Georgian Joker♠

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Context and deck

Joker, ჯოკერი, is a Georgian exact-bidding game related to Oh Hell. This guide uses Alexander Tvaladze’s published regional account. It does not claim a single inventor or universal national scoring standard. Start with 36 cards,6 through A, and replace 6♣and 6♠with two jokers. Ordinary suits rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7, with 6 also in red suits. No partnerships. Choose first dealer randomly; deal and play clockwise, deal rotates left.

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Four sets of hands

Play 24 hands in four sets: first 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 cards each; second four hands of 9; third 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1; fourth four hands of 9. Shuffle and cut on the right every hand, deal singly. With fewer than nine each, turn the next card as trump indicator, unused cards stay out. With nine each, turn dealer’s final card, then return it to dealer’s hand. A joker indicator means no trumps.

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Exact bids and ordinary play

Dealer’s left starts; each announces a bid from zero to hand size. Dealer speaks last and cannot make total bids equal available tricks. Pass means zero, not dropping out. Record bids before play. Dealer’s left leads, then each trick’s winner. Follow suit if possible, or play a joker instead. If void, trump if possible, or joker; only without both may you discard. No duty to overtrump. Highest trump wins, otherwise highest card of the requested suit, subject to joker rules.

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Complete joker rules

A joker may replace any required card. State high or low when playing it. If led, also name the suit to follow. A low lead requests that suit normally, without forcing a low response. A high lead forces each opponent’s highest card of the named suit, unless they play the other joker. Without that suit, play any trump if possible, otherwise anything.

A high joker played while following beats ordinary cards; the second high joker in a trick beats the first. A high joker LEADING a nontrump suit can be beaten by a trump from someone void in that suit; the highest such trump wins unless the other joker is played high later. A high lead naming trumps cannot be beaten by ordinary trumps.

A low joker loses, except a low joker led to a suit nobody else supplies, with no trump or high joker played: then the original low lead wins by default. These regional lead exceptions are essential; do not replace them with “joker always wins”.

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Scores, premium and finish

Exact bid b scores 50×b+50, including 50 for exact zero. Bidding and taking EVERY available trick instead scores 100 per trick, not the normal exact formula. A missed bid scores 10 per actual trick, even zero for a positive bid taking none. This profile does not impose a khishti deduction.

At the end of EACH set, any player exact in every hand adds one bonus equal to their own highest single-hand score in that set. Zero bids count as exact. Multiple eligible players each receive their own premium; no one else loses a score. After all twenty-four hands and bonuses, highest total wins. Our exact-total tie agreement shares victory.

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Worked score and premium

In a five-card hand, bid 3 and take 3:50×3+50=200. Bid 3 but take 4:10×4=40. Bid 5 and take 5:100×5=500.

In a four-hand nine-card set, suppose your exact bids are 0,2,1,3. Scores 50,150,100,200 sum 500. Every bid succeeded, so add the highest 200 once:500+200=700. A single failed hand would remove that premium, not erase already earned ordinary scores.

← On a small screen, scroll the diagram horizontally. →

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Other Georgian profiles

Modern tables may deduct fixed or hand-size-dependent khishti penalties, erase opponents’ best score when someone earns premium, choose trumps after an initial packet or use 38 cards. Those are substantive alternatives. This guide keeps the documented 36-card, turned-indicator, zero-on-zero-miss profile throughout.

Common questions