Mighty Rules, Fully Explained — From Bidding to Friends, Joker Call and Scoring

Mighty is a 5-player trick-taking card game that has been loved in Korea for a long time. The story of one hand goes like this. One player boldly claims, "I can take at least this many points!", and then secretly names a partner. Everyone else has no idea who that partner is, yet they have to stop the boaster.

This guide is written step by step so that even someone new to Mighty can play a full hand after reading it to the end. If any term is unfamiliar, start with the glossary right below.

In one line: bidding decides the declarer, and the declarer secretly calls a friend to fight the three defenders over the point cards.

A hand of Mighty has 4 stages — bidding, exchanging 3 cards with the kitty, naming a friend, and a 10-trick showdown

Terms first

Declarer — the player who won the bidding. The star of this hand, who must take the points they pledged.
Friend — the partner the declarer names. Joins the declarer's team. Their identity stays hidden until they play a card.
Defenders — everyone not on the declarer's team. Their job is to keep the declarer's team from reaching the pledge.
Trump (giruda) — the trump suit. Trump cards beat cards of other suits. The declarer chooses it in the bidding.
No-trump — playing without a trump suit. If you win, the score is doubled.
Trick — one round of play. Everyone plays one card, and whoever plays the strongest card takes it. There are 10 in a hand.
Mighty — the strongest card. Normally the ace of spades.
Joker — the second strongest card, after the Mighty.
Joker Call — a special lead that neutralizes the Joker.
Kitty — the 3 cards left over after dealing. The declarer takes them.

Cards and point cards

The deck is 52 cards plus one Joker, for 53 cards. Five players get 10 cards each, and the remaining 3 cards are placed on the table.

The cards worth points in this game are the five ranks A, K, Q, J and 10. They exist in all four suits, so that is 20 cards, each worth 1 point, which puts 20 points in total at stake in a hand. Whoever wins a trick takes the point cards in that trick. The 2 through 9 and the Joker are worth nothing.

The 3 special cards of Mighty — the Mighty (ace of spades), the Joker, and the Joker Call (three of clubs)

Stage 1: Bidding — who becomes the declarer

The game starts with an auction. Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player in turn either declares "I will take this many points with this suit as trump" or passes.

The pledge ranges from 13 to 20 points. Declaring that you will take all 20 points is also allowed.
You must bid higher than the declaration already made. At the same number of points, no-trump ranks higher than a declaration with a trump suit. So after "14 hearts" you can say "15 anything", or "14 no-trump".
A player who passes is out of the bidding for that hand. When only one player remains, that player is the declarer.
20 no-trump cannot be raised any further, so the moment it is called, that player becomes the declarer.
If everyone passes, the same dealer deals the cards again.

This is the part that takes the most thinking. Even when your hand looks good, imagining the cards others hold makes you uneasy, and even when your hand is ordinary, leaning on the kitty and a friend can make you think it is worth a try. If your hand is too bad, you can set "auto-pass on my turn" in advance and not wait for the others' bids.

Deal miss: when your hand is too bad

If your hand is extremely weak on your turn, you can declare a deal miss. It is a rule that lets you reveal your hand and have the cards dealt again. The weakness is counted like this. A, K, Q and J are worth 1 point each, the 10 is worth 0.5 points, and the Mighty (ace of spades) is worth 0 points. If you hold the Joker, subtract the value of your highest point card. If the total is 0.5 points or less, a deal miss is allowed.

When you declare a deal miss, you must pay 5 points. These 5 points do not disappear; they pile up, and the next declarer who succeeds in their pledge takes them all. So when someone declares a deal miss, the next declarer's pot gets bigger.

Stage 2: Taking the kitty and discarding 3 cards

The declarer picks up the 3 cards that were on the table and, from the resulting 13-card hand, discards 3 cards. This is the step for clearing out weak cards. There are a few points to observe.

The Mighty and the Joker cannot be discarded.
Discarding point cards is fine. Discarded point cards are counted as the declarer's side's points.
At this time you may also change the trump or raise the pledge. Changing the trump carries a penalty of raising the pledge by 2 points, and it is also possible to keep the trump and just raise the pledge by 2 points. The cap is 20 points, so you cannot raise beyond that.
If you have already bid 20, the only change allowed without penalty is switching a 20 with a trump suit to a 20 no-trump.

Stage 3: Naming the friend

This is the highlight of the game. The declarer decides whom to call as a partner. There are four ways.

1. Naming a card — you specify a particular card, such as "whoever holds the king of hearts" or "whoever holds the Mighty". The player holding that card is the friend. Be careful: if the named card went to the kitty or is in your own hand, there is no friend, so it effectively becomes a no-friend game.

2. Naming the Joker holder — the owner of the Joker becomes the friend.

3. First-trick friend — whoever wins the first trick is the friend. This is a way of leaving it to the course of play when it is hard to name a card.

4. No-friend — you call no one and go alone. It is risky, but the score is much bigger if you succeed.

The friend's identity is revealed only when they actually play the named card. Until then, only the friend themselves knows that they are the friend. The defenders have to deduce who is on the declarer's side, and the friend has to help the declarer without being too obvious.

Stage 4: The 10 tricks

Now you play cards. The declarer takes the first lead, and after that the winner of a trick takes the next lead.

Rules for playing cards

You must follow suit with the card that was led. Only when you have no card of that suit may you play any card.
However, the Mighty and the Joker can be played at any time, even if you have a card of the led suit.
In a hand with a trump suit, the first trick cannot be led with trump. You must lead with another suit or the Joker. (The exception is when your hand holds only trump cards.)

Who wins the trick

From strongest to weakest, the order is as follows.

1. Mighty — the strongest card, beaten by nothing.

2. Joker — next after the Mighty.

3. Trump cards — the higher the rank, the stronger. If even one trump card is played, it beats every ordinary suit.

4. Cards of the led suit — the higher the rank, the stronger.

5. Cards of any other suit cannot win, no matter how high they are.

The Mighty card

The Mighty is normally the ace of spades. However, when the trump is spades, the ace of diamonds becomes the Mighty. The ace of spades position is, in effect, yielded to the trump ace.

The Joker

The Joker is the second strongest card after the Mighty and is worth 0 points. When you lead with it, you can specify the suit you want. However, in the first trick and the last trick the Joker has no power. It is treated like the weakest card then. So if you hold the Joker to the very end and play it in the last trick, it is useless. You have to set it off somewhere in the middle.

Joker Call

The Joker Call is the delicacy of this game. It is a rule where you lead a designated card and call "Joker, come out!" This card is the three of clubs. If the trump is clubs, it is the three of spades instead.

When a Joker Call is made, the player holding the Joker must play the Joker. And that Joker loses its power and becomes the weakest card. It is a blow to land when you are convinced the opponent is counting on the Joker.

There is one exception. If you also hold the Mighty, you can play the Mighty instead of the Joker and fend off the Joker Call, because a Joker Call cannot pull out the Mighty. Also, in the first trick and the last trick the Joker has no power anyway, so a Joker Call is pointless then.

Setting

If the remaining hand of the player who has the lead is one that wins everything no matter what, they can declare a setting. They reveal their hand and skip the remaining tricks. The player who declared the setting is treated as having won all the remaining tricks, and any point cards still outstanding all go to that player. It is a time-saving rule, but the server checks whether the hand really is a sure win, so you cannot use it as a bluff.

How is the score calculated

If the point cards won by the declarer's team (declarer + friend) are at or above the pledge, they succeed.

When they succeed

First work out the base score.

Base score = (pledge − 13 + 1) × 2 + (points taken − pledge)

The bigger the pledge, the bigger the base score, and every point taken beyond the promise adds a bonus. On top of that, a doubling is applied for each of the conditions below. If they overlap, the multiplications keep stacking.

Run: when all 20 points were swept up
When they won with no-trump
When the pledge was 20 points

If all three overlap, the score grows up to eight times.

Then the points are distributed.

The declarer receives twice the base score.
The friend receives the base score once.
Each defender loses the base score.
In a no-friend game, the declarer alone receives four times the base score, and each of the four defenders loses the base score.

When they fail

The shortfall is the loss.

Shortfall = pledge − points taken

If the declarer's team took 10 points or fewer (the defenders have 10 or more), it is called a back-run, and the shortfall is doubled.
The declarer loses twice the shortfall, and the friend loses it once.
Each defender gains the shortfall.
In a no-friend game, the declarer loses four times the shortfall.

If points had piled up from deal misses, the declarer who succeeds takes those as well.

Let's check with examples

Example 1 — an ordinary success. The declarer bid "15 hearts" and, together with the friend, took 17 points. The base score is (15 − 13 + 1) × 2 + (17 − 15) = 6 + 2 = 8 points. The declarer gets +16, the friend +8, and each of the three defenders −8. (The total is 16 + 8 − 24 = 0.)

Example 2 — a narrow failure. The declarer bid "15 hearts" but took only 12 points. The shortfall is 3 points, and it is not a back-run. The declarer gets −6, the friend −3, and each of the three defenders +3.

Example 3 — a back-run. The declarer bid "14 spades" but ended with only 9 points. The shortfall of 5 points is doubled for the back-run, so the unit is 10 points. The declarer gets −20, the friend −10, and each defender +10. This is how heavy the price of boasting is.

Example 4 — the no-friend gamble. The declarer bid "16 no-friend" and took 18 points. The base score is (16 − 13 + 1) × 2 + 2 = 10 points, and the declarer gets +40, with each of the four defenders at −10.

6-player Mighty: Kill Mighty

When six players gather, you play with the Kill Mighty rule. Cards are dealt 8 each, leaving 5 in the kitty. The minimum pledge is 14 points.

When the bidding ends, the declarer names one card to kill. You choose a card that is not in your own hand.

If that card is in another player's hand, that player is eliminated from this hand. Their score is 0 points. The eliminated player's hand and the kitty are shuffled together and dealt again to the remaining players, and from there play proceeds exactly like 5-player Mighty.
If that card is in the kitty, the declarer has effectively killed themselves. This is called suicide; the declarer is eliminated, and the bidding is redone under the 5-player rules.

Under the 6-player rules the deal miss is stricter too: you can declare it only with a hand that has no point cards at all (0 points).

Tips for beginners

If you are the declarer

If you hold the Mighty, the Joker, and the trump A and K, you can afford to be bold in the bidding. These cards reliably win tricks.
The 3 kitty cards are not a free gift. Clear out weak cards, and if you void one suit, you can ruff that suit with trump when it comes up.
It is good to name as friend the owner of a card you cannot beat. You need someone to cover your weak spots.
Use the Mighty and the Joker sparingly, but when the chance comes, set them off in a trick that holds many point cards.

If you are a defender

Do not scatter point cards carelessly. If you play a point card in a trick you cannot win, it flows to the declarer's side.
Deduce who the friend is. Someone who seems to be helping the declarer before the named card has appeared is suspicious.
If you suspect the declarer is holding the Joker, try landing the three of clubs (Joker Call) at the right moment.
Dig into the declarer's weak suit to make them ruff with trump, or break the flow in which points are piling up.

Common mistakes

Trying to lead the first trick with trump. The rules do not allow it.
Saving the Joker until the last trick. In the last trick the Joker has no power.
The friend revealing their identity too early.
Defenders handing point cards to the declarer's team themselves.

Frequently asked questions

How many people play Mighty? Five is the standard, and with six you play by the Kill Mighty rules. If there are not enough people, the bots in Tichu Online fill the empty seats.

Do I have to name a friend? No. Going alone as a no-friend is also possible. If you win it is big, and if you lose it hurts.

Which card is the Mighty? The ace of spades. Only when the trump is spades does the ace of diamonds become the Mighty.

Which card makes a Joker Call? The three of clubs. If the trump is clubs, it is the three of spades. If you lead this card and declare the Joker Call, the Joker loses its power.

Can I defend against a Joker Call? If you also hold the Mighty, you can play the Mighty instead of the Joker and block it.

What happens to the Joker in the first and last tricks? It has no power and is treated as the weakest card.

May I lead the first trick with trump? No. Unless you hold nothing but trump, you must lead with another suit or the Joker.

What is the minimum pledge? 13 points in 5-player Mighty and 14 points in 6-player Kill Mighty. The maximum is 20 points.

What is a deal miss? A rule for when your hand is too weak: you pay 5 points, reveal your hand, and the cards are dealt again. The points you paid are taken by the next declarer who succeeds.

How many point cards are there? The A, K, Q, J and 10 exist in four suits, so there are 20 cards, 1 point each. The Mighty is also an ace, so it is a 1-point card. The Joker and the 2 through 9 are worth nothing.

Can I play online? You can start right away in your browser at https://tichu.kr with nothing to install. There are also Android and iOS apps.

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