Call Kitti — Official Game Rules

Call Kitti is a 4-player strategic card game played anti-clockwise with a standard 52-card deck. Each player is dealt 13 cards. The goal: be the first player to reach 5 points.

1. Basic flow

1. Each player arranges their 13 cards into exactly 4 sets of 3 cards and discards 1 card face down.
2. Players then bid how many sets (0 to 4) they think they can win.
3. There are 4 rounds of set play. In each round, players reveal one set. The highest-ranking set wins the round.
4. After all 4 sets are played, scores are calculated based on bids and actual sets won.

2. Set ranking (highest to lowest)

A-2-3 is a valid sequence. A-K-2 is not valid.

3. Bidding

• Players bid from 0 to 4 (number of sets they expect to win).
• Bidding starts from the player to the right of the dealer and goes anti-clockwise.
• Bid 0 special: no WATI (bonus) is awarded even if the player wins extra sets.

4. Set play

• The player to the right of the dealer leads the first round by revealing their highest remaining set.
• Other players then reveal their sets in anti-clockwise order.
• Players must always play their highest remaining set — there is no choice.
• The player with the highest-ranking set wins the round and leads the next round.
• In case of a complete tie, no one wins that set.

5. Scoring rules

Exact bid match

If sets won = bid, the player scores +bid points.

WATI (overperformance)

If sets won > bid and bid > 0: score = bid + floor((sets won − bid) / 5). Extra wins beyond multiples of 5 are recorded as remaining WATI.

Goals (underperformance)

If sets won < bid, the player scores −bid points.

Bid 0 special

Score remains 0 regardless of sets won. No WATI is awarded.

6. Special rules (override normal scoring)

Six pair rule

If any player has 6 or more pairs in their original 13-card hand, they can declare it before bidding. The round may be cancelled and redealt.

Bid 4 rule

If a player bids 4 and wins all 4 sets, they receive 2× base price from each opponent. The round score is struck (not counted toward the 5-point goal).

If a player bids 4 and fails, they pay 2× base price to each opponent. The round score is struck.

Sole successful bid rule

If all players bid more than 0 and only one player meets or exceeds their bid, that player receives 2× base price from each opponent. The entire round score is struck.

7. Game progression

• Round scores (unless struck by special rules) are added to each player's total points.
• The first player to reach 5 points wins the game.
• If multiple players reach 5 points in the same round, the player with the highest total WATI wins.
• If still tied, additional rounds are played until there is a clear winner.

8. Final ranking & payouts

Ranking

Positional payouts

Each loser pays the winner based on rank: Kancha (2nd) 1× base price, Mahila (3rd) 2× base price, Jetha (4th) 3× base price.

Goals settlement

Every goal a player incurred during the game (the bid value of each failed bid) equals 1× base price paid to the winner.

Negative points penalty

If a player ends the game with negative cumulative points, total = 2 × (positional payout) + all goals penalties. Otherwise, total = positional payout + goals penalties.

9. Definitions