These are Sahrat’s default rules. Where tables differ from one majlis to another, the difference is a table option, and every option is free.
Hand in Sahrat is Saudi Hand as most people play it; plain Hand (51 for everyone) is a table option.
1Players
- Solo: each for himself, 2 to 4 players.
- Partners: four players, your partner across from you; the team’s score is the sum of both.
2Cards and the deal
- Two decks and two jokers: 106 cards.
- Each player gets 14 cards; the player on the dealer’s right gets 15 and starts by throwing one card on «كومة النار» (the fire pile, the discard pile).
- The rest is «السحبة» (the stock), face down.
- Play goes to the right, and the deal moves to the right each round.
3Your turn
- Draw one card: from the stock, or the last card thrown on the fire pile.
- Lay down melds (once you have opened), lay off on open melds, or swap a joker.
- Throw one card on the fire pile to end your turn.
- If you take from the fire pile, you must use that card in what you lay down the same turn. If you have not opened yet, taking it means you open this turn.
- A joker may never be thrown.
- When the stock runs out, the fire pile (except its top card) is shuffled fairly into a new stock.
4Melds
- Three cards or more: a run in one suit, or a set of one rank in different suits (four at most; no suit twice).
- Ace: low with 2 and 3 (worth 1), or high after the King. No wrapping (King, Ace, 2).
- Values: 2 to 10 at face value; Jack, Queen and King 10; Ace 11 (1 in Ace-2-3).
- A joker stands for any card and counts as the card it replaces. At most one joker per meld, never two side by side in a run.
5The opening («النزول»)
- Your first lay-down must total 51 or more.
- In Saudi Hand, every later opening must beat the last opening by at least one. (In plain Hand it is 51 for everyone.)
- In partners: the first team opens with 51 or more; the other team must beat the first team’s highest opening by at least one.
- Before you open you cannot lay off or take a joker from the table.
6Laying off and swapping jokers
- Once you have opened you may lay off on any open meld: yours, your partner’s or an opponent’s.
- Joker swap: if you hold the card a joker stands for, put it in the joker’s place and take the joker. A run needs one card; a set needs two. Only after opening, on your turn, and the joker must be used in a lay-down the same turn.
7Going out, and «هاند»
- A round ends when a player has no cards left. You go out by throwing your last card.
- «هاند» (a Hand): laying down all your cards at once in one turn, without having opened before and without laying off on anyone’s melds. A Hand goes out without a throw, and every point in the round is doubled.
8Scoring a round
- The player who goes out: −30, or −60 with a Hand.
- Everyone else: the value of the cards left in hand; Ace 11, joker 15.
- A player who never opened: a flat 100, or 200 in a round that ended with a Hand.
- After a Hand, every loser’s score is doubled.
- In partners: a partner going out means the team goes out: −30 or −60 for the team.
9The match
- Five rounds; the lowest total wins.
- A tie after five rounds plays one extra round. Still tied: the place is shared.
- At coin tables (table coins are earned by playing, never sold), after the 10% table fee: with two players the winner takes it all; with three or four, first 70% and second 30%; partners split equally.
10Table types
- «سهل» (easy): illegal moves are blocked, with lay-down hints; 20 seconds a turn.
- The strict table: no hints, 15 seconds a turn, and partner chat closed during a round (open between rounds).
- At both, an invalid meld is refused: every meld is public and the server checks it.
- Bots only at free tables. A bot that takes a seat plays on with the same hand; leaving never re-deals.
11A fair shuffle
Every round has a fair shuffle from a secret fixed before it starts, and you can replay every deal from that secret once it is revealed, on the «تحقق» (Verify) page.