How KQJ was born

"KQJ" refers to 3 cards: King, Queen and Jack.

Adapted from the french card games called "Belote" and "Coinche", this card game was born from the desire to play up to 6 people, other tricks games often limited to 4.

The KQJ can be played:

- by 6 players, with 2 or 3 teams, or by 5, 4 or 3 players,

- With or without "Random Partners"

- With or without "All-Trumps/No-Trump"

- With or without "Combinations"

- With or without "Auctions".

Beyond the number of players, it is possible to combine all variants according to your preferences.

On Board Game Arena, the KQJ can be played currently:

- by 6 players, with 2 or 3 teams,

- With or without "Random Partners"

- With "All-Trumps/No-Trump" only,

- Without "Combinations" only,

- With or without "Auctions".

If you need explanations, if you want to develop the missing variants, if you want to buy the game, or anything else, you can contact us directly by email: kaquji@gmail.com.

The KQJ Rules on Board Game Arena

The rules that follow are for 6 players with 2 teams, without random partners and without auctions.

The rules of the other playable variants on Board Game Arena are described in the Variants.

Principles

The KQJ is a game of tricks in several rounds.

- A Round is the deal of cards to each player and all tricks up to the exhaustion of the cards.

- A Trick is a batch of cards made of one card from each player, it is won by the one who plays the "Master" card.

- The "Master" card of a trick is the highest card of the requested series or the highest Trump card if any.

- Each card of the trick has a value: added to the others, it allows to determine the winner of the Round.

Before the start of the game, players must agree on certain points of the rules. For example, they can choose the variants to play or the endgame conditions.

Choosing the Game’s Goal

The team that exceeds the score to achieve wins: 500 pts or 1000 pts or 2000 pts!

Game preparation

When launching the game, players place around the table randomly.

2 teams are formed. Everyone is placed between two players of the other team. The players of the same team are "partners".

You always play clockwise.

Beginning of a Round

On Board Game Arena, a "Dealer" token is used.

Whoever arbitrarily received the token "Dealer" at the making of the teams is the first Dealer.

Their left is the Opener.

Deal Beginning

The cards are mixed.

Each player is dealt 5 cards and can watch them in their hand.

Then another card is dealed and revealed in the middle of the table: the Return.

The Contract

Each team must make more points than the opposing team.

Each player can "take" when their turn comes: choose the Trump according to their cards in hand!

During the first lap each player can, starting with the Opener:

- Say "Pass" and defer to the next player,

- Or Take choosing the suit of the Return as the Trump. For example, "Spade" if the Return is a spade.

If all players have passed, then there is a 2nd lap and each player can:

- Say "Pass" again,

- Or Take choosing Trump in the suit of their choice (even the suit of the Return).

The KQJ is played on Board Game Arena with All-Trumps/No-Trump.

Normally the Trump is one of the 4 suits.

Here each player can also decide that:

- All suits are Trumps: "ALL-TRUMPS".

- No suit is Trump: "NO-TRUMP".

If everyone passes 2 times, the round is closed. The Opener becomes the Dealer...

On the other hand, if a player Takes, they becomes the Sender, their team becomes the contracting team, the other team becomes the defending team.

Deal Ending

Once a player Takes, they collect the Return in their hand.

Then each player receives 3 cards, except the Sender who only receives 2 cards (they took the Return).

At the end of the Deal, each player has 8 cards in their hand.

Making the Tricks

Rules and Principles

The Opener starts the 1rst Trick and puts at the center of the table a card from their hand face up. Then, when their turn comes, each player must play one card face up.

The one who starts may play any card from their hand, the suit of this card is the "requested" suit.

The other players follow the rules below:

- When you have the requested suit

--- You must play a card of the suit and if the Trump is requested, if possible, you must play a Trump card that beats all previous ones.

- When you don't have the requested suit and one of your partners is "Master"

--- You can play any card of your choice,

--- Or, in order to become "Master", you can Trump (play a Trump card) or Over-trump if someone has already played a Trump card.

- When you don't have the required series and the opposing team is "Master"

--- If you can become "Master" you must Trump or Over-trump,

--- If you can't become "Master", you can play any card of your choice.

3 principles to determine the "Master" card:

- The Trump prevails against normal suits.

- Among the suits of the same rank, the requested suit wins.

- In the same suit, the card of higher rank wins.

The sum of the points is (3 x 44 pts) + 104 pts = 236 pts.

When the round is played with "All-Trumps" or "No-Trump" all suits have the same ranking and the cards values are changed.

With "All-Trumps" or "No-Trump", the sum of the points is 4 x 59 pts = 236 pts.

When a Trick is finished, the one who played the "Master" card wins, puts the trick with hidden face in front of them and begins the next trick.

When the players have no cards left, it is the end of the round (see below).

Tricks Examples

Alicia, Cindy and Elena play against Billy, Dylan and Frank.

Frank deals. Billy takes with Heart as Trump.

Alicia opens with her Ace of Club.

In the same suit, Billy has the 4 of Club. He has to play it.

Each player has to follow the requested suit: Alicia wins the 1st trick.

Alicia begins the 2nd trick with her 10 of Club.

Billy has no Club left, he trumps: 6 of Heart.

Cindy must trump. She over-trumps: Hero of Heart.

Dylan should trump too. But he has the 5 of Heart, so he cannot play a Trump card that beats the Hero of Cindy. He plays any card of his choice: 4 of Spade.

Elena has no more Club card, she could over-trump with her 7 of Heart, but her partner Cindy is the Master. She plays any card of her choice: 10 of Spade.

Frank has the Hero of Club, he must play a card of the requested suit.

So Cindy wins the 2nd Trick with the Hero of Heart.

She begins the 3rd Trick.

Bonuses

A Bonus is an event, announced or not, which corresponds to a number of points that a team will add to its tricks points: The Bonuses help to fulfill the Contract.

- The Ten additional: 10 pts which are always awarded to the team that wins the last trick.

- The Capot: 154 pts awarded to a team which wins all the tricks.

- The KQ: 20 pts for the team of the player who has announced "KQ" during the round. The bonus is confirmed if:

--- A player had the Trump cards King (K) and Queen (Q) in their hand,

--- These cards have been played in this order: the King then the Queen,

--- This player has said "K" playing the King and "KQ" playing the Queen.

- The KQJ: 50 pts for the team of the player who has announced "KQJ" during the round. The bonus is validated if:

--- A player had the 3 Trump cards King (K), Queen (Q) and Jack (J) in their hand,

--- These cards have been played in this order: the King then the Queen then the Jack,

--- This player has said "K" playing the King, "KQ" playing the Queen and finally "KQJ" playing the Jack.

KQ provides no point when there is a KQJ.

When the round is played with "All-Trumps," there are 4 available KQ or KQJ.

On Board Game Arena, the "K", "KQ" and "KQJ" announcements are done automatically.

End of a Round

Counting Points

When the last trick is picked up, the values of the cards in the tricks of each team are counted.

Then bonuses are added to the scores of the teams who have won some. At least, one of the teams wins the Ten additional.

The team with the highest points at that time, fulfills the contract and wins the round!

The Scoring

Only the team that fulfills the contract scores its points rounded to the nearest ten:

- The totals which end between 1 and 4 are rounded to the under nearest ten (154 becomes 150).

- The totals which end between 5 and 9 are rounded to the upper nearest ten (155 becomes 160).

Finally, scores are added to previous scores.

New Deal

In the next round, Opener (left of the Dealer) becomes the new Dealer.

They collect the "Dealer" token.

Gratuities

A gratuity is a number of points that are gained under certain conditions and that are added to scores.

Gratuities are not taken into account to win the contract.

The Litigation

In case of a tie (123 pts, 133 pts if KQ or 148 pts if KQJ), there is Litigation and no team scores.

Litigation generates a "Litigation Gratuity" for the next round with a value which is equal to the rounding of the score (120 pts, 130 pts if KQ or 150 pts if KQJ).

It will be added to the score of the team that will win the next round.

If there is again a Litigation, the first gratuity is lost.

End of the Game

In general, a game of KQJ is played in 1000 pts.

Once a team reaches or exceeds 1000 pts at the end of a round, the game is over: this team wins!

However, when creating the game on Board Game Arena, players can choose a different score to reach: 500 points or 2000 pts.

Variants on Board Game Arena

6 players with 3 teams

Game Preparation

The three teams are now made of two partners.

Partners of the same team are facing each other, with neighbor players from the two other teams.

The Contract

The team from the Sender must get more points than the best two other teams (defending team).

Counting Ponts

You have to count the points in the tricks of each of the three teams.

The Scoring

- If the contractor team has a higher score than the other 2 teams: the Contract is "Successful", the contractor team scores the rounding of its points.

- If at least one defending team has a higher score than the contractor team: the Contract is "Failed", each defending team scores the rounding of its own points.

- In case of tie between the contracting team and the best defending team, there is "Litigation" and no team scores (see "Gratuities" section above).

Counting Gratuities

These special gratuities depend on the teams tricks number and value before bonuses.

- If a team gets 20 points or less with one trick or more, then the 2 other teams get a gratuity of 20 points.

- If one team wins no trick, then the 2 other teams get a gratuity of 60 pts.

Random Partners

This variant enables new strategies to succeed at the game.

Game Preparation

A KQJ' Game with "Random Partners" is played every player for themselves.

Before starting, each player place is randomly determined and will remain the same for the entire game.

Beginning of a Round

At the beginning of each round, the partners are randomly determined.

The Scoring

Each player scores the points their team has won.

Auctions

More tension in the game.

To play with auctions, keep all the specificities related to the chosen variants and to the number of teams.

The Deal

All the cards are dealt, without the intermediary Return card.

The Contract

Starting with the Opener and alternatively, each player can:

- Say "Pass" and defer to the next player,

- Or Bid (or Outbid if there was a first bid) by declaring a contract that they agree to do. They announce an "Amount" of points (pack of 10) and the Trump they would choose. They may also announce "Capot" (optional). For example, "150 spade" or "400 Capot diamond".

If no Contract is announced during the first auctions lap, the round is closed.

The first auction equals at least 120 points (except if 6 players with 3 teams: minimum 80 pts).

In case of higher auction, the new announced amount must be greater than the previous one. A player can outbid when their turn returns, even if they have "passed" before.

"Capot" is an optional declaration: the player who announces it undertakes to win all the Tricks (with the help of their partners). When "Capot" is announced, Auctions are closed.

If after a player’s auction all other players have passed, this player becomes the Sender and auctions are closed.

When a contract is announced, if an opponent thinks it will not be completed, they can "Counter". On Board Game Arena this player automatically says "Counter" and gets the One-sword token.

In response, if desired, any player of the contracting team can "Overcounter". On Board Game Arena, this player automatically says "Overcounter" and gets the Two-swords token.

Auctions are closed in case of Counter or Overcounter.

The Sender's team must fulfill its contract. It must reach at least the announced amount. Futhermore it must win all the tricks if "Capot" has been announced.

The Scoring

- If the Contract is "Successful", the contractor team scores the Contract Amount (even if it has reached more points than this amount).

- If the Contract is "Failed", the defending teams score the Contract Amount.

In case of Counter, score is doubled.

In case of Overcounter, it is quadrupled.