29 Express

29 Express deals twenty-nine, the trick-taking game of north and east India, Bangladesh and Nepal, to the four phones around the table. Two pairs, partners opposite each other, and nobody in the middle: one phone hosts, the rest join — over Wi-Fi, over Bluetooth, over a phone's hotspot, or through Google Nearby.

NOTHING LEAVES THE ROOM
There is no server, no account and no sign-in. The phones talk to each other directly, and a hand exists only on the phones playing it. Bluetooth needs no network at all, which means a train, a power cut or a holiday house with no signal is still a table.

THE GAME, IN FULL
• The 32 cards from seven to ace: jack highest, then nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight, seven
• Jacks are worth three points, nines two, aces and tens one — 28 in the cards, and the last trick is a point of its own, which makes 29
• Four cards each, then the bidding, from 16 to 28 (29 where the table lets the last trick's point be bid for). After a bid the opponents answer first; a pass is not final, and the bidding goes round until three pass in a row. The first to speak has to open, unless the table lets everybody pass, and then if all four do the deal moves on
• The bidder puts the trump card face down. The other four cards each go out, and the trump stays hidden until somebody who cannot follow suit asks for it
• A trump played before it is shown is just a card of its suit
• Double and redouble, if the table plays them: the other side may double once every card is out, and the bidder may answer
• The pair: once the trump is shown, the king and queen of trumps, shown on your turn, move the bid by 4 — down for the bidder's side, up for the other. A table can make it worth 2 to 6
• Make your bid in points and your side climbs one on the six; fail and it drops one — two when doubled, four when redoubled
• The first side to six game points wins

SHORT OF PLAYERS? SEAT A BOT
A bot is a player with no phone, and 29 needs four, so this is what makes a game possible when only two or three of you are free — or one of you, against three. Seat one, two or three, and give each a memory dial from 0 to 100: the chance, each turn, that it works out from the play who is void in what, rather than looking only at its own hand. A bot bids what its cards are worth, chooses a trump to suit its hand and leads with care. Save a table of bots as your Quick game, and the first screen puts you back at it in one tap.

BUILT FOR A REAL TABLE
• A code the host reads out, mixed into the handshake, so being in range is not the same as being invited
• The setup screen shows who partners whom, and the host arranges the sides
• A phone that drops out can come back and take its seat again
• Your hand, held full-screen, and a Hide button for when somebody leans over
• Every trick can be held up until all four have seen it, so nobody misses what was played
• The score as a track along the six, and a log of every bid, trump and trick, in plain words
• 33 languages, and the cards stay left to right in right-to-left ones
• Share a win: an "I won!" card with the final table, sent wherever you choose
• When a phone loses touch, the host chooses: wait for them, or drop them and play on

NO MONEY, EVER
Nothing to buy, nothing to cash out, no betting, no chips, no real-money play of any kind. The scores are scores. The game is free and shows ads, never on the table while a hand is being played.