Partnership · Reviewed 2026-10-18

Marjapussi card game: players, deck & rules

Take tricks and declare king-queen marriages, with the first marriage setting the trump suit.

Version used: Basic four-player partnership Marjapussi without bidding

Players
4
Deck
36 cards: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7, 6
Learning
Involved
Your goal

Reach exactly 10 game points; overshooting resets your score to 7.

Need a term explained? Suit, rank, trick, trump and meld.

Deal and begin without trumps

  1. Partners sit opposite. Deal nine each clockwise; left of dealer leads. Rank is A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7, 6.

Play a trick before declaring

  1. Follow suit and overtake if possible, even over partner. If void, play a trump when able. Highest trump or highest led-suit card wins and leads.

Declare after winning a trick

Before leading again, the winner may make one marriage attempt: show a held K-Q of one suit; ask partner for a complete marriage; or hold K/Q and ask for its mate. Asking for a full marriage breaks the asker’s undeclared full marriages. A half-marriage question breaks both players’ undeclared full marriages. Broken marriages cannot later be declared as full ones.

Score marriages and cards

First marriage sets trumps and earns 2 game points; later marriages earn 1 without changing trumps. Last trick earns 1; more than 60 card points earns 1 (60-60 earns none). Card values: A11, 10=10, K4, Q3, J2; others zero.

Check the exact target

After the deal, add the game points. Exactly 10 wins. Above 10 drops to 7. Taking no tricks in a deal resets that team to zero.

Worked example

K♦Q♦

After winning a trick you still hold K♦ and Q♦, and no marriage has been declared. Announce the pair before leading: diamonds become trumps and your side gains two game points. If your team was on nine, two more is an overshoot, so it drops to seven.

Record declarations separately

Keep three columns: tricks, card points and game points. Leave declared marriages visible in a note so nobody claims the same pair twice. Read the question-and-answer procedures together before the first deal; they can remove a later declaration opportunity even when the requested marriage does not exist.

Rule sources and version notes

Rules checked on 2026-10-18. The named version above is the one taught here. Examples and learning suggestions are written for this guide.