How to Play Knockout Whist
Description
Whist with elimination. Fail to win a trick in any round and you're out. Last player standing wins.
Objective
Be the last player standing by winning at least one trick every round.
Setup
Two to seven players.
Round one deals seven cards each; every round after that deals one fewer.
The first round's trump suit is set by turning up the next card after dealing.
Rules
Follow suit if you can; if you can't, play anything, including a trump.
Highest trump wins the trick — if no trump was played, highest card of the suit led wins.
Whoever wins a trick leads the next one; whoever won the most tricks last round picks the new trump suit and leads first.
Win no tricks in a round and you're knocked out — except the very first time this happens to anyone, that player gets a "dog's life" instead: a single card next round, played whenever they choose. Win the trick with it and they're back in with a full hand next round; lose it and they're out.
Winning
The game shrinks round by round as players run out of cards and get knocked out.
The last player left is the winner.