MIGHTY

OBJECTIVE OF MIGHTY: Be the team with the most captured point cards

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 5 players

NUMBER OF CARDS: 53 cards

RANK OF CARDS: (low) 2 – Ace, Joker, Mighty (high)

TYPE OF GAME: Trick taking

AUDIENCE: Adults

INTRODUCTION OF MIGHTY

Mighty is a trick taking game popular in Korean universities.  In this game, players are trying to capture point cards.  Bidding is used to determine who calls trump, determines a partner, and leads.  The partnership is hidden until revealed through cardplay.

THE CARDS & THE DEAL

 Mighty is played with a 52 card pack and one Joker.  In this game, 2 is low, and Ace is high.  All 10’s Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces are point cards while 2-9 have no point value.  There are three cards with special abilities in this game.

The Ace of Spades is called The Mighty, and it is the highest ranking card in the game unless Spades are trump.  If Spades are trump, the Ace of Diamonds becomes The Mighty for the round.  The Mighty can be played any time.  If it is led, other players must follow The Mighty’s suit if possible.

The Joker is the second highest ranking card unless The Ripper leads the trick.  If the Joker is led, that player declares which suit must be followed.  The Joker cannot be played on the first or last trick.

The 3 of Clubs is called The Ripper, and it forces the Joker to be played while robbing it of its power. If Clubs is called as the trump suit, the 3 of Spades becomes The Ripper. 

Cut the deck to determine the first dealer with the highest card dealing first.  If more than one round is played, whoever holds the called card becomes the next dealer.

Deal ten cards to each player.  The remaining three cards form a kitty in the center of the table.

THE PLAY

BIDDING

Bidding begins with the dealer.  If more rounds are played, the player who declares trump will bid first in the next one.

When a player bids, they say how many points they are going to capture with their partner and which suit they want to be trump.  The minimum bid is 13 points.  An example of a legal bid is 14 with Hearts.  

Continuing around the table, a player may pass or raise the bid.  An example of a higher bid includes more points or the same number of points as the previous bid with no trump.  For example, if the previous bid was 14 with hearts, and example of a raise would be 15 with Diamonds, or 14 with no trump.  The highest bid possible is 20 with no trump.

If a player passes, they may not jump back in with a bid.  Bidding continues until all but one player has passed.  The player with the highest bid is the bid-winner.

If all five players pass, one more round of bidding occurs.  If all five players pass a second time, the hand is considered a misdeal.  The same dealer collects the cards and deals again.

CALLING & CARD EXCHANGE

The bid-winner now turns over the cards in the kitty for all to see.  They collect the three cards and add them to their hand.  They then choose three cards from their hand and discard them face down.  Cards that were already in the kitty are eligible for discard.  These cards are placed aside and will not be used.  Any point cards discarded count as points for the bid-winner’s team. 

After the exchange, the bid-winner may change the trump suit.  If the bid-winner changes trump from one suit to another or from no trump to a trump suit, the bid number must increase by 2 points.  If changing from a suit to no trump, the bid number must increase by 1.

Once the exchange is finished and the trump suit finalized, the bid-winner can call on a partner.  To do this, they say one card.  It can be any card they want.  The player that holds that card secretly becomes their partner.  This player should not expose their partnership.  In fact, the partnership will only be realized by the other players through card play or when the called card is played.  

It is possible for the bid-winner to play alone.  They can do this by declaring no friend or by calling a card in their own hand.  They can also go alone by calling a card that is in the kitty.

If the bid-winner made a 20 no trump bid, they can also say which suit they want their partner to win after leading a trick. For example, when bidding and calling for a partner, they would say 20 no trump and I want Diamonds from my friend.

THE FIRST TRICK

The bid-winner leads the first trick, but they are not allowed to lead with a trump card, the Joker, or The Ripper.  Players must follow suit if they can with a few exceptions.  A player can ignore the lead suit and play The Mighty or the Joker if they choose.  Remember, if The Ripper leads the trick, the Joker loses its abilities and can no longer allow the player to ignore the lead suit.

If the player is unable to follow suit, they play any card from their hand. 

Whoever played the highest card in the suit that was led, the highest trump card, the Joker (unless The Ripper was led), or The Mighty wins the trick.

The player that captures the trick leads next.

While the friend of the bid-winner is unknown, the bid-winner collects the tricks they capture and places them in a pile face down in front of them.  The other four players collect tricks and place any captured point cards face up in front of them.

Once the bid-winner’s friend has been exposed, or when they choose to state that they are the friend, all point cards captured by the partnership are given to the bid-winner.

Play continues until all of the tricks are captured.

SCORING

All 10’s, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces are worth 1 point each equally a total of 20 points possible in a game.  A team must capture 11 or more in order to win.

WINNING

The team that captures the most point cards wins the game.

Amber Crook
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