offers the deck to the player as his immediate right to cut. After the cut, the dealer begins dealing the cards around the table, one-at-a-time and face-down, beginning with the player to his immediate left. In addition to the three players, he also deals a fourth hand to the center of the table. This dummy hand should receive it's card on each round of the deal, immediately after the dealer receives his card in that round of the deal. The dealer will continue dealing the entire deck, until each of the four hands has 13 total cards.
After the deal, each player starting with the player to the dealer's immediate left looks at his hand and can decide to trade the hand for the dummy hand in the center of the table. If he elects to trade he first places his current hand face-down on the table, then taking the new hand. If he elects not to take the hand he simply announces pass. This opportunity to trade the hand rotates around the table in a clockwise direction. If a previous player has already traded for the hand, a player can also elect to trade his own hand for the current hand in the center of the table instead.
For each hand in the game, the suit to be used as the trump suit for that hand changes. The following list shows this ordering (from top to bottom):
- Clubs
- Diamonds
- Hearts
- Spades
- No Trump
The player to the immediate left of the dealer begins play by leading any card of choice from his hand to start the first trick. Each subsequent player, in a clockwise rotation then adds one card to the trick. If a player has a card of the suit originally led to the trick he must play it. If he does not have such a card, he may play any other card from his hand, including a card of the trump suit.
After each player has played one card to the trick, it is determined which player has won the trick. The trick is won by the highest card of the current trump suit played to the trick. If no trump suit has been played to the trick, the trick is won by the highest card of the same suit as originally led to the trick. On the No Trump hands, the trick is simply won by the highest card of the suit originally played to the trick. The winner of each trick takes the cards of the won trick, setting them aside, face-down, not to be used further in the current game. The winner of a trick leads the first card to the next trick.
After all tricks have been played and won, scoring for the hand occurs. A player's score is adjusted based on the number of tricks won during the current hand. If a player wins exactly four tricks, no change is made to his current score. For each trick over four he has won, he subtracts one point from his current score. For each trick under four he has won, he adds one point to his current score.
The game continues until, at the end of any hand, any player's score reaches zero or below, with that player declared as the winner. If multiple players reach zero or lower at the end of a hand, the player with the lowest score is declared the winner of the game.
