Whist

Four players play in two fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite each other. You and North play against West and East. Each player gets 13 cards.

The dealer's last card is turned face up, and its suit is trump for the hand. It stays on show until the dealer plays to the first trick. The player to the dealer's left leads.

Follow suit if you can; if you can't, you may play any card. The highest trump wins the trick, or else the highest card of the suit led. Aces are high. The winner of each trick leads the next.

• After 13 tricks, the side that won more scores 1 point for each trick over six. The first six tricks, the 'book', score nothing.
• Only one side can score in a hand. The first side to reach 5 points wins the game.

• Desktop: click a highlighted card in your hand to play it.
• Phone & tablet: tap a card. Cards you can't legally play are dimmed, and your trumps are outlined in gold.
• The turned-up trump card shows in the centre until the dealer takes it into play.

• Daily: everyone gets the same deals each day.
• New Game: a fresh random game with North as your CPU partner.

• Second hand low, third hand high: when you're second to play, usually play low; when you're third, play high enough to win.
• If partner is already winning the trick, don't overtake them. Throw your lowest card.
• Lead from your longest suit. Once trumps are gone, its low cards become winners.
• With five or more trumps, lead them early to draw the opponents' trumps.
• Count the trumps as they fall. Knowing whether any are still out tells you when your side-suit winners are safe.

Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game that was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its name comes from the 17th-century word whist (or wist), meaning quiet, silent or attentive, which is also the root of the modern word wistful.

In the 18th century, whist, played with a 52-card pack, superseded an older game called ruff and honours. In 1742 Edmond Hoyle published A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist, which became the standard text and rules for the game for the next hundred years.

In the early 1890s, whist was quickly replaced in the clubs by a new game called bridge, which grew out of it. The rules here are classic whist as described by pagat.com, without the optional scoring for honours.

Whist is a free browser version of the classic English card game, with CPU partner and opponents, a new daily deal every day and online leaderboards. There's nothing to download and no sign-up.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.