2 players, a 30-card deck (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8 in each suit, plus just the 7♠ and 7♥). 11 rounds; the player with the highest cumulative “pulled” total at the end wins.
The dealer carries a fixed 7-trick burden; the other player carries an 8-trick burden. The dealer deals 5 cards to the other player, then 5 to themself. The 8-burden player must call trump on seeing only those 5 cards — before either player receives any table cards.
Once trump is called, each player is dealt 5 more columns of 2 cards each: a hidden bottom card with a visible top card stacked on top of it. No player can see their own hidden cards — not even you. The visible top cards ARE visible to both players. When a visible top card is played, the hidden card underneath it is revealed for both players to see.
On your turn, play any legal card from either your hand or the visible top of one of your table columns, freely. You must follow the led suit if you hold one, in either your hand or on the table; if you're void, you may play anything, including trump. Highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no trump was played. Card strength (low to high): 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. Fifteen tricks are played each round — the whole deck.
Whoever wins more tricks than their burden has “pulled” the extra tricks from the other player. Those pulled tricks become debt owed to the winner.
Once trump and table cards are dealt for the next round, any outstanding debt gets settled one trick at a time. The debtor chooses: let the creditor blindly pick a card (by position, face down) from either the debtor's hand or their hidden table cards — alternating between the two pools each time — or defer. A blind pick always settles that debt the moment it's revealed — if the creditor keeps the card, they give back any card of their choosing in exchange; if they decline, the debtor's hand or table stays untouched, but the debt is still settled either way. Deferring is a pure no-op — the debt carries forward to the next settlement checkpoint.