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Trix
This page is based on information from Suad Harms, V M and others.

Introduction
Players, Cards and Deal
The Five Contracts
Scoring
Doubling
Tactics
Variations
Other Trex Web Sites
Trex software and online games

Introduction
The compendium card game Trix (sometimes known as "Trex" or "Ticks") is popular in many Middle
Eastern countries, including Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and United Arab
Emirates.

Players, Cards and Deal

Trex is played by four people using a standard international 52-card pack without jokers. The cards in each
suit rank from high to low: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2. Deal and play are counter-clockwise.

To begin the session, the cards are shued, cut and dealt out to the four players, one at a time, so that each
player has 13 cards. It does not ma er who deals rst, but the player who is dealt the 7 of hearts in this rst
deal will "own the kingdom". This player chooses which contract will be played, and will also be dealer for
the next four deals, choosing a dierent contract each time.

After the rst dealer has played all ve contracts, the kindom passes to the player to his right, then to the
player opposite, and nally to the fourth player. Each of these players, during their kindom, must deal ve
times, choosing a dierent contract each time, without repetition. After the four kindoms are complete, 20
deals have been played, every player has chosen every contract once, and the game is over.

The Five Contracts

The rst four contracts are trick-taking games in which the aim is to avoid taking tricks, or particular cards.
The dealer leads to the rst trick, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. Players must follow suit if
they can, and the highest card of the suit led wins the trick.
Contract 1. Sheikh Koobbah (King of Hearts)
The player who takes the trick containing the king of hearts scores minus 75 points. It is illegal to lead a heart
unless you have nothing but hearts in your hand.

Contract 2. Dinari (diamonds)

Each card of the diamond suit taken in a trick counts scores 10 points. When a trick contains diamonds, the
diamonds are kept face up in front of the winner of the trick, so that everyone can see what diamonds have
been taken by whom.

Contract 3. Banat ("girls")

Each queen taken in a trick scores minus 25 points. Queens are stored face up in front of the winner of the
trick in which they were played.

Contract 4. Eltoosh ("slapping"), or Collection

Each trick taken scores minus 15 points.

Contract 5. Trex or Trix

Despite its name, this is the only contract that is not a trick-taking game in the normal Western sense of the
term. It is similar to Fan Tan or Card Dominoes. Players try to get rid of their cards as soon as they by
playing them to a layout, which begins with the jacks, and continues upwards in each suit to the ace and
downwards to the two. The dealer begins and play continues counter-clockwise. At your turn you must play
one card if you can. Legal plays are: any jack, or any card that is one rank higher or lower than a card that
has already been played. If you are unable to play, you pass. The rst player who runs out of cards scores
plus 200 points. The others continue playing and the second scores plus 150 points, the third plus 100 points
and the last gets plus 50 points.
If Trex is announced, any player who holds four twos or three twos and the three of the fourth suit can
require the cards to be thrown in. The cards are shued and redealt, and the dealer can choose any contract
that he has not already played (including Trex).

Scoring
After 20 deals, when all four players have completed their kingdoms by choosing all ve contracts, the game
is over. The nal scores indicate the result - the players with positive scores win by that amount, and the
players with negative scores lose similarly.

The total points available in the ve contracts are -75, -130, -100, -195, +500, so the total scores at the end of
each kingdom and at the end of the whole game are always zero.

Doubling
If the contract is King of Hearts, the holder of the King of Hearts can double by exposing the King of Hearts
before the lead to the rst trick. The eect of this is as follows:

If another player takes the King of Hearts, the holder of the K scores +75 and the player who took it
scores -150.
If the holder of the King of Hearts wins a trick with it, he scores -150 and the player who led to the trick
that it wins scores +75. If the holder himself leads the K and it wins the trick he just scores -75.
In the same way, if the contract is Girls, any player who holds a Queen can double by exposing the Queen.
The score for taking a doubled Queen is -50 and the holder of the Queen scores +25. But if the holder of the
Queen wins it himself, he scores -50 and the player who led to the trick scores +25. If the holder of a doubled
Queen leads it to a trick and it wins, he just scores -25.

Tactics
"King of Hearts" is generally best bid on hands with many hearts, since your other suits are then shorter than
average and you will probably be able to discard the king. Although "King of Hearts" scores only 75, it is
really a big hand, because the 75 all goes to one player, while the 195 points for eltoosh (for example) are
usually distributed between the players. In the "Trex" contract twos and other low cards are a liability, as are
aces to a lesser extent. A "block" of cards like 7-6-5 of a suit can be powerful in a suit in which the 4 3 and 2
are not held.

Variations
The game can be played without doubling.

Some play that in the rst three contracts, a player who is unable to follow suit must discard a penalty card
(king of hearts in contract 1, diamond in contract 2, queen in contract 3) if they have one.

Some players interchange the scores for Dinari (each diamond costs 15 points) and Eltoosh (each trick costs
10 points).

Some players allow hearts to be led at any time in the King of Hearts contract, even if the player has other
suits.

Some players reverse all the scores, giving positive points for the rst four contracts and negative points for
Trex. The object is then to have as low a score as possible at the end. Clearly this makes no dierence to the
way the game is played.

Some play the contracts in a xed order. For example in Jordan the sequence is sometimes: trix, girls, king of
hearts, diamonds, collection.

Trex is sometimes played as a partnership game, partners si ing opposite each other. The game is played the
same way - each player keeps their own score and gets a turn to choose contracts. The only dierence is that
in the contract "Trex", after each player has had their rst turn, all players must put any 2's that they hold
face up on the table, so that everyone knows who has them.

The most obvious way to score the partnership game would be simply to add the partners' scores together at
the end, but some play that instead, the team of the player with the worst individual score loses (and the
other team wins).

It can be agreed in advance that when Sheikh Koobbah (King of Hearts) or Banat (Girls) is announced, any
player who holds a penalty card can place it face up on the table before the rst lead. In this case the player
who takes the card in a trick loses twice as much (-150 for the king of hearts, -50 for a queen) and the player
who held the card scores +75 for the king of hearts or +25 for a queen.
Trex Complex is a recent variant in which a dealer can play two or more of the rst four contracts at the
same time. In this case all the penalty cards and tricks from the contracts being played are scored in that
deal. The number of deals is reduced accordingly - for example if a dealer starts by playing Dinari, Banat and
Eltoosh together, then he has only two more deals, which must be Sheikh Koobbah and Trex (in either order).
This variation is not recommended since it increases the luck factor - a player who is fortunate to deal
himself a hand full of low cards can get a huge score by playing contracts 1-4 all at once.

Other Trix Web Sites

Another description of Trex is available on Wikipedia.

Trix software and online games

Trix can be played online at the Jawaker website.

Another online Trex game is available at onlinetrex.com.

Some computer Trix games for Windows are available:

Trex 2000 (shareware for Windows)

Trix Game from Smadi software (freeware for Windows)
There is also a Trix program for iPhone and iTouch.

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This page is maintained by John McLeod (john@pagat.com). John McLeod, 2007, 2009. Last updated: 19th May 2016