Double Decker Rules

Overview

Double Decker is a trick-taking card game for 4–7 players. Players try to win cards, but they want their captured cards to be concentrated in one color. At the end of the round, each player chooses their largest captured color pile as their positive color; all other captured colors are negative.

The game uses a special double-trick system: a trick may contain cards in one or two colors, and each color in the trick is won separately.

Components

Double Decker uses cards in three colors:

• Red
• Blue
• Green

Setup

Use cards according to player count:

Shuffle the required cards and deal them evenly to all players.

Objective

Your goal is to collect as many cards as possible in one color while avoiding cards in the other colors.

At scoring, your largest captured color pile scores positive points. Cards in the other colors score negative points.

Playing a Trick

The starting player leads one card from their hand to the center of the table. This begins a trick.

In clockwise order, each other player must either:

1. Play a card in the first color led, or
2. Play a card in a second color, creating a double trick, or
3. Pass, but only if two colors are already present in the trick.

Double Tricks

A trick may contain at most two colors.

Once a second color has been played, the trick becomes a double trick. From that point on, players may only play cards in one of the two colors already present.

No third color may be played into the trick.

Passing

A player may pass only if there are already two colors in the trick.

To pass, the player must:

1. Show the other players a card in the third color, meaning the color not currently in the trick.
2. Place that card face down in front of themselves.

Passed cards are not part of the trick. They are scored separately at the end of the round.

A player may pass because they cannot play one of the two trick colors, or because they do not wish to play one of them.

Winning Tricks

Each color in a double trick is resolved separately.

The player who played the highest card in a color wins all cards of that color in the trick.

A single-color trick has only one winner.

A double trick can have two different winners: one winner for each color.

Example

Suppose the trick contains:

• Red 7
• Red 12
• Blue 4
• Blue 10

The player who played Red 12 wins the red cards. The player who played Blue 10 wins the blue cards.

Each winner takes the cards they won and places them face up in front of themselves, separated by color.

Who Leads the Next Trick

The winner of the previous trick leads the next trick.

If the previous trick was a double trick, the next leader is the player who won with the highest numbered winning card.

If there is a tie, the tie is broken by the next-highest winning card position in the trick. If still tied, use this color order:

1. Red
2. Blue
3. Green

Important Trick Rules

• A trick may contain at most two colors.
• The 20 is the highest card and always wins its color.
• A single card can be a complete trick if every other player passes or cannot add to that color under the rules.
• A player may play either a higher card or a lower card in an allowed color.
• Players do not need to beat the current highest card.

End of the Round

All cards are played out through successive tricks, except that the last card is not played. It is set aside and does not score.

Each player then scores their captured cards and any face-down passed cards.

Scoring

Each player separates captured cards by color.

The color in which the player has captured the most cards is the player's positive color for scoring.

• Cards in the largest color pile score +1 point each.
• Cards in the other color piles score −1 point each.
• Each face-down passed card scores −2 points, regardless of color.

If a player is tied for largest color pile between two or three colors, that player chooses one tied color to score positively. The other colors score negatively.

Scoring Example

A player has captured:

• 9 red cards
• 2 blue cards
• 4 green cards
• 1 face-down passed card

Red is the largest pile, so red scores positive.

Score:

+9 for red
-2 for blue
-4 for green
-2 for the passed card
= 1 point

Next Round

After all scores are tallied, shuffle the cards and deal a new round.

The next dealer — who also leads the first trick — is:

1. The player with the lowest total score.
2. If tied for lowest total score, the tied player with the lowest score in the most recent round.
3. If still tied, the first tied player clockwise from the current dealer.

Game End

The game ends after five rounds.

The player with the most points wins.

If all players have negative points, the player closest to zero wins.

Quick Reference

On Your Turn

You may play:

• The first color in the trick, or
• The second color in the trick, if one already exists, or
• A new second color, if only one color has been played so far.

You may pass only when two colors are already present.

Scoring Summary