4 players, a 32-card deck (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 in each suit). 11 rounds; the team with the highest cumulative point total at the end wins.
Partners sit opposite each other at the table and stay paired for the whole match — there's no bidding or secret reveal involved. You can always see who your partner is.
Everyone is dealt 4 cards, then an open auction begins: any player may bid one of 4 fixed stakes — Quarter Ladu (8 pts), Half Ladu (16 pts), Full Ladu (32 pts), or Double Ladu (64 pts) — each strictly higher than the last, or pass. If someone wins the auction, that hand skips trump entirely and becomes a high-stakes 4-trick mini-round: the bid winner must lead the very first trick with their own highest-ranked card, and their team must win ALL 4 tricks to score the stake. Missing even one trick hands the OTHER team double the stake instead. If nobody bids, play falls through to a normal hand.
If nobody wins the Ladu auction, the player seated to the dealer's right announces trump, everyone is dealt 4 more cards (8 total), and 8 tricks are played. Follow suit if you can; otherwise 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. The suit-calling team scores a flat 8 points if they win 5 or more of the 8 tricks; otherwise the other team scores the 8 points instead.
Normal hands: if the suit team retains, the deal advances by 2 seats (to the dealer's own partner) for the next round; if they fail, it advances by just 1 seat, flipping which team calls trump next. Ladu hands: the deal always advances by exactly 1 seat, regardless of whether the Ladu succeeded or failed.