Rules of Lost Heir

The Objective

Be the first partnership to reach a score of 40 by winning tricks and capturing the "Lost Heir" card, while avoiding the penalty "Wrong Boy" card.

The Deck

A specialized 32-card deck:

  • 4 Suits (Cities): Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg
  • Ranks (High to Low): 7 (Mayor), 6 (Chief), 5 (Commissioner), 4 (Detective), 3 (Captain), 2 (Sergeant), 1 (Policeman).
  • 0 (Special): Blank (Halifax/Montreal), Lost Heir (Winnipeg), Wrong Boy (Toronto).

Setup

  • Players: 4 Players (Fixed partnerships: North/South vs East/West).
  • First Dealer: Shuffle and deal cards face up. First player to get the Lost Heir or Wrong Boy deals.
  • Dealing: Deal entire deck (8 cards per player).
  • Rotation: Dealer rotates to the left each round.

Bidding & Refusal

  • Starting left of dealer, players bid the number of points they can earn.
  • Minimum Bid: 4.
  • Players may Pass.
  • Highest bidder wins the right to name the trump suit and leads the first card.
  • Note: Do not announce the suit during bidding, only the number.
  • Dealer's Privilege (Refusal): When bidding returns to the dealer, the dealer can refuse the high bid by saying "I won't take your bid". If refused, the bidder must either raise (bid +1) or give the bid to the dealer at the current price. This continues until either the bidder lets the dealer have it or the dealer lets the bidder have it.
  • All Pass Rule: If all players pass on the bidding, the hand is discarded, and the deal moves to the next player.

Gameplay & Leading

  • Naming Trump: Highest bidder names a city to be trump by leading with trump as the first card played this hand.
  • Following Suit: Players must follow suit if able. If not, they may play a trump or discard another city card.
  • Winning Tricks: Highest card of led suit wins, unless trump is played (highest trump wins). Winner leads next trick.
  • Taking the Lead: The winner of a trick leads the next trick. However, the winner may explicitly tell their partner to "Take a lead", forcing the partner to lead the next trick instead.
  • Note: You cannot pass the lead on the very first trick of a hand.

Scoring

Scores are tallied after each round:

  • Trick Won: +1 Point
  • Lost Heir (Captured): +5 Points
  • Wrong Boy (Captured): -3 Points
  • Tallying: Scores are tallied and added to the partnership total after each round.
  • Maximum Score: The max score in one hand is 12 (7 tricks + 5 Lost Heir and did not take the Wrong Boy). If a team takes all 8 tricks and both boys, the score is 10 (8 tricks + 5 Lost Heir - 3 Wrong Boy).

The Bidder's Risk

  • Success: If bidding team meets/exceeds bid, they score their total earned points.
  • Failure: If they fail, they lose the amount of their bid (negative points possible).
  • The opposing (non-bidding) team scores whatever points they earned, but never below 0 for the round — only the bidding team can lose points.

Winning

The first team to reach 40 points wins.