Kozel is a trick-taking game for four players in two fixed teams. Two versions are played here - Miner and Classic - and they differ in the deck, in how the trump suit is decided and in how a deal is scored. Pick a version below.
A game runs over several cycles. One cycle is a full deal: every card is dealt out, played away in tricks, and then the cycle is scored. Cycles repeat until one team reaches the losing target.
Four players sit in two fixed teams of two. Partners sit across from each other, so play always alternates between the teams. The whole deck is dealt out at the start of a cycle - there is no talon and nobody draws cards during play.
Miner is played with the 36-card deck - Six through Ace in all four suits. Every player gets 9 cards, so a cycle is 9 tricks.
Trump is not chosen by anyone. It follows a marker card - the Jack of Clubs (on tables set for it, the Ace of Clubs instead). Whoever is dealt that card drives the trump suit, and the pairing is locked for the whole game:
The holder of the marker card owns the cycle and leads its first trick.
Twelve cards are trump in a Miner cycle: the Six of the trump suit, all four Jacks whatever their suit, and the rest of the trump suit's own cards. From strongest to weakest:
The Six of trump is the mat. It beats every other card in the game, including all four Jacks and the Ace of trump.
All four Jacks are trump, even the three that are not of the trump suit. A Jack does not count as its printed suit: it never follows that suit, and holding one does not mean you can follow it.
In the three plain suits the Jack is missing - it is off playing trump - so a plain suit runs:
A trick is four cards, one from every player. The player whose turn it is to lead opens the trick, and the other three follow in seating order.
The winner of a trick collects its cards for the team and leads the next trick.
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 11 |
| Ten | 10 |
| King | 4 |
| Queen | 3 |
| Jack | 2 |
| Every other rank | 0 |
Suit never changes a card's value: the Ace of Clubs and the Ace of Hearts are both worth 11, trump or not.
Every supported deck holds 120 points in total, so the two teams always split 120 points between them in a cycle.
At the end of a cycle each team adds up the points in the tricks it took. The team with fewer points loses the cycle and takes penalty points; the team with more points takes none.
Collecting at least 31 points saves the losing team from the heavier penalty. That is called a spas.
How much the losing team takes depends on two things: whether it reached the spas, and whether the winning team is the side holding this cycle's marker card.
| Losing team | Winners hold the marker card | Winners do not hold it |
|---|---|---|
| Reached the spas (31+) | 1 | 2 |
| Missed the spas | 2 | 3 |
A team that takes no trick at all in a cycle gets a lusya: a flat 12 penalty points instead of the usual penalty (6 on tables set for a short game), and the game goes on. Taking a trick that happens to be worth zero points is not a lusya - one trick is enough to avoid it.
If both teams end the cycle with exactly the same number of points, the cycle is eggs: neither team takes any penalty points, and the cards are dealt again.
The first team to reach 12 penalty points loses the game (6 on tables set for a short game). The other team wins. So the goal is to keep taking the richer half of every deal and hand the penalty points to your opponents.
If any player is dealt a hand worth 13 points or less, that deal is thrown out and all four hands are dealt again.
A re-deal costs nothing: the cards go back, fresh hands are dealt, and the running score is untouched.
Four players sit in two fixed teams of two. Partners sit across from each other, so play always alternates between the teams. The whole deck is dealt out at the start of a cycle - there is no talon and nobody draws cards during play.
Classic is played with either the 24-card or the 32-card deck. With 24 cards every player gets 6 and a cycle is 6 tricks; with 32 cards every player gets 8 and a cycle is 8 tricks.
The 24-card deck holds only Six, Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace in each suit. There is no Nine, no Eight and no Seven in it.
A Classic table is set up in one of two ways, and the table tells you which before the first deal.
The trump suit is set by the table and stays the same for every cycle of the game. Nobody is asked, and nothing about trump changes between deals.
On the first cycle, the player holding the marker card - the Jack of Clubs, or the Ace of Diamonds on tables set for it - is asked to name the trump suit and answers on a timer. From the second cycle onwards nobody is asked: the trump suit is drawn at random and announced before the cards are dealt.
If the asked player does not answer in time, the choice is made for them and they are marked as away at the table.
The first cycle belongs to the holder of the marker card. Every later cycle belongs to the player who won the last trick of the previous cycle. The owner leads the cycle's first trick, and their team is the one that may open tricks with trump - see kozyryatnik.
Classic makes a lot of cards trump: all four Queens, all four Jacks, the shamok, and the trump suit's own remaining cards. Their strength order depends on the deck size, because the shamok does.
The shamok is the top trump and it is always a Club: the Six of Clubs with a 24-card deck, the Seven of Clubs with a 32-card deck. It stays the top trump no matter which suit is trump for the cycle.
When Clubs is the trump suit, the shamok and the trump suit's own Six are the same card, so the ladder is one card shorter.
When Clubs is the trump suit, the shamok and the trump suit's own Seven are the same card, so the ladder is one card shorter.
Every Queen, every Jack and the shamok are trump whatever their printed suit. They do not count as that suit: an off-suit Queen never follows her own suit, and holding one does not mean you can follow it.
Because all Queens and all Jacks are trump, a plain suit in Classic has no Queen and no Jack at all. What is left runs:
Opening a trick with a trump card is a privilege - the kozyryatnik - and only one team holds it at a time.
A trick is four cards, one from every player. The player whose turn it is to lead opens the trick, and the other three follow in seating order.
One extra restriction applies to the card that opens a trick: only the team holding the kozyryatnik may open with a trump.
The winner of a trick collects its cards for the team and leads the next trick.
If one completed trick contains both the shamok and the Queen of Clubs, and the two cards were played by opposing teams, the cycle ends right there. The cards still in hand are not played. The team that played the Queen of Clubs takes 4 penalty points, and the other team takes none - the spas does not apply and the collected points do not matter.
The trick is always played out to all four cards first; the rule is checked once the trick is complete.
Nothing happens when the shamok and the Queen of Clubs come from partners - the cycle simply continues.
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 11 |
| Ten | 10 |
| King | 4 |
| Queen | 3 |
| Jack | 2 |
| Every other rank | 0 |
Suit never changes a card's value: the Ace of Clubs and the Ace of Hearts are both worth 11, trump or not.
Every supported deck holds 120 points in total, so the two teams always split 120 points between them in a cycle.
At the end of a cycle each team adds up the points in the tricks it took. The team with fewer points loses the cycle and takes penalty points; the team with more points takes none.
Collecting at least 31 points saves the losing team from the heavier penalty. That is called a spas.
| Cycle result | Penalty points |
|---|---|
| Losing team reached the spas (31+) | 2 |
| Losing team missed the spas | 4 |
| Shamok took an opponent's Queen of Clubs | 4 |
Unlike Miner, it makes no difference which team owned the cycle - only the spas matters.
A team that takes no trick at all in a cycle gets a lusya: a flat 12 penalty points instead of the usual penalty (6 on tables set for a short game), and the game goes on. Taking a trick that happens to be worth zero points is not a lusya - one trick is enough to avoid it.
If both teams end the cycle with exactly the same number of points, the cycle is eggs: neither team takes any penalty points, and the cards are dealt again.
The first team to reach 12 penalty points loses the game (6 on tables set for a short game). The other team wins. So the goal is to keep taking the richer half of every deal and hand the penalty points to your opponents.
A deal is thrown out and dealt again if any player is dealt a hand worth 13 points or less, or a hand holding all four Queens.
A re-deal costs nothing: the cards go back, fresh hands are dealt, and the running score is untouched.