29 Express is twenty-nine for four players in two pairs, each on their own phone: bid from 16 to 28, put the trump face down, and take the points. First side to six game points wins.
About 29 Express
Twenty-nine is the trick game of north and east India, Bangladesh and Nepal, played with the thirty-two cards from seven to ace, and it needs four people at one table, which a long journey provides. 29 Express keeps the game and drops the table: one phone hosts, the other three join with a short code, and nothing needs a server or an account. Partners sit opposite, and bots fill any empty seat.
The jack is the highest card of each suit, then the nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight and seven. Jacks are worth three points, nines two, aces and tens one: twenty-eight in the cards, and the last trick is a point of its own, which makes twenty-nine. Four cards each, then one round of bidding from sixteen to twenty-eight, the opponents answering first. The bidder puts one card face down as trump, and it stays hidden until somebody who cannot follow suit asks for it.
A table can allow doubling and redoubling, and the pair: show the king and queen of trumps once the trump is out, and the bid comes down by four for you or goes up by four for the other side. The bidding side wins or loses a game point on the six, more if doubled.
Made for the journey
- No internet, no mobile data. The phones talk to each other directly, so a game carries on through tunnels, ghats and stretches with no signal at all.
- Everyone on their own phone. Nobody passes a handset round, and nobody sees a hand that is not theirs.
- Short of players? Bots take the empty seats, each with a setting for how closely it follows the play.
- A dropped link is not the end of the hand. A phone that loses the connection can join the same table again.
- No sign-in and no real money. Install it, open it, play.
How playing together works, and tips for trains, buses and flights
Features
- Twenty-nine for four players in two pairs, partners opposite
- One round of bidding, 16 to 28, with the opponents answering first
- The trump face down until somebody asks for it
- Doubling, redoubling and the pair, as table choices
- Games to six game points, with every hand on the score sheet
- Quick game: save a table of bots, and open it in one tap
- Bots that bid what they hold and play to the hidden trump
- Connects over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Google Nearby, with no internet
- No sign-in, no server, no real money