Three Two Five is a fast trick taking card game that is very popular in India and Pakistan. The game is also sometimes called 5-3-2 and Teen Do Paanch in India. Although commonly played as a children's game, it is also great fun for players of any age. For a version more often played by adults, see the similar game titled 3-5-8, described below. This game uses a 30 card deck which can be created by removing cards of specific denominations from the standard deck. This modified deck used would thus include all Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10's, 9's and 8's. In addition the Seven of Spades (♠) and Seven of Hearts (
♥) are added to the deck. The ranking of the cards in the deck are as follows, from high to low; Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8 in the suits of Clubs and Diamonds. In the suits of Spades and Hearts the ranking is (from high to low); Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7. The game is designed to be played by three participants.
Before play starts, the first order of business is to determine which player will be the first dealer. To determine this, three cards are removed from the deck; a two, three and five. These cards should be mixed together face down at the center of the table and each player should draw one of the three. The player who draws the two is the first dealer, the player drawing the five is to his immediate right (and thus the first player to take a turn during the hand) and the player drawing the three sits to the dealer's left. In this game, play rotates in a counter-clockwise direction as does the deal.
On each hand, each individual player has a specific requirement as to the minimum number of tricks he strives to win during the hand. This number is directly determined by which player is the current dealer. Thus, the dealer must win a minimum of 2 tricks, the player to his immediate right 5 and the player to his left 3.
The dealer begins by distributing out a five card face down packet to each player. Each player may pick up and examine his five cards once dealt. After the first round of five card packets is dealt, the dealer then deals a three round packet. After the three round packet the dealer deals a final round of a two card packet to each player.
After the initial five card packet is dealt, the first player (player to dealer's right), after looking at his cards, then states what suit will be the trump suit used for the hand. If he so chooses, however, he may defer the decision on the trump suit for the hand by asking that his next three card packet be dealt face up on the table. The highest of these three displayed cards dealt automatically becomes the trump. If both cards are of the same denomination, the player may decide which of these two suits will be the trump suit for the hand. These three exposed cards will be added to that player's hand after the trump suit is seen by all players. The dealer then resumes the dealing as normal until each player has a total of 10 cards in their hand.
After determining this trump suit, the player to the dealer's immediate right then leads the first card to the first trick. Play continues to the trick in a counter-clockwise direction until each player has played one card to the trick. A player must play a card of the same suit as that led to the trick if they possess one. If they do not have such a card, they may play any card from their hand to the trick (including a card of the trump suit). Each trick is won by the highest trump card played to it. If the trick contains no cards of the trump suit, the highest card of the same suit which was the first card played to the trick wins it. The winner of each trick then leads the first card to the next trick.
After all 10 tricks have been played, the players then determine if they managed to win at least as many tricks as required under the rules for the game (three, two or five).
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| A player holds his cards in such a manner that his opponent can draw the necessary number for an exchange. |
If all players took the requisite number of tricks, the next round is dealt as normal, with the right to deal rotating in a counter-clockwise direction around the table. However, if any player did not win as many tricks as required, he is assessed a sort of penalty for the next round. Thus, on the next hand he must allow the player or players winning more than the number of tricks required to pull random cards from his hand at the start of that hand. Therefore, on that next hand, after all cards have been dealt and the trump suit selected, the player who won less than the required tricks must hold his 10 card hand fanned out, such that no other player can see the cards in the hand but himself. The player who won the extra trick then selects any random card from that player's hand, sight unseen. He adds the selected card to his own hand, and then gives any other card of his choice from his own hand back to the player whom he drew a card from. He may not return the same card which he drew from that player, however. A further stipulation is that when a player returns a card after drawing one from a player, he must retain at least two cards of the same suit as that returned. This card exchange should be performed in such a way that the remaining opponent does not see the faces of the cards involved in the exchange. If more than one player is entitled to draw cards from a specific player, the order of the draws is as follows; Player to dealer's right, player to dealer's left, dealer. Similarly, if a player is entitled to draw cards from both opponents (due to trick taking deficits in the last hand), the order of the players from which he would draw from would be as follows: Dealer, player to dealer's left, player to dealer's right.
After each hand, the deal rotates in a counter-clockwise direction. Similarly, the number of required tricks for each player will change from deal to deal, dependent on which player is currently the dealer.
Normally, when played as a Children's game, no ongoing score is recorded, with the game continuing indefinitely until the players decide the game is finished. However, when played in a more competitive manner, a point scoring method may be devised for determining the overall game winner. For example, a player may earn one point for each trick earned during each hand. After each player has dealt a set number of hands, the player with the highest grand total is declared the winner.
Optional Rules, Variations and Similar Games to Teen Do Paanch
There are several optional rules that are sometimes added when playing Three Two Five. The most popular of these are listed below:
Owing Tricks: In this optional rule, the player who was short the number of tricks has an additional option for the tricks he was short on the next hand. In this variation, he has the standard option of allowing the player who had more than the required tricks to draw a random card or cards from his hand. In addition, however, he has the option to instead "give" a trick to that player during the next hand. In other words, if he was short one trick on the last hand, he may elect to give that player one of his won tricks during the current hand. If he fails to win any tricks, this payment would carry over to the next hand, as appropriate.
No Trump - No Deal: This optional rule states that any player, who, after examining his hand finds he holds no cards of the trump suit may announce this. He then exposes his hand for all players to see and the hand is dead. The cards are all thrown in and the same dealer shuffles and deals again.
One Suit Required: In the standard game, when exchanging a card for one drawn from another player, a player may not exchange a card unless he already holds at least two cards of that suit. However, some games only require that he hold one other card of that same suit.
Ten Trick Bonus: This version is sometimes adopted when points are being scored for the hand. If a player manages to capture all 10 tricks, in addition to his normal 10 point score, he earns a bonus consisting of five additional points. As normal, he also is entitled to draw the appropriate number of cards from his opponents.
7-8 (Sath-Aath): Seven-Eight is a two player game played with a similar concept to 3-2-5. This variant, which also originated in India, uses the same 30 card deck as 3-2-5. The ranking of the cards in each suit is as follows (from high to low); Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8. The two sevens are always the top two cards of the trump suit, no matter which suit is actually selected as trump for the hand (see below).
The first dealer may be determined in a variety of ways, with drawing for high card a common method. Thereafter, the deal alternates between the two players. Once determined, the dealer shuffles the cards and then begins the deal. To start, he begins dealing cards one by one to each player in an alternating manner. After these five cards have been distributed, the players then pick these cards up as their hand. The non-dealer, after looking at these first five cards of his hand then announces the trump suit for the hand. He may name any of the four suits as the trump suit for the hand. The cards of this, along with the two 7's than have special ranking during the hand. The ranking of cards in the trump suit is as follows; 7 of Hearts (
♥), 7 of Spades (♠), Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8. The seven of Hearts is called the Big Joker and the seven of Spades the Little Joker. These big and little Jokers are always considered to be members of the trump suit, regardless of which suit is actually declared as trump. As such, the player may play them, on his regular turn at any time he could legally play a card of the trump suit.
After the trump suit is named, the dealer then deals five more face down cards to each player. However, these cards are dealt in a line in front of each player and the player does not add them to his hand or look at them. After these cards are dealt, the dealer then deals five more cards to each player. These five cards are dealt face up, directly on top of the five face down cards in front of each player. Although dealt face-up, the player does not take them into his hand, but instead leaves them face-up on the table in front of himself.
The non-dealer then has the first play, and may lead any card in his hand or any of his own five face up cards to the first trick, which is played to the center of the table. The opponent will then play a card of his own to the trick. The cards from which he can select from to play is his own five card hand and the five face up cards in front of himself. A player must play a card of the same suit as his opponent led to the trick if one is available in their hand or their own face up cards. If not, they may play a card of any suit including trump. Each two card trick is won by the highest trump card contained in the trick. If the trick contains no trump cards, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit originally led to the trick. The winner of each trick leads the first card to the next trick.
When a player plays one of the five face up cards from in front of himself, he then turns the face down card under it face up in it's place. This card is then available for play during the next trick. The game continues in this way until all 15 tricks have been played.
As in 3-2-5, each player has a requisite number of tricks they strive to win during the hand. The dealer attempts to win seven tricks and his opponent eight (which is where the name of this game derives from). The player who wins more than his required number of tricks for the hand is declared the winner. If both players win exactly the number of required tricks (but no more), the game is a tie, and the next hand determines the winner.
3-5-8 (Sergeant Major): 3-5-8 is a game played in a similar manner to 3-2-5, but is more often played by adults. This game also originated in India and it and some of the variations were frequently played by soldiers in the British Armed Forces stationed there (thus the alternate name; Sergeant Major).
This game is also designed for three players but uses the full 52 card deck. The ranking of the cards in every suit for this game is 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 using any agreed upon method. Once so determined, the dealer shuffles the cards and deals the cards, one by one, around the table in a clockwise rotation face down to each player. He continues until each player has 16 total cards. He places the remaining four cards in the deck face down in the center of the table as the kitty. After examining his hand, the dealer then names his choice of one of the four trump suits. He then discards four cards from his hand to the side and replaces them with the four card kitty. Dissimilar to 3-2-5, the deal, play and distribution of cards in this version usually proceeds in a clockwise rotation.
As in 3-2-5, in Sergeant Major, each player has a set minimum number of tricks they strive to win during the hand (called the player's target). The dealer attempts to win 8 tricks, the player to the dealer's immediate right 3, and the player to the dealer's immediate left 5. This player also leads the first card to the first trick. Players who win less than the number of required tricks during the hand are said to be "down" the number of tricks of which they are short of the required number and players who win more than that required are said to be "up" the number of tricks they win in excess of the required amount. The effect of this will have an impact on the next hand in the form of a card exchange. For each trick on which a player was up on the previous hand, he may give one card of his choice from his hand to a player who was down. This player must, in exchange, give that player the highest card currently in their hand of the same suit as the card given to them. If the card passed IS the highest card of that suit, they simply return the same card. This exchange should be done in such a manner that the third opponent does not see the face of the cards. A player who is up may give multiple cards for exchange to another player, but may never pass more cards to that player than the player was down on the last hand. If two players were up on the last hand, the player who had the higher requirement on the last hand has the privilege of exchanging first.
After all exchanges are complete, the dealer, as usual discards any four cards and takes the four card kitty, adding it to his hand. If one or more of those cards are of a denomination which would have required the player in this hand to trade that card, he must show the drawn card to that player (but is not required to exchange it).
The game continues indefinitely until one player manages to score 12 points in a hand. After each hand as the deal rotates, so too does the requisite tricks for the individual players. With the new dealer required to win 8, the first player 5 and the remaining player 3.
As a variant of this game, some players allow the dealer to first take the four card kitty before discarding any four cards from his hands. Another variant sometimes seem for players who opt for a much more challenging and longer game, increase the winning total to 16 tricks (all tricks) in one hand.
9-5-2:
9-5-2 is a Canadian variant of Sergeant Major. The rules are identical to those of Sergeant Major except for the following exceptions:
The required target number of tricks for each player is somewhat different in this variant, as the game's name suggests. The dealer's target is 9, the player to his left has a target of 5 and the player to the dealer's right has a target of 2. As in Sergeant Major, the play, card distribution and deal all rotate in a clockwise direction.
In this version, the dealer picks up the kitty before discarding any four cards from his hand.
The scoring is significantly different than the parent version. In 9-5-2, a cumulative score is kept from hand to hand, with the first player to reach 10 or more points at the end of a hand declared the winner of the game. A player adds one point to their current score for each trick won over their target during the hand, but loses one point for each trick under their target on each hand.
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