Minus - The Original Callbreak

Known across regions as Callbreak, Lakadi (Lakdi), Gochu and Call Bridge - MINUS is that same game, kept exactly as it is played on the floor.

MINUS is the trick-taking game from North Indian card tables, with two rules that set it apart from every other Callbreak.

You choose the trump. In ordinary Callbreak, spades is always the cut suit - every hand, with no say in it. In MINUS, the trump is up for grabs. Read your cards, win the auction, and name the cut suit yourself - the one suit that beats everything else for the rest of the hand. Pick the suit you are strongest in and the whole table has to play into your hand. Do not want the risk? Pass, and let someone else carry it - and if nobody bids, spades quietly stays the trump.

Most tricks does not win - your bid does. Taking the most tricks is not the point. You score by making your bid: take at least as many tricks as you said you would. Fall short, even by one, and the whole bid comes off as a minus. Take more, and there is no penalty - but no bonus either. So the real skill is bidding right: bid low and you waste a strong hand, bid high and you risk the minus.

FOUR PLAYERS. THIRTEEN TRICKS.

THE AUCTION - WIN THE TRUMP Five cards each - that is all you get to judge by. Bid for the right to name the cut suit, the trump that outranks every other suit for the rest of the hand. The player who wins the auction sets the trump the whole table must play against - a choice no other Callbreak lets you make.

NAME YOUR NUMBER The rest of the deck comes out and everybody commits: how many of the thirteen tricks will you take? Nobody may pass. Hold real strength and you can take over the trump with a big enough bid - and the table gets one chance to fight you for it.

THIRTEEN TRICKS Follow suit if you can. If you can beat what is on the table, you must - no quietly ducking out of a trick you did not want. Every seat carries its bid where you can see it, so you always know who is desperate.

MAKE YOUR BID, OR MINUS Make your bid - or more - and you score exactly what you bid; extra tricks earn nothing, so there is no reward for greed. Come up short and the whole bid comes off your total instead. First past the target takes the game; everyone else has usually gone minus at least once along the way.

PLAY YOUR WAY

Three bots that bid like real players, or a room full of friends Live voice chat at the table Full support for Hindi, Hinglish and English The game keeps your seat: leave mid-hand and it is still there when you return

NO BETTING. NO REAL MONEY. MINUS is a card game, not a gambling app. There is no wagering and no real-money play.