Playing Rules

The rules exactly as the game implements them — the same text the app shows on its own Rules screen.

The goal

Do not become the goat.

Kozel is scored in penalty marks. You take marks for taking too few card points in a round, and the first player to twelve marks is the goat — the match ends and they have lost it. Everybody else has simply not lost.

The deck

Twenty-four cards: 6 · 10 · J · Q · K · A in each of the four suits.

That is 30 points a suit and 120 points in the deck. Every round distributes exactly those 120 — nothing is ever lost.

Trumps — the part that surprises everyone

Every club is a trump. Every Jack is a trump. Every Queen is a trump.

That is twelve trumps, and they are one suit for the purpose of following. The Queen of diamonds is not a diamond; it is a trump. The Jack of hearts is not a heart; it is a trump. What is left of ♦︎, ♥︎ and ♠︎ is only their 6, 10, King and Ace.

The trumps rank, weakest to strongest:

K♣︎ 10♣︎ A♣︎ · J♦︎ J♥︎ J♠︎ J♣︎ · Q♦︎ Q♥︎ Q♠︎ Q♣︎ · 6♣︎

The six of clubs is the highest card in the game. A card worth nothing beats everything, which is the joke the game is named after.

Within a plain suit the order is 6 < K < 10 < A — the Ten beats the King, because points are what matter.

The deal

Seven cards each and three face-down in the middle: the widow (прикуп).

Whoever was dealt the Jack of clubs owns the widow. If the Jack of clubs is in the widow itself, ownership falls to the next Jack down the order ♣︎ → ♠︎ → ♥︎ → ♦︎.

Taking the widow

The widow's owner looks at the three cards and either takes them or refuses them. Either way that player is the soloist and plays alone against the other two for the rest of the round.

• Take — the three cards come into hand, and three go back. The three put

back are still yours: their points count to you.

• Refuse — you keep the seven you were dealt, and the widow's points count

to you anyway, sight unseen.

So refusing is not a way out of the round. It is a bet that those three cards were worth less than the three you would have had to give up.

Playing

The highest plain diamond leads the first trick. After that the winner of each trick leads the next.

Follow the suit that was led if you can, remembering that all twelve trumps are one suit. If you cannot follow, you must play a trump if you hold one.

The trick is taken by the highest trump in it, or — if nobody trumped — by the highest card of the suit led. Its points go to whoever took it.

Scoring the round

Add up what the soloist took, and what the two defenders took between them. Each side is then marked on its own total:

Both defenders take the pair's mark. Note the shape of it: the punishment is for taking few points, and taking none at all costs nothing — you were never in the round. Thirty points costs four marks and thirty-one costs two, which is worth remembering at the last trick.

The end

The first player to reach twelve marks is the goat, and the match is over.