Trick-taking · Reviewed 2026-10-18

Mizerka card game: players, deck & rules

Work through six contracts and a spare-hand exchange, switching between taking and avoiding tricks.

Version used: Three-player Mizerka, six contracts per player

Players
3
Deck
52 cards; no jokers
Learning
Involved
Your goal

Finish 18 deals with the highest cumulative score.

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

Choose a contract and finish dealing

  1. Use normal A-high ranking. Deal six each, then left of dealer chooses a previously unused contract: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, no-trump or Mizerka.
  2. Complete four 13-card hands, including the talon. Left player, right player, then dealer may discard once and replace from the remaining talon.

Play the 13 tricks

  1. Left of dealer leads; play clockwise. Follow suit if able, otherwise any card is allowed; trumping and overtaking are not compulsory.
  2. Highest trump wins, otherwise highest led-suit card. Winner leads. Mizerka has no trumps and aims to avoid tricks.

Score against the quotas

In ordinary contracts, quotas are 7 for left of dealer, 5 for right and 1 for dealer. Score tricks minus quota. In Mizerka, quotas are 1, 5, 7 respectively; score quota minus tricks.

Complete the match

Dealer moves left after each deal. Each player selects every contract once, giving 18 deals total. Highest cumulative score wins. Record used contracts beside each name so a favourite contract cannot be repeated.

Worked example

In a hearts contract the left player takes 9 tricks, right takes 2 and dealer takes 2. Add +2, −3 and +1: those changes total zero. In Mizerka the same three trick totals would instead give −8, +3 and +5, because avoiding tricks is the target.

Exchange decisions happen before replacements

Choose all discards for your one exchange before seeing the new cards. Do not keep drawing and then discard again. Write “take” or “avoid” at the top of the deal’s score column; forgetting the reversal causes much larger errors than miscounting one trick.

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.