This article contains everything you need to know about Arkadium’s Whist Game.
Use the list below to navigate specific topics about Whist.
The Game
Whist Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game for 4 players. Popular in the 18th and 19th Centuries, it remains a true classic among games.
Here is how the game looks on a typical match. The player is in the bottom, with all of the available cards ready to play.
You can see the username of the player on the left, and the hand score on the right. The center is the player's in-game avatar, which can be changed in the options menu.
NOTE: As the game functions on a different system than standard Arkadium accounts, your username in-game will always be displayed as a variation of "Guest".
You can see all of the options available to you on the bottom of the table. Here is what each of them represents.
The Table option allows you to see the game's stats, as seen here.
The Pause option allows you to pause the game. This is not allowed in multiplayer games.
The Chat option allows you to type a message to chat with other players.
Using Game will let you quit the table or join a brand new one, with bots or real players. It will also allow you to use the Multiplayer menu.
The Multiplayer Menu gives you more options, to browse the different available tables, host your own, or join a private table with other players you know.
Using Help and Rules allows you to check guides for the game's options and rules, if you need a quick refresher.
The Profile allows you to check a variety of options to do with your chat and player interactions. You can also change the deck you play with, the game's wallpaper, the avatar you use and check your stats.
Main Menu
The main menu of the game will give you a wide range of options to choose from. Euchre can be played in both singleplayer against the computer, and multiplayer against real people. You can see how many players are active at the time next to Play.
The New Game option will allow you to play against the computer, while Join Table will match you up with existing players. Browse Tables lets you check from a variety of tables hosted by different players, each with their own options. You can choose to your liking.
HOST TABLE: Some of the options regarding hosting a game connected to a registry are locked out, due to the game using a different account system that is incompatible with the Arkadium system. Due to this, these options will not be available in our version of the game.
There are many options to choose from.
To learn how to play the game, you can use the interactive Tutorial. This will teach you all of the game's rules. You can also read the game's rules directly.
You can also customize your account and game settings on the bottom.
How to Play
Here is how to play the game. You can read these rules from the game itself. We recommend playing the tutorial first.
Rank of cards
In Whist, cards follow a straightforward hierarchy. From highest to lowest, each suit ranks: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
Objective
Victory in Whist is achieved by being the first team to accumulate 7 points. Every trick beyond the initial 6 points counts towards your team's score.
Deal
A random player is chosen to be the dealer.
Each player is dealt 13 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards. The final card is dealt face-up to the dealer. This card's suit becomes the trump suit for the round. This trump card remains visible until the dealer plays their first card.
The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick.
Play
The player leading a trick can play any card. The other players must follow suit if they can. Which means that they must play a card of the same suit as the lead card. If they don't have that suit, they may play any card, including a trump.
The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, unless someone plays a trump card. Any trump card beats all non-trump cards, and the highest trump played wins the trick.
The winner of each trick leads the next one. Unlike Spades, in Whist you can lead with a trump at any time.
TRAM
If your remaining cards are guaranteed to win all remaining tricks (for example, holding all high trumps), you'll see a TRAM button ("The Rest Are Mine"). Using this option speeds up play by automatically taking all remaining tricks.
Scoring
Scoring in Whist is quite straightforward. Teams earn 1 point for each trick they win beyond the initial 6 tricks. For instance, win 8 tricks, and you'll score 2 points.
Game End
The first team to reach 7 points emerges victorious, crowned as the Whist champions!