Raja Pakra

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Raja Pakra or King Caught is a trick-taking game, originating in India.

Gameplay essentially follows that of Trumps but with two key differences. In the trick-making phase of the game, the Trump King, Queen and Jack are both an asset and a liability. Should one team have their Jack captured by the opposing team then instantly after that trick the capturing team wins two tricks from the opposition. Losing the Queen trump will cost a team three tricks. Losing the King trump (which can obviously only be captured by the Ace trump) will mean loss of the entire match - sudden death.

The second key difference from Trumps is the initiation phase of the second and subsequent games within a match. The losing team from the previous game are penalized in the following manner:

Dealing in the second and subsequent games in performed by the winning team from the previous game. The deal occurs in the counter-clockwise direction, dealing in single cards. The first group of cards for the losing team are placed face-up, i.e. visible to the opposition. All the remaining cards are dealt face-down, as usual. The face-up cards from each losing team member are given to their opposition, as a group, losing team members passing the group of cards to the opposing team member on their left. The opposing team, i.e. the winning team from the previous game, then select from their now enlarged hand a group of cards the same size as was passed to them consisting of their weakest cards, which they will then pass to the player on their left. At this stage, all players will have 13 cards.

The number of cards in this group is determined by the number of tricks made by the losing team in the previous game.

Play then begins with the player right of dealer and proceeds in the usual manner.