Call Break is a four-player trick-taking card game played with one standard 52-card deck, in which spades are always trump. Every player gets 13 cards, looks at them, and "calls" how many of the 13 tricks they expect to win. Win at least that many and you score your call. Fall short and you lose it.
A game is usually five rounds. The scores from each round are added up, and the player with the highest total after the last round wins. There are no teams: all four players play for themselves.
This guide covers the beginner rules: the deal, calling, the three rules for playing a card, scoring, and a fully worked round. Our examples use a common app version (calls 1 to 8, +0.1 per extra trick, five rounds) and flag where other versions differ.
Call Break in 30 Seconds
- 4 players, 52 cards, 13 each, so every round has exactly 13 tricks. Spades are always trump.
- Each player calls a number of tricks: at least 1, often capped at 8 (some apps allow up to 13).
- In each trick you must follow suit; if you have none of that suit you must play a spade; and in most apps you must beat the highest card if you can.
- Make your call: score +call, plus 0.1 per extra trick. Miss it: score minus your call.
- After 5 rounds, the highest total wins.
What Is Call Break?
Call Break is a solo trick-taking game in which you predict your own number of tricks and are scored on meeting that prediction. It is popular in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and in parts of India it is also called Call Bridge or Lakdi (Lakadi).
- Deck: one standard 52-card pack, no jokers.
- Card ranking: A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (low) in every suit.
- Trump: spades, every round. The 2♠ beats the A♥, A♦ or A♣.
- Trick: each player plays one card in turn. The highest spade wins; if no spade was played, the highest card of the suit that was led wins.
If you know the American game Spades: Call Break is related, but there are no partners, no zero ("nil") call, and the scoring is different.
How to Play Call Break, Step by Step
Each round goes deal, check, call, play 13 tricks, score; five rounds make a game. Restrictions are shown beside the step they affect.
Choose the first dealer
Draw cards or pick at random (groups differ on whether the highest or lowest card deals). After each round the deal passes one seat in the direction of play.
Deal 13 cards each
The dealer deals the whole deck face down, one card at a time. Direction: traditional play in Nepal and parts of India goes anticlockwise; many apps go clockwise. Keep one direction all game.
Check the deal
Redeal rule (common, not universal): if any player has no spade, or no card higher than 10 (no J, Q, K or A), the same dealer shuffles and deals again. Agree this before you start.
Make the calls
Starting with the player next to the dealer and ending with the dealer, each player calls once. Limits: minimum 1; maximum usually 8 (up to 13 in some apps). Some tables also redeal if the four calls add up to less than 8.
Play 13 tricks
The first caller leads any card. Restrictions after the lead: follow suit; if you cannot, play a spade; and (in most apps) beat the highest card so far if you can. The trick winner leads next.
Score the round
Count each player's tricks. Made the call: +call, plus 0.1 per extra trick. Missed it: −call. The four trick counts must add up to 13.
Finish the game
After five rounds (three in some apps), the highest total wins. We found no standard tie-break rule; apps apply their own.
Calling: How the Bid Works
Your call is the number of tricks you promise to win this round, from a minimum of 1 up to the version's maximum (8 in several app rule pages, 13 in others such as Bhoos). There is no auction: each player states one number, once, after hearing the calls made before them.
The calls do not have to add up to 13. In practice they often total 10 to 12, which leaves one to three "spare" tricks that someone will win as extra tricks.
For a beginner, the simplest method is to count only sure tricks, adding one only if it is almost sure. Here is Aarav's hand from the round scored later.
The A♥ is only "very likely" because a player with no hearts could trump it. The K♦ loses to the A♦, so it is not counted. Aarav calls 3; any further tricks are extras worth 0.1 each.
Trick Rules: Follow, Trump, Beat
Every card after the lead is decided by three rules, checked in this order:
- Follow suit. If you hold any card of the suit that was led, you must play that suit.
- Trump if you are void. If you hold none of the led suit, you must play a spade if you have one. Only with no cards of the led suit and no spades may you play any card.
- Beat if you can (the "overtake" rule). Whatever you play, if one of your allowed cards can beat the highest card so far, you must play a card that beats it. If a spade is already on the trick and you are void in the led suit, you must play a higher spade if you have one.
The trick below, from later in the same round, shows all three rules at work. Play goes Aarav, Bina, Chetan, Deepa.
- Aarav leads, so any card is allowed. He plays 9♥.
- Bina must follow hearts, and her K♥ beats the 9♥, so she must play it. The 4♥ is not allowed.
- Chetan has no hearts, so he must play a spade. Either spade beats the K♥, so both are legal; he plays the 3♠.
- Deepa has no hearts, so she must play a spade that beats the 3♠ if she can. That means the Q♠, not the 2♠. She wins.
Most app rule pages we checked make you beat the highest card when you can; Pagat's main rules only require it when you trump. And if you are void but hold only spades lower than one already played, some versions let you play any card while others still require a spade. Check your app's rules screen, or agree both before a home game.
How Call Break Scoring Works
At the end of each round, you score your call if you won at least that many tricks, plus 0.1 for each extra trick. If you won fewer tricks than you called, you score minus your call.
- Exact: call 2, win 2 → +2.0.
- Extra tricks: call 3, win 5 → 3 + (2 × 0.1) = +3.2.
- Missed: call 4, win 3 → −4.0. Call 4 and win 0 is also −4.0.
The scoring is lopsided. Missing a call of 4 by one trick costs 8 points compared with making it (−4 instead of +4), while one extra trick earns only 0.1. Careful calling matters more than winning lots of tricks.
Pagat's main Call Bridge rules count a call of 8 or more as a bonus call worth 13 points if made (some play 16). In that version you succeed by winning your call or one more trick, not "at least" your call. None of the app rule pages we checked mention this bonus, so do not assume it unless your app or table says so.
Worked Example: One Full Round and a Five-Round Game
Here is a complete round scored step by step, then a whole five-round game, using the common rules above. The players are Aarav, Bina, Chetan and Deepa, and play passes in that order.
Round 1. Deepa deals, so Aarav (next in order) calls first and Deepa calls last.
- Calls: Aarav 3, Bina 4, Chetan 2, Deepa 3. Total 3 + 4 + 2 + 3 = 12, which is at least 8, so there is no redeal.
- Play: Aarav leads the first trick. After 13 tricks, Aarav has won 5, Bina 3, Chetan 2 and Deepa 3. Check: 5 + 3 + 2 + 3 = 13.
- Aarav: 5 won ≥ 3 called. Score = 3 + (5 − 3) × 0.1 = 3 + 0.2 = +3.2.
- Bina: 3 won < 4 called. Score = −4.0.
- Chetan: 2 won = 2 called. Score = +2.0.
- Deepa: 3 won = 3 called. Score = +3.0.
Why is this correct? Every call is 1 to 8, the calls total at least 8, the tricks total 13, and each score uses the same formula. Aarav's two extra tricks (his K♦ and a spade) add only 0.2; Bina's one missing trick turned +4 into −4.
The full game. The deal then moves one seat each round (Aarav deals round 2, Bina round 3, Chetan round 4, Deepa round 5). Each cell shows call/won → score.
| Round | Aarav | Bina | Chetan | Deepa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3/5 → 3.2 | 4/3 → −4 | 2/2 → 2 | 3/3 → 3 |
| 2 | 2/2 → 2 | 3/4 → 3.1 | 4/4 → 4 | 3/3 → 3 |
| 3 | 4/3 → −4 | 2/3 → 2.1 | 3/4 → 3.1 | 3/3 → 3 |
| 4 | 3/3 → 3 | 5/5 → 5 | 1/2 → 1.1 | 2/3 → 2.1 |
| 5 | 2/4 → 2.2 | 3/3 → 3 | 3/3 → 3 | 3/3 → 3 |
| Total | 6.4 | 9.2 | 13.2 | 14.1 |
Working for the totals: Aarav 3.2 + 2 − 4 + 3 + 2.2 = 6.4; Bina −4 + 3.1 + 2.1 + 5 + 3 = 9.2; Chetan 2 + 4 + 3.1 + 1.1 + 3 = 13.2; Deepa 3 + 3 + 3 + 2.1 + 3 = 14.1. Tricks total 13 in every round.
Deepa wins with 14.1 even though she never called more than 3. She never missed a call, while Aarav and Bina each had one −4 round.
Incorrect Example: An Illegal Play and the Fix
The most common beginner error is throwing away a card from another suit when the rules require a spade. Here is trick 7 again, played wrongly.
Aarav leads 9♥ and Bina plays K♥. Chetan has no hearts but holds 8♠ and 3♠. Wanting to save his spades, he plays 5♣. This breaks rule 2: a player who cannot follow suit must play a spade if they have one. It also changes the result: Deepa could now win with her 2♠ and keep her Q♠.
Chetan must play the 8♠ or the 3♠; either beats the K♥. Deepa must then beat his spade: Q♠, not 2♠. At home, take the illegal card back and replay the trick. Apps simply grey out cards you may not play.
A second illegal play would be Bina keeping her K♥ and playing 4♥. Under the beat-if-you-can rule that is not allowed; under Pagat's basic rules it is, which is why you agree this rule first.
Common Mistakes and Rule Variations
Most beginner problems are a few rule slips, plus not knowing which version the table uses.
Common mistakes
- Not trumping when void. If you have spades and none of the led suit, a spade is compulsory.
- Not beating when able. Under the overtake rule, you cannot hold back a card that would win the trick.
- Calling on "maybe" tricks. Kings and queens in side suits often lose to an ace or get trumped.
- Mixing Call Break up with Judgement. Some Indian pages use the name Judgement for Call Break, but Judgement (Kachuful) is usually the Indian name for Oh Hell, a different game in which you must win your call exactly.
Rule variations you may meet
| Rule | This guide (common app rules) | Other versions |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Clockwise in many apps | Anticlockwise in Nepal and parts of India, and in Pagat's rules |
| Minimum call | 1 | 2 in Pagat's main rules |
| Maximum call | 8 | 13 (e.g. Bhoos); "12 is the most sensible" (Pagat) |
| Beat if you can | Required | Only when trumping (Pagat's main rules) |
| Must trump when void | Required | Rarely, not required |
| Extra tricks | +0.1 each | Worth nothing; or winning 2+ extra tricks counts as a miss (Pagat) |
| 8+ call | No bonus | Worth 13 (or 16) if made (Pagat) |
| Redeal | No spade or no card above 10 | Also if calls total under 8, or 9 or less |
| Rounds | 5 | 3 in some apps; open-ended or 10 at home |
Based on the rule pages listed under Sources. Your app's rules screen always overrides this table.
India vs Nepal in short: the rules are the same game, but Nepali households (where Call Break is a Dashain favourite) more often play anticlockwise, while many Indian apps play clockwise. In India you may also hear it called Call Bridge or Lakdi.
Tips for Your First Games
For your first few games, aim to make every call rather than to win the most tricks.
- Call low. Count aces and top spades; treat kings and queens as extras.
- Count spades. There are 13. Knowing which high spades have gone tells you when yours are winners.
- Play side-suit aces early, before other players run out of that suit and can trump them.
- Watch the calls. A player who called 5 or more probably holds strong spades.
Checklist and Next Steps
Before your first deal, agree these points (or check the app's rules screen):
- Four players, 13 cards each, spades always trump.
- Direction agreed (clockwise or anticlockwise), and the deal moves one seat each round.
- Redeal rule agreed (no spade / no card above 10 / low total calls).
- Call range agreed: minimum 1, maximum 8 or 13.
- Follow, trump, beat: all three enforced, or only the first two?
- Scoring: +call, +0.1 per extra trick, −call on a miss. Any 8-trick bonus?
- Five rounds; highest total wins.
🃏 Call Break isn't on Come Game, but Rummy and Teen Patti are
Come Game does not offer Call Break. If you enjoy card games, its library includes Rummy and Teen Patti. New members can claim a ₹10,000 welcome bonus on their first UPI deposit, subject to terms, and withdraw by UPI.
Real-money gaming is for adults 18 and over only, and it is restricted in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Telangana, Nagaland and Sikkim. Set a budget before you play; see our responsible gaming page.
Read next: Indian Rummy rules, Teen Patti rules, Ludo rules, Carrom rules, or the Come Game games library.
Sources
Rules checked on 22 September 2026 against these pages:
- Pagat.com: Call Bridge (also known as Call Break): main rules and variations.
- Pagat.com: Card games of India: Call Bridge; Judgement as Oh Hell.
- Bhoos: Call Break Rules: calls 1–13, must-win rule, 5 rounds.
- Callbreak Multiplayer (KhelLabs): game rules: valid deal, play obligations, scoring.
- CallBreak (callbreak.xyz): rules: calls 1–8, beat/trump rules, scoring.
- Callbreak.org: Call Break Card Game Rules: Nepal vs app direction, redeals.
- Callbreak.app: Callbreak Rules: calls 1–8, five rounds.
- RealCallbreak: How to Play: scoring, 3 or 5 rounds, the name Lakdi.
