How to Play La Pocha
Description
Bid exactly right and you score big — but the last bidder can never make the maths easy for themselves.
Objective
Score the most points across a series of hands by bidding exactly how many tricks you'll win, then delivering on it.
Setup
Four or five players, using a 40-card Spanish-style deck.
Hand sizes change each round, typically rising then falling back down. A trump suit is set for each round.
Rules
Each player bids how many tricks they think they'll win that round — the dealer bids last, and can't name a number that would make every bid add up exactly to the tricks available, so someone's always guaranteed to be wrong.
Play tricks in turn, following suit if you can; trump wins over any other suit.
Winning
Make your bid exactly and you score 10 points, plus 5 for every trick you won.
Miss it, and you lose 5 points for every trick you were off by.
Highest total after all rounds wins.