The 60-Second Beginner Guide
Call Break is a game about predicting the future! Everyone gets 13 cards. Before you start, you look at your cards and guess how many rounds you think you can win. A round is won by playing the highest card of the suit that was led. But beware, Spades are special! A tiny 2 of Spades will beat a massive Ace of Hearts! Once everyone guesses, the game starts. You MUST try to win at least the number of rounds you guessed. If you guessed 4, and you only win 3... disaster! You get negative 4 points! Be careful with your predictions.
1. Setup
- 1Typically played with exactly 4 players. A standard 52-card deck is used.
- 2The dealer distributes all 52 cards, giving each player 13 cards.
2. How to Play
The Bidding (The Call): Before any cards are played, every player looks at their hand and estimates exactly how many "tricks" (rounds) they think they can win. You must bid a minimum of 1. This bid is your "Call".
The Play: The player to the dealer's right plays one card to the center. Everyone else must play a card of the EXACT SAME SUIT if they have one.
If you do not have a card of that suit, you can play a Spade. Spades are magical; they are the permanent "Trump" suit. Any Spade beats any card of any other suit.
Whoever played the highest card of the leading suit, OR whoever played the highest Spade, wins the trick and gets to lead the next round.
Scoring
- •If you win exactly the number of tricks you bid, you get that many points (e.g., bid 4, win 4 = 4.0 points).
- •If you win MORE tricks than you bid, you get 0.1 extra points for every overtrick (e.g., bid 4, win 5 = 4.1 points).
- •If you FAIL to win the number of tricks you bid, your bid is subtracted from your score as a penalty (e.g., bid 4, win 3 = -4.0 points). This is called "breaking the call".
Winning Conditions
- ✓The game is traditionally played over 5 full rounds.
- ✓The player with the highest cumulative positive score at the end of the 5 rounds wins the game.