How to play Minus

Names and family

Minus takes its name from the score: a missed call is subtracted from your total, and totals below zero are part of the game. It is played like Callbreak in most ways, four players with no partners and strict follow-suit play, but the trump is not fixed. It is called by the players, in two laps, before the calls for tricks are made.

The cards and the deal

You need four players and one standard 52-card pack without jokers. In every suit the Ace ranks highest, then King, Queen, Jack, 10 and so on down to 2. Play and dealing go clockwise.

The deal comes in two packets. The dealer first gives everyone five cards, one at a time, starting with the player on their left. Then comes the first lap of trump calls. After it, the dealer deals the other eight cards each, so everyone ends with 13.

Who deals next. After the first deal, the player with the lowest total deals, even when that total is below zero. If two players tie for lowest, the one who comes first after the last dealer deals.

The first lap: calling the trump on five cards

With five cards in hand, each player gets one turn, starting on the dealer’s left and ending with the dealer. On your turn you may:

• call: name a suit and a number of tricks, 5, 6 or 7, higher than any call already made in this lap; or
• pass.

When the lap ends, the highest call stands. Its suit is trumps, its player is the trump caller, and its number is that player’s call for the deal. If everyone passes, spades are trumps and there is no trump caller.

The second lap: taking the trump over

Once the other eight cards are dealt, there is a second lap in the same order. Now, with the full hand in view, a player may take the trump over by naming a suit with a call of ten or more, higher than any call already made in this lap, or pass.

If someone takes it over, the highest such call stands: its suit becomes trumps, its player becomes the trump caller, and its number is that player’s call. The first lap’s trump caller, if it was someone else, loses that call and calls again with everyone else. If nobody takes it over, the first lap’s result stands.

The calls

Every player except the trump caller now calls how many tricks they will take, starting on the dealer’s left: at least two, and at most thirteen. The trump caller’s call is already set. The calls do not have to add up to anything, and there is no redeal.

Playing a trick

The trump caller leads the first trick. If everyone passed in both laps, the player on the dealer’s left leads. After that, the winner of each trick leads the next.

The rules of play are Callbreak’s, with the called suit as trumps:

1. Follow suit if you can.
2. Beat it if you can. When following suit, play a card higher than the best card of that suit in the trick, if you have one.
3. No card of the suit led? Trump, and beat any trump already in the trick if you can.
4. Otherwise, free choice.

The highest trump in a trick wins it; with no trump in it, the highest card of the suit led wins. All 13 tricks are played.

Scoring

Scoring is exact:

• Made it: if you take at least as many tricks as you called, you score exactly your call. Extra tricks are worth nothing.
• Missed it: if you take fewer, you lose your call.

Totals can go below zero and stay there for a while: that is where the game gets its name.

An example. The first player deals five cards each. The second calls 5 in hearts, the third passes, the fourth raises to 6 in clubs and the dealer passes, so clubs are trumps and the fourth player is on 6. After the other eight cards, the second, third and fourth players pass, and the dealer takes the trump over with 10 in spades. Spades are now trumps, the dealer is on 10, and the fourth player’s 6 lapses. The others call 2, 3 and 2. The dealer leads. The tricks fall 9 to the dealer, 1 to the second player, 3 to the third and none to the fourth. The dealer missed 10 and scores minus 10; the second player missed 2, minus 2; the third made 3, plus 3; the fourth missed 2, minus 2. The dealer has the lowest total and deals again.

Winning the match

Agree on the length before you start:

• Five deals. After the fifth deal, the highest total wins.
• To a target, such as 21, 31 or 51. The match ends after the deal in which anyone’s total reaches the target, and the highest total wins.

If players tie for the highest total, they share the win.

Variants

Minus is played from table custom rather than a written rulebook, so agree on these before the first deal.

• Taking over. Some tables set the second lap’s lowest call higher or lower than ten, and some leave the second lap out.
• The trump when all pass. Spades are the usual fallback, but a table can pick another suit.
• Beating. Some tables drop the must-beat rule and only require following suit.
• Low trumps. Some make you trump whenever you lack the suit led, even with a trump too low to win; others forbid wasting a trump on a trick you cannot win.
• Direction. Some tables deal and play anticlockwise.

Quick reference

• Four players, no teams, Ace high. Five cards each, a lap of trump calls, then eight more.
• First lap: call 5, 6 or 7 in a suit, or pass. The highest call sets trumps; if all pass, spades.
• Second lap: take the trump over with a call of ten or more, or pass.
• Everyone else calls at least two tricks. The trump caller leads.
• Follow suit and beat if you can; trump when void.
• Made your call: score exactly the call. Missed it: minus the call.
• The lowest total deals next. Five deals, or first to a target, and the highest total wins.