Joker

Joker is the most popular card game in Georgia. Four players, a 36-card deck with two jokers, and in every hand you bid exactly as many tricks as you will take — the whole weight of the game lies in how accurately you judge your own cards. Here it is played just as at the table: with khishti, premia, moshla and a score sheet kept by the server.

How to start

1. Open the Joker lobby and pick a free table — standard or nines, free or for coins.
2. Or create your own table and share the link with three friends.
3. When all four seats are filled and everyone has confirmed they are ready, the deal starts by itself.

Joker rules in brief

The deck

36 cards: 6 to ace in four suits. The two black sixes — of spades and of clubs — are taken out and replaced by two jokers. Card ranking: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6.

Hands and pulkas

The standard game is 24 hands in four pulkas (sections of the match): in the first, from 1 to 8 cards; in the second, four hands of 9 cards; in the third, from 8 down to 1; and in the fourth, four hands of 9 again. The nines have 16 hands — four pulkas, each of four nine-card hands. The dealer changes clockwise after every hand.

Trumps and bezi

In hands of 1 to 8 cards, one card is turned up from the deck after the deal — its suit is trumps. If a joker comes up, the hand is played without trumps, on bezi. In a nine-card hand the whole deck is dealt: the player to the dealer’s left names trumps or bezi after seeing the first three cards, and only then are the other six dealt.

Bidding

Each player in turn says how many tricks they will take — from zero up to the number of cards in the hand. The last bidder may not name a number that would make the total of the bids exactly equal to the number of tricks: someone must end up under or over.

Play and the joker

You must follow suit: if you have the suit led, you must play it; if not, a trump; if not that either, any card. The joker is always legal and can be played two ways: high, when it takes the trick and beats every card, trumps included; and low, when it declines the trick. When leading a joker, the player names a suit — against a high joker, players holding that suit must play their highest card of it.

Points

A bid made exactly scores (bid + 1) × 50: bid two and take two — 150. Bidding and taking every trick scores bid × 100: nine of nine — 900. A missed bid, over or under, scores 10 per trick taken. A successful pass is worth 50 points.

Khishti

Bidding one or more and taking none is khishti. The variant is chosen when the table is created: khishti 200, khishti 500 or Special — minus 100 for every card in the hand, that is −900 in a nine-card hand. Khishti can also be switched off.

Premia and moshla

At the end of every pulka, whoever made every hand of the pulka exactly gets premia (the bonus): the score of their best hand is added once more. When at least one player in the pulka is on premia, the others get moshla (the wipe-out): the score of their best hand is struck off; if nobody is on premia, nothing is struck off anyone. Both appear on the score sheet as separate lines, while the hand scores stay unchanged. A successful pass (a bid of 0 and no tricks taken) also counts towards premia.

What sets this Joker apart

• The server keeps the score — khishti, premia and moshla are entered automatically when a pulka ends, and the score sheet looks exactly as it does at the table.
• The last trick can always be viewed: all four cards, the order, the joker’s call and the winner.
• If your connection drops, the game state is on the server — when you return you carry on with the same hand.
• An opponent’s cards are never sent to your browser: there is no way to “see” them.
• Rule variants — the type of khishti, the nines, the stake in coins — are chosen when the table is created and fixed for the match.

Japanese Joker

With the same deck, for two players: eight cards in hand and five columns on the table, each with a face-up card on top of a face-down one. 18 tricks in every hand, scored by the difference, up to 21 points.

• Japanese Joker — rules and play

Frequently asked questions

How many players are there in Joker?

Exactly four, each playing for themselves. Japanese Joker is for two.

Is it free?

Yes. There are free tables and Domino Coin tables — the coin is virtual and cannot be exchanged for money.

What is the difference between standard and nines?

Standard is 24 hands: from 1 to 8 cards, four nines, from 8 down to 1 and four more nines; the nines are 16 hands, all of nine cards. Both have four pulkas, and premia and moshla are counted at the end of each pulka.

What happens if a joker is turned up for trumps?

The hand is played on bezi, without trumps. That is the usual Georgian rule, and it is the same here.

What if my connection drops?

The match is on the server and waits for you. When you return you carry on with the same hand and the same cards.

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