Twenty Eight Express brings Kerala's favourite trick-taking game to a group of four or six on the same journey, each on their own phone, with no internet needed.
About Twenty Eight Express
Twenty-eight is a game of partners, bids and a hidden trump, and it is at its best with a full table that knows each other. That is a train compartment or a bus on a long ride. One phone hosts, the others join, and teams sit alternately so there is an opponent on either side of you. If the group is short, bots take the empty seats.
The pack is the thirty-two cards from seven to ace, with the sixes added for six players. Jacks are highest and worth three, nines two, aces and tens one each: twenty-eight points in all. Players bid for how many points their side will take, the highest bidder sets a trump face down, and a player who cannot follow suit can ask for it to be shown. A second round of bidding can raise the stakes, and a side can bid to take every trick.
The host chooses the house rules: four or six players, direction of play, the opening bid, the second round, and whether asking for the trump is required.
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 the compartment, and nobody sees a hand that is not theirs.
- Short of players? Bots take the empty seats, so two friends can still sit down to a full table.
- 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
- Four players in two pairs, or six in two teams
- Connects over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, with no internet
- Bidding from 14, with an optional second round from 24
- Hidden trump, and asking for it to be shown
- Bid to take all the tricks
- Bots with an adjustable memory to fill empty seats
- House rules chosen by the host
- Game points carried from hand to hand
- No real money