Hilos

Hilos is a popular card game throughout Tamaris. The word "hilos" translates to "concentration" in Astorian. It is derived from a similar card game in Etra called Ilsopi. The game is especially popular among the middle and upper classes where it is commonly played at house parties and clubs. Often times, clubs will hire good Hilos players to be a fourth for groups of three. Hilos Tournaments are also common, and newspapers report on the scores of national tournaments. The Astorian Hilos League (AHL) is the largest tournament and draws teams from around the world.

How to Play

Type: Trick-taking card game
Players: 4 working in teams of 2. Players sitting across from each other are a team.
Cards: A standard 52 card deck is used. The cards in each suit are ranked from highest to lowest: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Objective: To accumulate the most number of points by taking tricks
Dealing: The player to the dealer's left shuffles the deck, and the player to the dealer's right cuts it. The entire deck is dealt among the players so that everyone has 13 cards. The final card is shown to all players face up. Its suit is the trump suit for the round. This card goes into the dealer's hand.
Bidding: Once all the cards are dealt, players beginning to the dealer's left bet how many tricks above six they intend to take with their partners. Each subsequent bid must be greater than the bid before it. Players may not show their partner their cards nor discuss their hand. A player may pass, but they are then excluded from further rounds of bidding. Bids continue until three players pass.
Play: The player to the dealer's left plays the first trick. Each player in clockwise order must play a card. They must play a card of the matching suit if possible, otherwise any card may be played. The trick is won either by the highest trump card played or if no trump suit is present, the highest card of the suit that led. Tricks are placed face down in front of the player with subsequent tricks laid down at an angle for easier counting. The winner of the trick leads the next trick. If the card that won the trick was a trump suit, the order of the cards reverses. If the card that won the trick was of the suit that led, then there is no change in card value. Play continues until all 13 tricks have been won.
Scoring: Each team begins with 0 points. If a team meets or exceeds their bid, they are awarded points equal to the number of tricks above 6 that they won. The team that failed to meet their bid loses points equal to the number of tricks they bid. The game ends when one team either accumulates 7 points or reaches -7 points. The team with the highest number of points wins.

Variants

Poor Man's Hilos: The bidding portion is removed. For each round (13 tricks), the winning team receives one point, and the first team to 5 points wins. Alternatively, the winner is the best of three rounds. In many cases, winning a trick via the trump suit does not change the value of the cards. This is a common variant to teach children.
Widow's Hilos: In this variant, only three players are required. There are no teams. The seat directly left of the dealer is empty and is called the widow. Four hands of 13 cards are dealt. Before bidding starts, the player opposite the dealer may look at or pass on the widow hand. If the player looks at the hand, they may either take it and replace their own hand with the widow or pass on the hand. The extra hand is passed to the other players ending the dealer where it is discarded. Any player who looked at the widow hand must make at least 3 tricks. Any player who took the widow hand must make 4 tricks. The bidding starts and play continues as normal. After all 13 tricks are played, the players count how many tricks they won and adds that to their score. Any player who looked at or took the widow hand and did not make the minimum 3 or 4 tricks respectively subtracts that many points from their score. For example, if a player won two tricks but looked at the widow hand, their score is -1 (2 - 3). The winner is the first player to 7 points.
Solo Hilos: The four players compete for themselves. During the bidding phase, players may declare one of several bids, though subsequent bids must go higher. Bids are allotted a specific value that correlates to the number of points to be earned.

Bid	Value	Description
Solo	1	The bidder must win 5 tricks
Misery	2	The bidder must lose all tricks.
Abundant	3	The bidder must win 9 tricks and may declare the trump suit.
Abundant Trump	4	The bidder must win 9 tricks using the default trump suit.
Great Misery	5	The bidder must lose all tricks with their hand face up.
Grand Abundant	6	The bidder must win all 13 tricks and leads the first trick.

After all the tricks have been played, the player who declared the bid determines if they met the requirements. If they met the bid, then all other players must pay the bid's value to the declarer. If the declarer lost the bid, then they must pay each of the other players the bid's value.
Dealer's Hilos: During the bidding phase, each player bids the number of tricks and a trump suit that they intend to win individually. All players pay into a central pot. Bids must increase in numerical value, though the trump suit may be changed with each bid. The player who bids the highest amount plays solo while the other three players try to prevent them from winning the bid. Play continues as with normal Hilos, though the trump suit is what the highest bidder declared. If the declarer wins the bid, they win the pot. If the declarer loses the bid, the pot is distributed among the other three players.

Example of Play

The four players are North (N), East (E), South (S), and West (W). North starts as the dealer. Clubs is the trump suit.
East opens the bidding with 2. South passes. West bids 3. North bids 4. East passes. West passes. North and South must win 10 tricks (6 + 4).
East leads the first trick with 10D. Moving clockwise, the remaining cards played are as follows: JD, 2D, 7D. South wins the first trick and leads the next trick with 8H. West plays KH, North 5H, and East 2C. East wins the trick. East leads with JC. South 3C, West 4S, North AC. North wins and leads the next trick. The value of the cards also reverses, so that 2 is the highest value and A is the lowest. Play continues until all thirteen tricks are played.
At the end, North and South have won 5 tricks between them while East and West have won 8 tricks. Because N and S lost their bid, they lose 4 points. E and W win 2 points for the number of tricks they won over 6.
A new hand is dealt by East, and South opens with the first bid. E bids 5 and wins the bid. At the end, N and S won 10 tricks, and E and W won 3 tricks. E and W lost their bid and subtract 5 points bringing their score to -3 (2 - 5). N and S add 4 points and now have 0 points.
Play continues until one team either wins 7 points or loses with -7 points.