Call Breakकल ब्रेक

Call Break is the trick-taking game you will find in every hostel room, tea shop and family gathering in Nepal. Four players each play for themselves, spades are always trumps, and the whole game turns on one number: how many tricks you call.

4 players
About 15 minutes
Card games

How to play Call Break

Players and cards

Call Break is for exactly four players, each playing alone. It uses one standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Aces are high, then king, queen, jack and ten down to two.

Each round the dealer deals all 52 cards, 13 to each player. The deal moves one seat to the left every round.

Calling your tricks

Before any card is played, each player looks at their hand and calls the number of tricks they expect to win. Calling starts with the player on the dealer's left and goes round the table once.

A call can be anything from 1 to 13. There is no rule that the calls must add up to 13, so a round can have more or fewer tricks called than there are to win.

Playing a trick

The player on the dealer's left leads the first trick by playing any card. Going round the table, everyone plays one card. When four cards are down, the highest card wins the trick, and its winner leads the next one.

These rules decide which card you may play:

Follow suit: if you have a card of the suit that was led, you must play one.
Beat it if you can: when following suit, you must play a card higher than the best card of that suit on the table, if you hold one. If you cannot beat it, play any card of the suit. Once someone has trumped the trick with a spade, any card of the suit led will do, since none of them can win.
No card of the suit led? You must play a spade if you have one.
If a spade has already been played to the trick, your spade must be higher than it if you have a higher one. If you cannot beat it, you may play any card.
With no card of the suit led and no spades, play anything.

A trick is won by the highest spade in it. If there is no spade, the highest card of the suit that was led wins. Cards of other suits never win.

Winning the game

A full game is five rounds. After the last round the player with the highest total score wins. You can also choose a quicker game of one or three rounds before you start.

Scoring

Make your call and you score it: call 4, win 4, score 4.
Every trick over your call adds 0.1: call 4, win 6, score 4.2.
Fall short and your call is taken away: call 4, win 3, score -4.
Scores add up across the rounds. Totals can go below zero.

Rules at this table

Length of the game

Choose one, three or five rounds when you set up the table. Five is the standard game.

House rules this table does not use

Some groups stop calls at 8 and give a bonus for calling 8 and making it, or let a player ask for a redeal when they hold no spades or no face cards. This table plays the common rules above, so everyone knows where they stand.

Tips

Count your sure tricks first: high spades, and aces in short suits. Then add a trick for each spade beyond your third.
A void (no cards of a suit) is valuable if you have spare spades, because you can trump that suit when it is led.
Calling low is not safe either. Every trick you win over your call adds only 0.1, while a missed call costs you the whole number.
Watch who could not follow suit. Once a player has shown they have no hearts, their spades can take any heart trick.
Once you have made your call, use your high cards to stop the others making theirs.

Words you will hear

Word	Nepali	Meaning
Call	कल	Your bid: the number of tricks you say you will win this round.
Hukum	हुकुम	Spades, the trump suit in Call Break.
Paan	पान	Hearts.
Itta	इट्टा	Diamonds.
Chidi	चिडी	Clubs.
Ekka	एक्का	Ace, the highest card of each suit.
Trick		One card from each player, won by the highest spade or the highest card of the suit led.

Where these rules come from

Call Break rules: how to play classic Callbreak, Bhoos: The Nepali way this table follows: calls from 1 to 13, a player who can win a trick must win it, 0.1 for each extra trick, and five rounds.
Call Bridge, Pagat: The game across South Asia, with spades always trumps; its base rules start calls at 2 and score extra tricks only in some versions.
Card games in Nepal, Pagat: Call Break among the other card games played in Nepal.

Call Break questions

How many cards are dealt in Call Break?+

All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each of the four players.

What is the highest bid in Call Break?+

On this table you can call anything from 1 to 13 tricks, the range Bhoos gives and most Nepali tables use. Some groups stop calls at 8 and pay a made call of 8 extra instead.

Do you have to beat the card on the table in Call Break?+

Yes. If you can follow suit with a higher card than the best card of that suit already played, you must, unless someone has already trumped the trick with a spade: then any card of the suit led will do. If a spade has been played and you have no card of the suit led, you must play a higher spade if you have one.

How is Call Break scored?+

Make your call and you score it, plus 0.1 for each extra trick. Miss it and you lose the amount you called. The highest total after five rounds wins.

Can I play Call Break online with friends?+

Yes. Choose Play with friends, then send the link to your friends. Each person plays on their own phone, and any empty seat is played by the computer. No account or app is needed.

Can I play Call Break against the computer?+

Yes, with three computer players at easy, normal or hard level. Hard players count cards and look ahead before they play.

Is Call Break the same as Spades?+

They are cousins. Both use spades as trumps and bidding, but Call Break is played every player for themselves, makes you beat the card on the table when you can, and scores in tenths for extra tricks instead of penalising them.

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