Bid Whist Challenge

Bid Whist is a popular card game played with a partner against another team of two. The game is played with a standard deck of cards (including 2 jokers).

Players are dealt a total of 12 cards. The remaining 6 cards are dealt face down into the 'Kitty'. Each player will bid starting clockwise from the dealer (dealer bids last).
The bid consists of a bid number and description. The bid number is the number of tricks (books) a player believes his partnership can achieve over 6. For example, a bid of 4 = 10 books.

The bid description indicates a bid direction (High or Low) or whether the bid is a 'No' trump. A bid direction of High (Uptown) indicates A,K,Q... are the highest value cards. A bid direction of Low (Downtown, Special) indicates A,2,3... are the highest value cards. A 'No' trump bid indicates that each suit has equal weight and the lead card can not be 'cut'. The bid direction of a 'No' bid is specified after winning the bid.
Bid numbers can range from 3 - 7. The Option screen gives the player the option of playing with a minimum of 3 or 4.
Bid descriptions have the following weights: 'No' > 'Low' > 'High'. The Option screen allows the player to play make 'Low' and 'High' equal in weight: 'No' > 'Low' = 'High'.

The highest bidder indicates a 'trump' suit or in the case of a 'No' bid indicates the direction (High/Low). The jokers become the highest value cards in the indicated 'trump' suit. For example, if Diamonds were called as 'trump' the highest value cards for a 'High' direction would be: Big Joker, Little Joker, A, K,... In the case of a 'No' bid, the Big Joker and Little Joker have no value and should be discarded as soon as possible.

The bid winner will start play as the lead player. The remaining players must play a card in the same suit as the lead card if available. If the player does not have a card in that suit they may play another suit. The highest value card in the lead suit wins the sequence unless a trump card is played in which case the highest trump card wins the sequence. The winner of the sequence will be the lead player in the following sequence.

Game Options

Practice Mode: The computer will not bid. Allowing the player to always win bid and practice different plays.
Scoring - Conventional and Progressive: With Conventional scoring the bid winner may go into negatives if the bid is not acheived. Progressive scoring will award points to the opposition team if the bid is not achieved.