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What is Hoşkin? The shape of a four-player round
An introduction to the Hoşkin table, partnerships, round phases, and the shared objective for first-time players.
Hoşkin is a four-player card game in which opposite seats form two teams and each round combines bidding, trump, declarations, and trick play. The easiest way to understand it is to see the round as a sequence and notice what information each phase carries into the next.
Four seats and two teams
The canonical partner format has four players. Opposite seats score as one team, so the cards your partner wins and the valid combinations they declare affect your shared result. You cannot see your partner's hand any more than an opponent's, which makes visible table actions important.
A round starts with the deal
The 80-card deck is shuffled and dealt so that every player receives 20 cards. Cards arrive in packets of five. Everyone therefore begins bidding with the same hand size; online, the server deals the cards and does not send hidden opponent cards to clients.
Bidding creates the contract
Players take turns naming an amount or passing. The first valid bid is at least 550. The player with the highest valid amount becomes the contract winner and commits their team to reaching it at round end. That player also selects the trump suit.
Declarations and trick play
After trump is chosen, valid combinations such as marriages, a trump run, rank sets, and Pinik are evaluated. Players then contribute one card in turn. Following suit and trumping requirements determine which cards are legal; once four cards are present, the trick winner leads the next one.
Round result and game target
At round end, declaration points, won card values, and the 20-point last-trick bonus enter the team result. The contract team is separately checked against its commitment. The app's default game target is 4555, although a table setting may choose another target.
The basic flow is deal → bidding → trump → declarations → trick play → round score. Continue with the step-by-step guide for more detail, or open unfamiliar concepts in the linked glossary.