Trix (also written Trex) is one of the best-loved card games in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq. It is a compound game: instead of playing one set of rules all night, the match is split into “kingdoms”, and in each kingdom the table plays five different mini-games called contracts. Four of them are about dodging penalty cards — the King of Hearts, the Queens, the Diamonds and the tricks themselves — and the fifth, Trix, is a race to empty your hand onto four shared ladders of cards.
What makes Trix special is that there are no partners. Every player is on their own, and whoever owns the kingdom chooses the order of the contracts, so reading your hand and picking the right contract at the right moment matters as much as how you play the cards. Add the bold option to double the King of Hearts or your Queens, and every deal becomes a small battle of nerve.
On Dananeer you can play Trix online for free on iOS, Android and the web at play.dananeer.io. Open a private room for your friends and talk across the table with live voice and video chat, join players from anywhere with cross-play, or practise offline against bots whenever you like. There is no real-money gambling — just the game as it is played around the table at home.
Components
Trix uses one standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Cards rank from Ace (high) down to 2 in every suit, and the Ace is always high.
Cards have no points of their own. A few cards simply matter more depending on the contract being played:
- The King of Hearts — the penalty card of the King contract.
- The four Queens — the penalty cards of the Queens contract.
- All 13 Diamonds — the penalty cards of the Diamonds contract.
- The four Jacks — the starting cards of the Trix contract.
- The 7 of Hearts — used once, at the start of the match, to decide who owns the first kingdom.
Setup and kingdoms
Four players are each dealt 13 cards, so the whole deck is in play. There is no stock pile and no discard pile.
A match is divided into four kingdoms. Each kingdom belongs to one player, the kingdom owner. The player holding the 7 of Hearts after the first deal owns the first kingdom, and ownership then passes one seat along after each kingdom, so every player owns exactly one kingdom in a full match.
Inside their kingdom, the owner chooses which contract is played next, one per deal, until all five have been played once. A contract already played in that kingdom cannot be chosen again. The kingdom owner also leads the first trick (or places the first card in Trix) in every deal of their kingdom.
Objective
Your goal is to finish the match with the highest total score. In the four trick contracts you try to avoid penalty cards and tricks, so every point there is negative. In the Trix contract you race to shed your cards first, and every point there is positive. Because most points are penalties, totals are usually negative — the winner is the player whose score is highest, or least negative.
How a trick is played
The King, Queens, Diamonds and Collections contracts are all played in tricks, with the same simple rules.
- The leader plays any card face up. Its suit is the lead suit.
- Going around the table, each player plays one card. If you hold a card of the lead suit you must play one (follow suit).
- If you have no card of the lead suit, you may play any card — this is how you get rid of dangerous cards.
- There are no trumps. The highest card of the lead suit wins the trick; cards of other suits can never win.
- The winner takes the trick, is charged any penalty it carries, and leads the next trick.
The five contracts
Each kingdom contains the same five contracts. The kingdom owner decides the order.
- King of Hearts (the King): avoid winning the trick that contains the King of Hearts. It costs −75. The deal ends the moment it is taken.
- Queens: avoid winning Queens. Each Queen in a trick you win costs −25. The deal ends once all four Queens have been taken.
- Diamonds: avoid winning Diamonds. Each Diamond in a trick you win costs −10. The deal ends once all 13 Diamonds have been taken.
- Collections (Ltoosh): avoid winning any trick at all. Every trick you win costs −15, whatever it contains. All 13 tricks are played, so −195 is shared out in every Collections deal.
- Trix: a completely different game with no tricks. Players build four ladders of cards starting from the Jacks and race to empty their hands. Points are positive.
The Trix contract (the ladder game)
In the Trix contract there are no tricks. Instead, four public ladders are built on the table, one for each suit, and each ladder grows outward from its Jack: upward through Queen, King and Ace, and downward through 10, 9 and so on to 2.
On your turn you place exactly one legal card. A Jack is always legal and starts its suit’s ladder. Any other card is legal only if its suit’s Jack is already down and the card sits directly next to the current end of the ladder — one above the highest card, or one below the lowest. So right after a Jack is played, the legal cards in that suit are its Queen and its 10. There is no wrap-around from Ace to 2.
You never draw. If you have no legal card you must pass, and if you have a legal card you must play one — you cannot pass by choice. When you place your last card you have gone out and are scored immediately. The contract continues until all 52 cards are on the table.
Doubling the King and Queens
Before the first card of a King of Hearts or Queens contract, players holding the penalty cards may double them. In the King contract the holder of the King of Hearts is asked; in the Queens contract every player holding at least one Queen is asked, and may double one, several or all of their Queens. Answers stay secret until everyone has decided, then all doubled cards are revealed together and play begins. Doubling is not offered in Diamonds, Collections or Trix.
- Doubled King of Hearts: whoever takes it loses −150 instead of −75. If the doubler did not take it, the doubler gains +75. If the doubler was forced to take it on another player’s lead, the player who led that trick gains +75.
- Doubled Queen: each doubled Queen costs the player who takes it an extra −25, so −50 in total. If none of the doublers took the trick, each doubler gains +25. If a doubler took it, every other doubler in that trick gains +25, and the player who led the trick also gains +25 if they were not the one who took it.
Scoring
Scores are added up at the end of every deal and carried into each player’s running total. In the Trix contract, points are awarded in the order players go out:
| Contract | What scores | Points |
|---|---|---|
| King of Hearts | Taking the King of Hearts | −75 (−150 if doubled) |
| Queens | Each Queen taken | −25 each (−50 if doubled) |
| Diamonds | Each Diamond taken | −10 each |
| Collections | Each trick taken | −15 each |
| Trix | 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th player out | +200 / +150 / +100 / +50 |
Winning the match
A full match is 20 deals: four kingdoms of five contracts each. After the last contract of the fourth kingdom, the player with the highest total score wins. If two or more players share the highest total, they are all winners.
Strategy tips
- As kingdom owner, pick contracts to suit your hand: play Diamonds when you are short in diamonds, and choose Trix when you hold Jacks and cards close to them.
- Get void in a suit early. Once you have no cards of a suit, you can throw your King of Hearts, Queens or Diamonds when that suit is led.
- Only double when you are confident you can dodge the card — a doubled King that comes back to you costs −150 and can also hand +75 to the player who led.
- In Collections, lead low cards and get rid of your high cards when you cannot follow suit, since every trick costs −15.
- In the Trix contract, hold back cards that unlock long runs for your opponents, and play Jacks that open suits where you hold the most cards.
- Keep track of which Queens and Diamonds have already fallen so you know when a lead is safe.
Frequently asked questions
How many players are needed for Trix?
Trix is played by 4 players, each playing for themselves with no partnerships. On Dananeer, bots can fill empty seats so you can always start a game.
What are the five contracts in Trix?
King of Hearts, Queens, Diamonds, Collections (Ltoosh) and Trix. The first four are penalty contracts where you avoid certain cards or tricks; Trix is a ladder game where you race to empty your hand.
What is a kingdom in Trix?
A kingdom is a set of five deals owned by one player, who chooses the order of the five contracts. A full match has four kingdoms, so every player owns one.
Who starts in Trix?
The player holding the 7 of Hearts after the first deal owns the first kingdom and leads first. Ownership then moves one seat along for each new kingdom.
How much is the King of Hearts worth in Trix?
Taking the King of Hearts costs −75, or −150 if it has been doubled. The King contract ends as soon as it is taken.
Are there trumps in Trix?
No. Trix never uses trumps — every trick is won by the highest card of the suit that was led.
What is the difference between Trix and Trix Complex?
Trix Complex merges the four penalty contracts into one contract where every penalty counts at once, so each kingdom has only two deals instead of five.
Can I play Trix online for free?
Yes. Dananeer lets you play Trix free on iOS, Android and the web, with private rooms, live voice and video chat, and offline games against bots. There is no real-money gambling.
