How to Play the Card Game Catch Five
Catch Five is a slightly different trick-taking game. Point cards are used to increase your overall score. This is done instead of the number of tricks taken in a given hand. Players bid, call trump and play their hands all in hopes of taking tricks (that contain cards which are worth points). It can be a little difficult to get the hang of at first, but it will all start making sense after a few practice rounds.
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Instructions
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Choose and divide teams. The partners should sit opposite one another at the table.
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Determine the order of play by cutting the deck. The highest cut should then act as first dealer. Subsequent deals move to the left around the table in a clockwise direction.
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Deal out the deck until all players have a total of nine cards in hand. Typically, cards are not dealt one at a time. They are dealt in increments of three. The remaining cards are set aside for later in the round.
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Bid your hand based on the number of tricks you believe you and your partner will be able to take if you are allowed to call trump. The minimum bid is 7 points out of the 14 available. Points are accrued through tricks taken that contain point cards—aces, jacks, tens, fives, and twos of trump are the only point cards in the game of Catch Five.
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Call trump if you bid the highest amount of points. Once the trump is called, each player discards the cards that are not trump, removing them from play. The dealer will then give cards to each of the three players until all hands have a total of six cards. After these hands are settled, the dealer then looks through the deck and takes out all remaining trump, adding them to his hand (he may end up with a hand of more than 6 cards).
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Lead a card from your hand if you were the highest bidder (and named trump). All other players must follow suit if possible. Highest card wins the trick and leads the next card. When you are unable to follow suit, you may either throw off or trump. In the case of a trumped trick, the highest trump card takes the trick.
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Score points if you take at least the amount of point you’ve bid. This is cumulative points between you and your partner. The other team scores points for each point card won in a trick. If you are unable to get at least the amount of points bid, your team subtracts your bid from the team’s overall score.
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Win the game of Catch Five by being the first team to hit 62 points.
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Tips & Warnings
The value of point cards are as follows. Ace, jack, ten, and two of trump are worth 1 point each. The five of trump card is worth 5 points. The five of the corresponding color (also trump) is worth 5 points.
