Thousand card game rules: bidding, marriages, scoring

Thousand (1000, Tysiac in Polish, Tysyacha in Russian) is a trick-taking card game for three players with a 24-card deck. Each player gets 7 cards and 3 more go face down into the talon. Players bid on how many points they can score, the winner of the bidding takes the talon, and then eight tricks are played. Points come from the cards you capture and from marriages, a king and queen of the same suit. The first player to reach 1000 points wins.

The game is very popular in Russia, Ukraine and Poland, where it is often learned at the family table, and much less known elsewhere. Rules differ from region to region, so below we describe the common version and say where tables disagree. You can try it in our Thousand card game online, where the rules also sit on a separate screen and nothing needs to be installed. If you are choosing a game for a group, see our card games for friends guide too.

The deck and card values

The deck has 24 cards: nine, jack, queen, king, ten and ace in four suits. The order from lowest to highest is nine, jack, queen, king, ten, ace. The ten beats the king, which is the first thing newcomers get wrong.

The whole deck is worth exactly 120 points, and that number matters for bidding.

Dealing and the talon

The dealer deals 7 cards to each of the three players and puts 3 cards aside face down. This is the talon (the prikup in Russian). The arithmetic is easy to check: 7 times 3 plus 3 is 24. Some rule summaries online give 8 or 6 cards per player, but those numbers do not add up to a 24-card deck.

The deal passes clockwise after every hand.

Bidding

Bidding decides who plays the hand and how many points they promise. The player to the dealer's left starts. The basics:

• the minimum bid is 100, and bids go up in steps of 5;
• you may pass and drop out for the rest of the hand;
• bidding ends when everyone except one player has passed;
• in our game the first bidder must open with at least 100 and cannot pass.

The winner of the bidding becomes the declarer, and the bid is the contract: a promise to score at least that many points in the hand.

How high can you bid

The deck holds 120 points, so without a marriage in your hand bidding above 120 makes little sense. If you hold a marriage, you can add its value: with the hearts marriage you may bid up to 220. Our game caps bids at 120 plus the marriages in your hand, and never above 300. Some tables have no cap at all, and some start the bidding at 120 instead of 100. Agree on it before you start.

The talon and passing cards

The declarer turns the talon face up for everyone and adds it to their hand, which makes 10 cards. They may raise the contract now if the talon was good, but there is no new round of bidding. Then the declarer gives one card to each opponent, so everyone ends with 8 cards.

Which cards to give is up to the declarer, and most give away low cards. In the basic rules aces and tens may be given too. In a stricter variant they may not, and in another the talon is shown only to the declarer. These variants are common, so check them with your table.

Playing the tricks

The declarer leads the first trick, and after that the winner of each trick leads the next. At the start there is no trump suit. The rules of following are:

1. You must follow the suit that was led.
2. If you have none, you must play a trump, if a trump suit has been set.
3. If you have neither, you can play any card.

The highest trump takes the trick, or, if there are no trumps in it, the highest card of the suit led. Whether you must beat the highest card when you can is a regional question. In the basic rules you do not have to, you only follow suit. In the strict variant you do. Our game uses the basic rule by default.

Marriages

A marriage is the king and queen of the same suit in one hand. You can declare it when you lead a trick: play the king or the queen and announce the marriage. You score its points, and its suit immediately becomes the trump suit.

Things to remember:

• you can declare only when you lead, never in reply to someone else's card;
• you cannot declare the same suit twice;
• in our game a marriage counts only if you take at least one trick in that hand, otherwise it is lost (not every table uses this condition);
• several marriages can be declared in one hand, and the last one sets the trump.

The theoretical maximum is 120 for the cards plus 280 for all four marriages, which is 400. That never happens in practice, but it explains why the highest contract is limited.

Scoring

After the eighth trick everyone adds up the cards they took and their marriages.

The declarer. If they scored at least the contract, they get exactly the contract, not the points they actually took. If they fell short, the contract is subtracted. Bid 120, scored 160: plus 120. Bid 150, scored 140: minus 150.

The opponents. Each opponent writes down the points they actually took, rounded to a multiple of 5: a remainder of 3 or 4 rounds up, 1 or 2 rounds down. 47 becomes 45, 48 becomes 50.

The game ends when someone has 1000 or more points. In our game you can win only by making your own contract: if you cross 1000 as an opponent, you still have to win a bid and fulfil it.

Bolts

A bolt is a penalty for playing too safely. In our game you get one when you pass in the bidding three hands in a row: minus 120 and the count starts again. Other tables call it a bolt when you take no tricks in a hand, and the penalty for three such hands is again usually 120. Ask which version your table plays.

The barrel

The barrel is a gate in front of the finish. When your score reaches 880, you sit on the barrel: your score is held at 880 and cannot go higher. To get off, you must win the bidding with a contract of at least 120 and fulfil it. You have three tries. If none of them works, you lose 120 points and fall back.

While someone sits on the barrel, the others keep scoring as usual, which is why the barrel changes the whole game: the leader is at risk and the others can catch up.

In our game the barrel starts at 880 with three tries. The free short mode plays to 555 with the barrel at 440, and the optional rule packs add modes such as two tries with a 150 point penalty, or a longer game to 1500.

Where the rules differ

Thousand has no single official rulebook. The usual differences are:

• the minimum bid, 100 in most rules and 120 at some tables;
• the bidding cap, either "120 plus marriages" or none;
• what a bolt is, three passes in a row or a hand with no tricks;
• whether you must beat the highest card;
• whether the talon is shown to everyone or only to the declarer;
• whether aces and tens may be given away;
• the number of players, three is standard, but four players (the dealer sits out) and two players (with two talons) are played too;
• marriage values and the barrel threshold.

Before a game with friends, say these out loud. Most "we always played it this way" arguments are really about which variant was chosen. Our game follows the classic three-player rules and keeps the rest as settings.

A simple plan for your first game

1. Do not bid high without a marriage. 100 or 110 with aces and tens in hand is usually safe.
2. Declare a marriage when you are sure to take a trick, because without one it is lost.
3. Do not linger on 880: the barrel teaches caution fast.
4. Count the points in your head. With only 120 in the cards, it is easy to see how many an opponent can still take.
5. If you do not know the rules, play the first hand with the hints on: our game shows what is happening at the bottom of the screen.

Thousand opens in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer. For other card games see the card games section.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards are in the deck? 24: nine, jack, queen, king, ten and ace in four suits.

How much is a marriage worth? Hearts 100, diamonds 80, clubs 60, spades 40.

How many players? Three in the classic game. Two and four player versions exist, with different rules.

What is the talon? Three cards set aside in the deal. The winner of the bidding takes them.

What is the barrel? The 880 point threshold. On it you have three hands to fulfil a contract, or you lose 120.

Does the ten really beat the king? Yes. The order is nine, jack, queen, king, ten, ace.

Is this the dice game Thousand? No. There is a dice game with the same name, but it is a different game.