Kille

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About the game

Kille is an old Swedish card deck. There are many games played with it. I don't accurately know the background of the following one. Some say it used to be popular among bus drivers in Stockholm. I've only seen it in the deep forests of Värmland.

"Kille" is pronounced with a soft "K" as in Eng. "Church"and weak stress on the first syllable. Unless you are a Swede I really wouldn't advise you to try to pronounce the other card names.

The object of the game is to keep as low a card as possible, and to know in the end whether you have the lowest remaining card.

The cards and their denominations, in increasing rank:

Note that the first three all have denomination 0 but still are ranked in the order given. Below, "higher", "equal" and "lower" will refer to rank and not denomination. (Denomination is important for the scoring but not for the play.) The deck has 2 cards of each type, i.e. 42 cards.

The Deal

Dealer gives each player 5 cards face down. After looking at them each player may discard at most 3 cards. Dealer then gives each player additional cards face down so that all players again have 5 cards.

The first four rounds

The player clockwise from the dealer leads in the first round.

The player who leads a round plays one of his cards (all cards are played face up). The round then continues clockwise according to the following rule, which determines the round uniquely (in other words, only the lead has a proper choice to make, the other players just follow the rule): A player checks the highest card played so far in the round. If he has an equal or higher card he plays the lowest of them. If he does not, he plays the lowest card of the hand.

The round is finished when all players have played a card in it. The highest played card wins the round. If there are two equal highest cards then the last played highest card wins. The winner leads in the next round.

The cards remain face up in front of the player who played them. Each card, of course, can only be played once.

The guessing round

After round 4 each player has one card left and the guessing round begins. The player who won round 4 starts. He has the choice to declare or pass. He declares by showing his card. The round is then over. He passes by saying "pass", not showing his card. Play then continues clockwise to the next player, who again may declare or pass etc.The round continues until one player has declared, or all players have passed.

Scoring

At the end of the final round all show their remaining card. The following outcomes are possible:

• One player declared. Then either:
  • Right guess: The declarer has the strictly lowest card remaining. The declarer then scores 0 and all other score the denomination of their card.
  • Wrong guess: There is at least one other card lower or equal than the declarer's. The declarer scores 10 plus the denomination of his card. The lowest card, or the one equal to the declarer if there is no lower card, scores 0. If there are two lowest cards (not counting the declarer) both score 0. All other score the denomination of their card.
• All players passed. Then either
  • Chicken play: One player has the strictly lowest card. Then that player scores 10 and all other players score 0.
  • Void: Two equal cards are lowest. Then all players score 0.

Winning

Deal always passes clockwise to the next player. A score sheet is maintained showing the cumulative score of each player. A player reaching a score of 50 or over is out. The last remaining is the winner.