Call Break
Call Break is a four-player trick-taking game. There are no partnerships. Spades are always trump. Each deal you name how many tricks you will take, then play. Make the call and you score it; every trick past the call is worth one tenth; miss and you lose the whole call.
Players
Four players, each for themselves. Play passes clockwise. The platform chooses the first dealer at random. After that, the deal passes one seat clockwise. The player to the dealer's left calls first and leads the first trick.
The deck
One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. Ace is high: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, down to 2. All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each player. There is no redeal.
The call
Each player calls once per deal. The call is public as soon as it is named, and it cannot be changed.
A call is a whole number from 1 to 8. A lobby option raises the maximum to 13. A call of 0 is not allowed. The calls do not have to add up to anything.
Play
The player to the dealer's left leads any card, including a spade. Spades do not have to be broken. The highest spade wins the trick if any spade was played; otherwise the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads the next trick.
You must play as follows, judged against the cards already in the trick:
1.
If you hold the led suit, you must follow it. When no spade has trumped that lead (or spades were led) and you hold a card of the led suit that beats the highest of that suit so far, you must play a beating card. Any beater will do; it need not be your highest. If you cannot beat it, any card of the led suit is legal. If a spade has already trumped a non-spade lead, follow suit with any card of that suit. You are not asked to beat a suit that is already losing.
2.
If you are void in the led suit and hold at least one spade, you must play a spade. If a spade is already in the trick and you hold a higher spade, you must over-trump. Any higher spade will do. If every spade you hold is lower, you still play a spade. You may not discard.
3.
If you are void in the led suit and hold no spades, you may play any card.
The board states the obligation in one line, for example "Follow hearts and beat the ♥10" or "No hearts: play a spade". Cards you are allowed to play are highlighted.
Scoring
Each deal is scored to one decimal place. The running total is the sum of the deals and may go negative.
•
More tricks than the call: the call, plus 0.1 for each extra trick. Call 4 and take 6, score 4.2. Call 1 and take 13, score 2.2.
•
Exactly the call: the call itself. Call 4 and take 4, score 4.0.
•
Fewer tricks than the call: lose the whole call. Call 4 and take 3, score −4.0. Extra tricks you did take are not kept.
The scoreboard shows the call and the extra tricks separately, so 2.2 is not read as a call of 2 and two tenths when it was a call of 1 and twelve extra tricks.
Winning
A match is five deals. The highest cumulative total wins. If two or more players share that total, they share the win. There is no tiebreak.
Options
Allow calls up to 13. Off by default, so the highest call is 8. Turn it on before the match starts to allow any whole number from 1 to 13.