Callbreak - Rules, History & Strategy Guide

Callbreak is a trick-taking game played widely in Nepal, India and Bangladesh. It is also known as Call Bridge, and in parts of India as Lakdi or Lakadi. Regional house rules differ, so two players from different regions can describe the same game slightly differently.

It sits in the same family as Spades: four players, thirteen cards each and spades as permanent trump. The differences matter though. Callbreak is played individually rather than in partnerships, it runs a fixed number of rounds, and it adds the rule that makes it distinctive: if you can beat the highest card of the led suit, you must.

In Arcadia's version you play five rounds against three computer opponents, with every player scoring for themselves.

1. All 52 cards are dealt to four players, thirteen each. Dealing, bidding and play run counterclockwise.
2. Each player bids once, a whole number from 1 to 13. There is no second round and no pass.
3. Follow the led suit if you can. If you hold a higher card in that suit than the highest one played, you must play a higher card.
4. That obligation lifts once the trick has been trumped: then following suit is enough.
5. With none of the led suit, play a spade that beats every spade in the trick if you have one; otherwise any card.
6. Make your bid to score it plus 0.1 for every extra trick. Miss it and the bid is subtracted. The highest total after five rounds wins.

• Count your likely winners before bidding: high cards in side suits, the length of your spades and short suits that let you trump early.
• A player who follows with a low card may simply hold nothing higher. That inference changes once a spade has been played, because then the obligation to head the trick is gone.
• A low spade wins tricks while no other trump has appeared. Saving the high ones for later rounds is often worth more than taking a trick you did not need.
• Secure your own bid first. After that an extra trick is worth only a tenth of a point, while stopping an opponent from making their bid costs them the whole bid.

Callbreak varies by region. Some tables play four rounds, some nine; some allow a bid of zero, some settle ties differently. Arcadia plays one fixed set of rules: five rounds, bids from 1 to 13, the obligation to play higher, and 0.1 per overtrick.

The closest relative is Spades, which is played in partnerships and uses nil bids and bag penalties. Neither appears here.