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3-Legged Kitty

Complete rules and instructions

3 Legged Kitty - Complete Rules Guide

3 Legged Kitty is a 3-player trick-taking card game that combines bidding, a little bluffing, and strategy. Each round, one player (called "the Cat") plays alone against the other two players who work together.

The unique bidding system uses cards from your hand as currency, creating tough decisions from the very start!

What You'll Need

  • •A standard deck: A deck of 52 standard playing cards
  • •Paper and pencil for keeping score
  • •3 players (exactly - this game is designed specifically for three)

Game Overview

Each hand consists of three main phases:

  1. •Bidding Phase - Players bid for the right to be "the Cat" by offering cards from their hand
  2. •Card Exchange Phase - Players rebuild their hands using the bid cards
  3. •Play Phase - Play 10 tricks with the Cat trying to make their contract

Initial Setup

  1. •Shuffle the cards, and deal 10 to each player
  2. •Set aside the rest, face down. They will not be played with this round

Phase 1: The Bidding Phase

How Bidding Works Mechanically

The key concept: During bidding, you place cards from your hand face up in front of you. These cards serve only as payment for your bid - their suit and value don't matter for bidding purposes! You're essentially "spending" cards from your hand to bid.

Basic bidding process:

  1. •

    Starting player: The player to the dealer's left makes the first bid

  2. •

    Making a bid:

    • •Place at least one card from your hand FACE UP in front of you
    • •Announce your bid (a number and a type, like "2 Hearts")
    • •These cards stay visible in front of you during the entire bidding phase
  3. •

    Raising the bid:

    • •Each new bid must be higher than the previous bid
    • •If your bid number is the same or just one higher than the previous bid, place 1 card
    • •If your bid number jumps by more than one, place additional cards (one extra card for each number you skip)
    • •Example: Going from "3 Clubs" to "5 Spades" requires placing 2 cards
  4. •

    Passing: You may pass instead of bidding, but once you pass, you cannot re-enter the bidding

  5. •

    Bidding ends: When two players pass consecutively after someone's bid

Understanding What You're Bidding

Bids represent contracts - promises about how many tricks you'll take (or won't take) during play. Each bid consists of:

  • •A number (1 through 10)
  • •A type (Null, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, or No Trump)

There are six types of bids:

1. Null X (where X is 1-8) - You promise to take NO MORE than (8-X) tricks

  • •Null 1 = take 7 or fewer tricks
  • •Null 3 = take 5 or fewer tricks
  • •Null 6 = take 2 or fewer tricks
  • •Null 8 = take 0 tricks (can't win any tricks!)

Note: Null only goes up to 8. Null 9 and 10 don't exist since you can't take negative tricks.

2. X Clubs - Clubs are trump, you promise to take AT LEAST X tricks

3. X Diamonds - Diamonds are trump, you promise to take AT LEAST X tricks

4. X Hearts - Hearts are trump, you promise to take AT LEAST X tricks

5. X Spades - Spades are trump, you promise to take AT LEAST X tricks

6. X No Trump - No trump suit, you promise to take AT LEAST X tricks

Bid Hierarchy

Bids are ranked first by NUMBER, then by TYPE within that number:

  • •All 1-bids < All 2-bids < All 3-bids < ... < All 10-bids

Within each number, the ranking is:

  • •Null < Clubs < Diamonds < Hearts < Spades < No Trump

Examples:

  • •"1 No Trump" beats "1 Spades" (same number, no trump ranks higher)
  • •"2 Null" beats "1 No Trump" (2 beats 1, regardless of type)
  • •"5 Spades" beats "5 Hearts" (same number, spades rank higher)
  • •"7 Clubs" beats "6 No Trump" (7 beats 6, regardless of type)

Complete Bidding Example

Let's follow a full bidding round to see how the card placement works:

  1. •Alice (first to bid): Places 1 card face up, announces "1 Club"
  2. •Bob: Places 1 card face up, announces "1 Heart" (same number, but hearts beat clubs)
  3. •Carol: Places 1 card face up, announces "2 No Trump"
  4. •Alice: Places 1 card face up, announces "3 Null"
  5. •Bob: Places 2 cards face up, announces "5 Diamonds" (jumping from 3 to 5 requires 2 cards)
  6. •Carol: Places 1 card face up, announces "5 No Trump"
  7. •Alice: "Pass"
  8. •Bob: "Pass"
  9. •Carol: "Pass"

Result: Carol wins with "5 No Trump" and becomes "the Cat". The hand will be played with no trump suit.

Remember: The actual cards placed (their suits and values) have no connection to the bids made. A player could place the 2♣ while bidding "7 Spades" - the card is just payment!

After Bidding Ends

Once someone wins the bid:

  1. •They become "the Cat" for this round
  2. •ALL cards that were bid (from all players) are collected into a central pile called "the kitty"
  3. •In our example: Alice's 2 cards + Bob's 3 cards + Carol's 3 cards = 8 cards in the kitty
  4. •The winning bid determines how the hand will be played:
    • •If the winning bid was null or no trump → the hand is played with no trump suit
    • •If the winning bid was a suit → that suit is trump for the hand

Phase 2: Card Exchange

This phase happens in a specific order, giving each player a chance to rebuild their hand to exactly 10 cards.

1. The Cat picks up the kitty and adds it to their hand. They select 10 cards to keep, putting the rest back in the center, face up. This becomes the stray.

2. Starting to the Cat's left, the player chooses cards from the stray to add to their hand to bring it back up to 10. (Note: they do not add all of them and choose 10—they can only draw enough to reach 10 cards.)

3. The last player adds the remaining cards to their hand, bringing them up to 10.

Example: Carol (the Cat) had 7 cards left after bidding. She picks up the 8-card kitty, giving her 15 cards total. She keeps her best 10 cards and places 5 cards face up as the stray.

Alice (to Carol's left) has 8 cards remaining. She looks at the 5-card stray and takes 2 cards she likes, leaving 3 cards in the stray.

Finally, Bob takes the last 3 cards, returning his hand to 10 cards.

Phase 3: Playing the Tricks

Basic Trick-Taking Rules

1. The Cat always leads the first trick

2. Following suit:

  • •You MUST play a card of the same suit as the card led if you have one
  • •If you can't follow suit, you may play any card

3. Winning tricks:

  • •Highest card of the led suit wins UNLESS...
  • •Someone plays a trump card (in trump contracts only)
  • •Trump cards beat all non-trump cards

4. Card rankings (highest to lowest): A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, etc...

5. Next trick: Winner of a trick leads the next trick

Scoring System

Did the Cat Make Their Contract?

For Suit/No-Trump Contracts: The Cat must take AT LEAST the number of tricks bid

  • •Bid "4 Hearts", take 4 tricks = Success! ✓
  • •Bid "4 Hearts", take 5 tricks = Success! ✓ (can take more)
  • •Bid "4 Hearts", take 3 tricks = Failed ✗

For Null Contracts: The Cat must take NO MORE than (8 minus bid number) tricks

  • •Bid "Null 3", allowed maximum is 5 tricks (8-3=5)
  • •Take 5 or fewer = Success! ✓
  • •Take 6 or more = Failed ✗

Points Awarded

  • •Cat succeeds: The Cat scores points equal to their bid number
  • •Cat fails: Each opponent scores 5 points

Winning the Game

🏆 First player to reach 30 points wins!