Estimation Rules

Overview

Estimation (also known as Oh Hell, Wizard, or Rikiki) is a trick-taking card game for 4 players. Unlike Baloot or Tarneeb, there are no teams — every player competes individually. The goal is to bid exactly how many tricks you will win each round. Accuracy is rewarded, while missing your bid earns nothing.

The Deck

Estimation uses a standard 52-card deck with all four suits (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) and ranks from 2 to Ace.

Dealing

The game plays 25 rounds with changing hand sizes:

• Rounds 1-13: Each player gets 1 card in round 1, 2 cards in round 2, up to 13 cards in round 13.
• Rounds 14-25: Hand sizes decrease — 12 cards in round 14, 11 in round 15, back down to 1 card in round 25.
• The dealer rotates each round in counter-clockwise order.

Trump Determination

After dealing, the next card from the deck is flipped face-up to determine the trump suit for that round. If all 52 cards are dealt (round 13, with 13 cards each), there is no trump suit for that round.

Bidding

Starting from the player to the right of the dealer, each player bids how many tricks they expect to win (from 0 up to the hand size):

• Each player gets exactly one bid — there is no auction or raising.
• You may bid 0 (meaning you intend to win no tricks).
• Players bid in counter-clockwise order.
• The dealer (last to bid) has a restriction: they cannot bid the number that would make the total of all bids equal the number of tricks available. This ensures at least one player must fail their bid.

Card Rankings

All suits follow the same ranking order (highest to lowest):

A > K > Q > J > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2

Trick Play

The player to the right of the dealer leads the first trick. Play proceeds counter-clockwise:

1. You must follow the suit that was led if you have a card of that suit.
2. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card, including trump.
3. The highest trump card wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The trick winner leads next.

Scoring

After all tricks in a round are played, each player is scored individually:

The Dealer Restriction

The dealer is always the last to bid. Their bid is restricted so that the total of all four players' bids cannot equal the number of tricks available in the round. For example, if there are 5 tricks and the first three players bid 1, 2, and 1 (total = 4), the dealer cannot bid 1 (which would make the total 5). This rule guarantees that at least one player will miss their bid every round, adding tension and strategy to the game.

Winning the Game

After all 25 rounds are completed, the player with the highest cumulative score wins. Scores accumulate across all rounds, rewarding consistent accurate bidding throughout the game.