Twenty-Nine uses 32 cards: 7, 8, queen, king, 10, ace, 9 and jack in each suit. From strongest to weakest, the order is J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7. This order applies inside every suit, including trump.
| Rank | J | 9 | A | 10 | K | Q | 8 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card points | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Strength and points are different
Strength decides which card wins a trick. Points decide how much that trick contributes to the contract. A king can beat a queen but adds no card points. A jack is both the strongest card and the most valuable.
Which card wins?
If hearts are led and no trump is played, the highest heart wins. The jack of hearts beats the 9, ace and 10 of hearts. A card from another non-trump suit cannot win simply because its rank looks high. After trump is revealed, any trump in the trick beats cards from the led non-trump suit.
Next, learn how trump works, then test the order on the practice page.
Remember the order without guessing
Say the first four ranks as “jack, nine, ace, ten.” Those are both the important winners and all of the point-bearing ranks. The remaining sequence is king, queen, eight, seven. Do not use the familiar ace-high order from many other card games; in Twenty-Nine, a 9 beats an ace and a jack beats everything in the same suit.
Ranking examples for beginners
If clubs are led and the club cards played are A, 10, K and 8, the ace wins. If the 9 of clubs appears, it beats that ace. If the jack of clubs also appears, the jack wins the trick. A jack from another ordinary suit does not beat a club simply because a jack is strong: players must first compare trump, then the led suit.
Ranking when trump is involved
Once trump has been revealed, even the lowest trump can beat every card from a non-trump led suit. Among two or more trump cards, use the same J–9–A–10–K–Q–8–7 order. This is why you must identify the led suit and the trump suit before comparing ranks.