40 Card Game Rules (Thuruppu 40)

The 40 card game, also called Thuruppu 40, is a six-player trump game from Kerala. Two teams of three try to reach the number they called, with a trump suit kept hidden face down until someone asks for it.

Cards and points

Use a 36-card pack: J, 3, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 in each suit. The 3s join the usual 28 pack and are worth as much as the Jacks.

Players and dealing

Six players sit in two teams of three, alternating around the table. Play goes anticlockwise. Each player gets six cards, dealt three at a time in two rounds. Calling starts only after all six cards are dealt.

Calling (bidding)

• Calling starts from the dealer's right and goes round the table. Every player gets exactly one turn, a call or a pass, and nobody calls twice. After a call, the players of the other team who have not yet spoken answer first, one by one; the caller's own partners are skipped until all of them have spoken, then the partners get their single turn.
• Calls run from 20 to 29, then Honours (30) up to Honours 10 (40). Thani is the highest call.
• The first caller cannot pass.
• If your own teammate holds the highest call when your turn comes, you may only call Honours or pass.
• Jack signal: 3s count as Jacks. A player holding three of them calls exactly 21 to tell partners, who may then call Honours if their own hand helps.
• Redeal if the first caller holds no point cards (only K, Q, 8, 7). The first call passes to the next player.

Thuruppu (the trump)

• The winning caller places one card face down. Its suit is the trump, known only to the caller.
• Below Honours, the caller cannot lead trump until it is shown. With Honours, the caller may lead trump from the start.
• While the Thuruppu is hidden, the caller cannot throw a card of the trump suit when he cannot follow suit. He must show the Thuruppu and cut, or throw a card of another suit.
• A player with no card of the suit led may ask for the trump. The card is shown and returns to the caller's hand. If the asker holds a trump, they must cut with it.
• If the caller opens the trump to cut, the caller must cut with the face-down card itself.
• If someone else leads the trump suit while it is hidden, the caller cannot open it to follow and plays another card.
• Redeal if the other team holds no trump card at all.

Playing the rounds

Follow the suit led if you can. The highest trump wins the round, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. The winner leads the next round. With no card of the suit led you can ask for the trump, or throw a card. A good habit is throwing a single card of another suit when your partner is winning, so you can cut that suit later (vettu).

On a 20–29 call all six rounds are played, even after the callers reach their call, which keeps Jodi open until round 5. With Honours, play stops as soon as the result is decided. In a Thani, or once a Jodi is called, the hand ends as soon as the callers lose a round.

Jodi and Thani

• Jodi (only on a 20–29 call): the calling team promises to win every round. A player calls it at his own turn, before dropping his card, in rounds 1 to 4. It can't be called in the middle of someone else's turn.
• Asking for Jodi: at his own turn, a player of the other team may ask “Jodi?” when they think the callers will surely win but hope to take one round. No Jodi means the callers win the hand right there. Jodi means play on as a Jodi.
• Thani: the caller alone must win all six rounds, with no trump. Everyone plays.

Coolies and flags

Coolies work as a return system: when you win, you first give back the coolies you are holding, and only the rest go to the other team. A team that ends up holding 7 coolies takes a flag, and both teams start again from zero.

Example: Team A holds 2 coolies. Team B calls Honours and loses, so Team B must take 4. Team A returns its 2 and gives 2 more: Team A now holds 0, Team B holds 2.

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