Description

This is a trick-taking game with fairly standard mechanics. Players are dealt five-card hands (or equal hands of less than five cards, if the deck is nearly exhausted). The highest card played wins a trick, and players must follow suit if possible. Players who cannot follow suit can play a non-trump card (automatically losing the round) or a trump card (potentially winning the round, unless a higher trump is played). The trump suit is determined by rolling a special die showing the four suits plus one side with both red suits and another side with both black suits. When a side with multiple suits is rolled, the dealer gets to pick which suit is trump. The trump suit and dealer change every time the deck is exhausted.

Small plastic poker chips also play a part in the game. Players start with an equal amount of chips. A plastic tray is kept at the center of the board during play. At the end of every trick in which a trump was played, all losing players have to place a chip in the "Suits" section of the tray. Whenever a King is played, players place chips in the "Jackpot" section of the tray. Each player has a game card showing the four suits. Whenever a player wins a trick, he or she places a special yellow "Hoyle" tile under the leading suit for the trick. Whenever a player fills all three spaces under a suit, he or she wins the chips in the "Suits" area of the tray and the other players have to put chips into that area. Whenever a pre-determined number of suits are filled in, the "Jackpot" is won along with the "Suits" area.

After a player has filled in a suit, he or she gains the ability to "freeze" the suit -- upon winning a suit for the fourth time, the player can flip over one of the tiles on his or her card. This prevents any other player from placing a tile under this suit -- instead, the only option they have is to "unfreeze" the suit by flipping their opponent's tile back over. It's possible for all three tiles to get flipped, making it very difficult for anyone else to win in the suit.

The game has no predefined end. The rules suggest playing for a certain amount of time, eliminating players who run out of chips until only a single player remains, or playing for a pre-determined amount of time. The play time listed in this entry reflects a single round of play, not an entire game.