Knockout Whist♠

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History and selected rules

Knock-Out Whist is known in Britain also as Trumps; the source establishes no exact inventor or date. Select the documented variant without a dog’s life: anyone taking no trick leaves immediately. From the second deal, the previous best trick winner deals, chooses trump and leads. This is an explicit alternative to rotating dealer. Play with 2–7 and 52 cards without jokers.

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Setup and deal

Ranks descend A–K–Q–J–10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2; suits have no intrinsic hierarchy. Random first dealer gives 7 singly clockwise to each; expose the next card for trumps, unused remainder stays out. Dealer’s left leads. Shuffle the full pack for every deal; eliminated players receive nothing. Later hand sizes are 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

For later deals, most tricks on the previous deal earns the dealer role. If tied, those players draw from the shuffled full pack: highest rank wins, tied highest redraw. Reshuffle afterwards; once holding the new hand, that player names any trump suit and leads.

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Playing a hand

Each trick receives one card per active player clockwise. Follow suit if possible; otherwise play anything, without compulsory trumping or overtaking. Highest trump wins, otherwise highest led-suit card. Winner leads next. There are no trick bids or draws. Play every card in the deal before checking elimination.

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Ending and result

Zero tricks eliminates a player permanently. One survivor wins immediately. Otherwise the winner of the final one-card trick wins the game. No points accumulate; equal ranks in different suits cannot tie a trick. Do not enlarge later hands merely because many players were eliminated.

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Worked example

Diamonds trump: A♠–4♠–2♦ is won by the two if its player lacked spades. With 3 cards each, trick totals 2–1–0 leave the first two alive; zero is eliminated and the next hand gives 2 each.

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Common questions