Mighty

The point cards consist of A, K, Q, J, and 10 of each suit. The objective of the game is for players to capture as many point cards as possible. Since there are four suits (♠, ◆, ♥, ♣), there is a total of 20 points available in each round.

By default, Mighty is played with five players using a standard 52-card deck plus one Joker.

Below is an overview of the basic flow of Mighty.

#1. Each player is dealt ten cards. The remaining three cards are placed face down in the middle of the table; These are known as the "kitty" (or blind cards).

#2. A bidding phase determines the trump suit and the declarer. A player bids by declaring a contract score and a trump suit (e.g., 13 ♣). The contract score is the number of point cards the player commits to capturing. The minimum opening bid is 13. 

#3. A subsequent player may bid a different trump suit, but must raise the contract score by one or more points compared to the previous bid (e.g., 14♥).

#4. If a player does not wish to raise the contract score, they may pass. Bidding continues until all but one player has passed. The player with the highest bid is called the declarer, and the declarer's chosen suit becomes the trump suit for the round.

#5. The Declarer takes the three cards from the kitty and incorporates them into their hand, then discards any three cards face down to return to a 10-card hand.

#6. After exchanging cards, the declarer selects a Friend by a specific card (e.g., ♠A Friend). The declarer and the Friend form the offense (two players), while the remaining three players form the defense.

#7. The declarer leads by playing one card. Proceeding clockwise, each player must follow suit if possible. - that is, they must play a card of the same suit if they have one. If they cannot follow suit, they may play any card. After all five players have played one card, the trick is awarded to the player who played the highest-ranking card.

#8. Within each suit, cards rank from high to low as follows: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2. If all players play the same suit, the highest-ranking card wins the trick. If a player cannot follow suit and plays a different suit, that card cannot win the trick - unless it is a trump card. Any Trump card beats all cards of non-trump suits. The winner of a trick leads the next one.

#9. The Mighty card is both the name of this game and the term for the ♠A. The Mighty card may be played at any time, regardless of the lead suit, and it outranks all other cards.

The Joker has certain restrictions, but it is the second-highest card in the game. Since it has no suit, the Joker may also be played at any time.

#10. After all players have played their ten cards, the captured point cards are counted. If the offense captures at least as many point cards as the contracted score, the offense wins. Otherwise, the defense wins. After scoring is complete, return to step #1 and begin the next round.

This overview omits certain details to provide a clear look at the overall structure. In the next section, I will summarize the key terminology used in Mighty.