How to Play Judgement

Game Overview

Judgement is a trick-taking card game for 1-6 players where players predict how many hands they will win in each round.

The goal is to accurately predict your wins and earn points accordingly.

Game Setup

The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards.

In each round, the dealer selects a trump suit which has higher value than other suits.

The number of cards dealt to each player decreases with each round, usually starting with 7 or 10 cards.

Card Suits & Order

Spades

Hearts

Clubs

Diamonds

Card Hierarchy

A

Highest

K
Q
J
10
...
3
2

Lowest

Card values in descending order: A (highest), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (lowest).

Each player must follow the suit led if possible. If they cannot, they may play any card.

Trump Suit

The trump suit is selected at the beginning of each round. Cards of the trump suit beat any card of other suits.

Q♥
K♥
2♠ Trump

If Hearts are led but Spades are trump, even a 2 of Spades will beat a King of Hearts.

Making Predictions

At the beginning of each round, players predict how many tricks they will win.

The last player to predict cannot make a prediction that would make the total predicted tricks equal to the number of cards dealt.

Playing Tricks

The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick.

Players must follow suit if possible. If they cannot, they may play any card.

The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a trump card is played, in which case the highest trump card wins.

Player 1
10♣
Player 2
K♣
Player 3
3♥ Trump

If Clubs are led and Hearts are trump, Player 3 wins with the 3 of Hearts (trump) even though Player 2 played a higher Club (King).

Scoring

Correct prediction: You score 10 points × your prediction.

Incorrect prediction: You lose 10 points × the difference between your prediction and actual tricks won.

Special case: For a prediction of 0 with 0 tricks won, you score 10 points.

Example 1: You predict 3 tricks and win 3 tricks

Score: 3 × 10 = 30 points

Example 2: You predict 2 tricks but win 4 tricks

Score: -10 × |2-4| = -20 points

Example 3: You predict 0 tricks and win 0 tricks

Score: 10 points

Game End

The game ends after the predetermined number of rounds are complete.

The player with the highest total score wins!