trick-taking · South Asia (India, Nepal, Bangladesh)
Callbreak
Also known as Call Break · Call Bridge · Lakadi · Lakdi · Ghochi · Racing
Callbreak (also spelled Call Break, and known as Lakdi, Ghochi, Call Bridge and Racing) is one of the most popular card games in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, a festival favourite played with friends and family during Dashain, Tihar and Diwali. Four players each take 13 cards from a standard 52-card deck, spades are permanent trumps, and before every deal each player must "call" (bid) how many of the 13 tricks they expect to win. Make your call and you score those points; fall even one trick short and you lose them all. A game runs over 5 rounds, and the player with the highest total wins. Play Callbreak online free against smart bots or with friends, learn the rules, and master the bidding and trump play that make this game so addictive.
4–4 players · free · no download · no signup
How to play Callbreak
- Seat four players, each playing for themselves, and deal all 52 cards so everyone holds 13. Spades are always trump.
- Look at your hand and call the number of tricks you can win, from 1 up to 13; once called, your bid is locked for the round.
- The player to the dealer's right leads any card (commonly not a spade) to the first trick.
- Follow the led suit if you can, and play a higher card to win the trick when you are able; if you cannot follow suit, play a spade to trump it.
- The highest spade wins the trick, or, if no spade is played, the highest card of the suit led; the winner leads the next trick.
- After all 13 tricks, score each player: make your call for plus points (and +0.1 per extra trick), or miss it and lose points equal to your call.
- Repeat for 5 rounds, rotating the dealer, then add up the scores; the highest cumulative total wins the game.
Callbreak rules
Objective
Callbreak is a trick-taking game for four individual players (no partnerships). The goal is to win at least as many tricks as you 'call' (bid) at the start of each deal. There are 13 tricks per deal and the game is normally played over 5 deals, called rounds. Spades are always the trump suit. After each round you score: if you take as many tricks as you called you gain those points (plus a small bonus for any extra tricks), but if you fall short of your call you lose those points. The player with the highest cumulative score after all 5 rounds wins the game. Because there are no partners, every player is on their own and one bad call can cost you the whole round.
The deck, deal and card ranking
Callbreak uses a standard 52-card pack with no jokers. Cards rank in the usual order, Ace (high) down to 2 (low), in each of the four suits. Spades are permanent trumps: any spade beats any card of the other three suits. The first dealer is chosen at random (often by drawing cards, lowest card deals first). The dealer shuffles and deals all 52 cards out one at a time so that each of the four players has 13 cards. The deal then passes to the next player for the following round. Sources differ on direction, clockwise is the most common, but it is consistent for a given group; what matters is that the turn to deal and to call rotates the same way each round.
Calling (the bid)
After looking at their 13 cards, each player calls the number of tricks they think they can win. In the most common ruleset the minimum call is 1 and the maximum is 13, so even with a weak hand you must commit to at least one trick. (Pagat's 'Call Bridge' variant uses a minimum of 2 and a practical maximum of 12.) Calls are made one player at a time around the table and once made a call cannot be changed. Your call is a binding contract for that round: you are promising to win at least that many tricks. There is no trump-naming auction as in many other Indian games, spades are always trump, so the call is purely about how many tricks you back yourself to take with the hand you were dealt.
Playing a trick (follow suit and trump rules)
The player to the dealer's right (or the player after the dealer, per your group's direction) leads first; the winner of each trick leads the next. Callbreak has strict, distinctive play rules. You must follow the suit that was led if you can. Crucially, most groups require you to win the trick if you are able to: if you can follow suit, you must play a card higher than the highest card so far of the led suit when possible. If you cannot follow the led suit, you must play a spade (trump) if you have one, and if a spade has already been played you must play a higher spade if you can. Only if you can neither follow suit nor beat with a trump may you discard any card. Many groups also forbid leading a spade until spades have been 'broken' (played because someone could not follow suit), though this varies.
Winning the trick
A trick is won by the highest spade played in it. If no spade was played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit that was led, off-suit, non-spade cards never win. The winner gathers the four cards face down as one trick and leads to the next trick. Over the course of the deal all 13 tricks are played out, and each player simply counts how many tricks they personally won. Because spades are always trump, holding the Ace, King and Queen of spades, or just a long run of spades, is extremely powerful for capturing tricks led in other suits.
Scoring
At the end of each round, compare each player's tricks won to their call. If you win exactly your call, you score points equal to your call (call 4, win 4, score +4). If you win more than your call, you score your call plus 0.1 point for each extra (overtrick) trick (call 4, win 6, score 4.2). If you win fewer tricks than your call, you are 'broken': you lose points equal to your full call (call 4, win 3, score -4). The decimal overtrick scoring is deliberate, it rewards a successful call slightly for extra tricks while making the call number itself the thing that matters, and it acts as a tie-breaker. Note that in Pagat's Call Bridge variant you instead simply add or subtract the call (with no decimal bonus, and a special bonus for calls of 8 or more).
Rounds and winning the game
A standard game of Callbreak lasts 5 rounds (deals); the dealer and first caller rotate each round so everyone deals once. Scores are cumulative and carry across all five rounds, including any negative scores from broken calls. After the fifth round, the player with the highest total score is the winner. Because overtricks are worth only 0.1 each, the safest path to victory is to call accurately and deliver exactly, rather than over-call and risk going negative, or under-call and leave easy points on the table. Some groups play more or fewer rounds, but five is the classic and most widely used match length, especially in online and app versions.
Strategy tips
- Count your sure tricks before calling: high spades (Ace, King, Queen) and off-suit Aces are near-certain winners. Call those, and add cautiously for long suits, rather than guessing high.
- Under-call slightly when unsure. Overtricks still earn a small bonus, but falling one short of your call costs you the entire call as a negative, so a safe call that you definitely make beats an ambitious one that breaks you.
- Protect your trumps. Don't waste high spades early; save them to capture opponents' Aces and Kings when they lead suits you are void in.
- Lead your strong off-suit winners (like an Ace) early to bank tricks before opponents run out of that suit and start trumping with spades.
- Watch the spades that have been played. Tracking how many trumps are still out tells you whether your middling spades are now winners and whether it is safe to lead a side suit.
- Play the table, not just your hand. Late in a round, if an opponent has already made their call, they may dump tricks; if a leader needs one more, you can sometimes deny them by forcing out their winners or trumping in.
Variants
Call Bridge (Pagat ruleset: minimum call 2, maximum 12, no decimal overtrick bonus) · Bonus calls (calls of 8 or more score 13 points instead of the call amount if made) · Minimum-1 calling with 0.1 per overtrick (the common Indian/Nepali ruleset) · Spades-not-broken rule (spades may not be led until a player trumps in) · Alternate trump suit (some groups let the trump be set to clubs, diamonds or hearts) · Longer or shorter matches (more or fewer than 5 rounds) · Minimum combined call (round redealt if the four calls do not total at least 10) · Cash and tournament formats (Lakdi/Ghochi online versions)
Callbreak — frequently asked questions
How do you play Callbreak?
Four players each get 13 cards from a 52-card deck, with spades as permanent trump. Each player calls how many of the 13 tricks they expect to win. You then play out the tricks, following the led suit if you can and otherwise trumping with a spade. If you win at least as many tricks as you called you score those points (plus 0.1 per extra trick); if you fall short you lose points equal to your call. The game is played over 5 rounds and the highest total score wins.
What are the basic rules of Callbreak?
Spades are always trump. You must follow the suit led if you can, and in most versions you must play a winning (higher) card when able. If you cannot follow suit you must play a spade if you have one, and a higher spade if a spade is already in the trick. The highest spade wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no spade was played. You must call at least 1 trick, and you are committed to your call for the whole round.
How is Callbreak scored?
If you win exactly the number of tricks you called, you score points equal to your call. If you win more, you get your call plus 0.1 point for each extra trick (so calling 4 and winning 6 scores 4.2). If you win fewer tricks than you called, you lose points equal to your full call (calling 4 and winning 3 scores -4). Scores accumulate across all 5 rounds.
What happens if you don't make your call in Callbreak?
If you win fewer tricks than you called, you are 'broken' and you lose points equal to your entire call, regardless of how many tricks you actually won. For example, if you call 5 but win only 4, you score minus 5 for that round. This is why accurate, slightly conservative calling is so important, a missed call is a heavy penalty.
What is the minimum and maximum call in Callbreak?
In the most common Indian and Nepali ruleset, the minimum call is 1 and the maximum is 13, so every player must call at least one trick, even with a weak hand. In Pagat's 'Call Bridge' version the minimum is 2 and the highest sensible call is 12. There is no auction to choose trumps, spades are always trump, so the call is only about how many tricks you can win.
How many players and rounds are in Callbreak?
Callbreak is played by exactly 4 players, each on their own (there are no partnerships). A standard game lasts 5 rounds, with each player dealing once. Scores carry over from round to round, and after the fifth round the player with the highest cumulative score wins.