Japanese Joker: Complete Rules for Two Players

Japanese Joker (iaponuri jokeri) is the two-player version of Joker. The deck is the same as in the classic game, but play goes quite differently: there is no bidding, part of each player's cards lie on the table in columns that both can see, and the hand is won by whoever takes more tricks. Below are exactly the rules Japanese Joker is played by on tamashebi.cc.

The deck and the deal

36 cards: 6 to ace in four suits, with the two black sixes, 6♠ and 6♣, replaced by two jokers. Card rank from top to bottom: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. The whole deck is dealt every hand: each player gets 18 cards, so every hand has 18 tricks, and the two players' tricks always add up to 18.

1. Both players receive three cards each.
2. After seeing those three cards, the declarer chooses trumps from five options: spades ♠, hearts ♥, diamonds ♦, clubs ♣, or bezi, a game with no trumps. The declarer alternates by hand: one player in the first hand, the other in the second, and so on.
3. After the choice, each player is dealt 15 more cards: five to the hand and ten to the table. Each hand now holds eight cards.
4. The declarer leads to the first trick.

The five columns on the table

Each player's ten table cards are laid out in five columns: in each column one card lies face down with one face-up card on top of it. Both players see the face-up cards, their own and their opponent's. Nobody sees a face-down card, not even its owner, until it moves into the hand. When you play a column's face-up card, the face-down card beneath it goes into your hand: it is not turned over where it lies and does not become a new face-up card. The column empties completely, and you play the lower card later, from your hand. That is why your hand can actually grow during play. One extra rule: when you have only two columns left on the table and you play the face-up card of one of them, your table clears completely: the lower card of that column and both cards of the other column all go into your hand. A single column is never left on the table on its own.

• Each player's first card of the hand must be played from the hand.
• From their second play on, a player may play either from the hand or with the face-up cards of their own columns.
• A face-down card is never played; only the top, face-up card of a column is.

Following suit and winning the trick

• The first player plays any available card.
• The second must follow with a card of the same suit if they have one, in the hand or among their face-up cards.
• Without that suit, they must play a trump if they have one. In bezi there are no trumps and this rule does not apply.
• With neither, any card.
• The joker is always legal: it bypasses the obligations to follow suit and to trump.
• The trick is won by a trump; between two trumps, by the higher; with no trump, by the higher card of the suit led. A card of another suit never wins a trick. Whoever takes the trick leads to the next.

The joker in Japanese Joker

• In Japanese Joker the joker is always played to take. Unlike the classic game, there is no gataneba (playing it to give the trick away).
• When you lead the joker, you name a suit. If your opponent has that suit, they must play their highest available card of it, and the joker takes the trick.
• If they do not have the named suit, they must play a trump if they have one, and here is the key difference: when the joker asks for a non-trump suit and the opponent cuts with a trump, the trump takes the trick.
• If the joker names the trump suit, or the hand is played in bezi, no ordinary card can take a trick led with the joker.
• When you play the joker to your opponent's card, you choose nothing: the joker takes the trick automatically and beats trumps as well.
• If both jokers meet in one trick, the second one, played later, takes it.

Scoring and the end of the match

After the 18 tricks the counts are compared. The hand is worth the difference, and only the player who took more scores it: 11 against 7 gives the winner +4 and the other player 0. Nine each is a draw: nobody scores, and the match carries on. The match is won by whoever reaches or passes the target score. The table's creator picks the target, 11, 15, 21 or 31, with 21 as the default. A single hand can be worth up to 18 points, so overshooting the target is normal.

Example: the first tricks

Giorgi is the declarer. His first three cards are A♥, 10♥ and K♣, and he chooses hearts as trumps. After the deal Giorgi's hand is A♥ 10♥ K♣ 9♣ J♦ 7♦ 8♠ Q♠, and his face-up cards are K♠ 6♦ Q♣ 8♥ 10♦. Nino holds 7♥ J♥ joker 10♠ 8♦ 9♦ 7♣ A♦, with face-up cards A♠ J♠ 10♣ 6♥ K♦.

1. First trick. Giorgi leads, and his first card must come from his hand: A♥. Nino's first card must also come from her hand, and she has hearts, so she plays 7♥. 1–0 to Giorgi.
2. Second trick. Giorgi may now play a face-up card and leads 8♥. Nino has hearts both in hand and on the table; she sheds cheaply with the face-up 6♥. 8 beats 6: 2–0. The lower cards of both columns have gone into their owners' hands.
3. Third trick. Giorgi leads the face-up Q♣. Nino has clubs, 7♣ in hand and 10♣ on the table, both lower than the queen; she plays 7♣. 3–0.
4. Fourth trick. Giorgi leads J♦. Nino takes it with the face-up K♦ and keeps A♦ in her hand. 3–1, and now Nino leads.
5. Fifth trick. Nino leads the joker and names clubs. Giorgi has clubs, K♣ and 9♣ (assume the ace of clubs was not among the face-down cards that went into his hand), and must play the highest, K♣. The joker takes the trick: 3–2. Had Giorgi had no clubs, he would have had to play a trump, and his heart would have taken the trick from the joker.
6. The hand goes on like this to the eighteenth trick. If it ends 10–8 to Giorgi, he scores 2 points, Nino scores nothing, and the second hand begins, in which Nino chooses trumps and also leads the first trick.

Is there bidding in Japanese Joker?

No. All the cards are dealt, every hand has 18 tricks, and the hand is won by whoever takes more.

Can I play the joker low?

No. In Japanese Joker the joker is always played to take. When you lead it you only name a suit, and when you play it in response you choose nothing.

Can I see my opponent's face-down cards?

No. Nobody sees a face-down card, not even its owner, until it moves into the hand. Both players' face-up cards, however, are public.

How many points is the game played to?

The table's creator chooses: 11, 15, 21 or 31 points. The default is 21.

What happens if I leave the table or lose my connection?

It is a two-player game, so no bot takes your seat: resigning or leaving ends the match and your opponent wins. If your connection drops, the server waits for you for a set time; come back within it and you carry on from the same position, otherwise the match counts as lost. If your move timer runs out, the system makes that one move for you, and the next one is yours again.

• Play Japanese Joker
• Joker or Japanese Joker: the differences
• Classic Joker rules

Every game on tamashebi.cc is free to play. Coin tables use Domino Coin, a virtual in-game coin: it is never money, cannot be bought or cashed out, and means nothing outside the site. The site is available in Georgian, English, Russian and Turkish.