How to Play 400
Description
Hearts are always trump and every player bids for themselves. Four hundred points is the finish line, and your partner's promise is as dangerous as your own.
Objective
Bid privately for the tricks you will take, then race your partnership to a total of 400 points.
Setup
A standard 52-card deck, four players in two fixed partnerships. Thirteen cards each.
Hearts are permanently trump — there is no bidding for suit.
Rules
Each player independently declares how many tricks they personally will take, with a minimum that rises as their score climbs.
Because trump is fixed and bids are individual, the tension is in whether your partner's bid and yours can both be made at once.
Follow suit if you can; otherwise play a heart or discard. Highest heart takes the trick, or the highest card of the suit led.
Winning
Make your personal bid exactly or beat it and you score it; miss it and it is deducted.
The first partnership to reach 400 points wins — the number the game is named for.