Hokm is a trick taking card game, in which the object is to be the first team or player to win 7 points. It's the most popular card game in Iran. Deal and play are anticlockwise.
The word Hokm literally means "command, order" but in card game jargon, it's Persian for trump suit.
At the beginning of each hand, one of the players becomes Hâkem. Hâkem literally means "ruler, governor" and in card game jargon, it refers to a player having certain privileges in the game. In Hokm, these privileges are:
Hokm can be played with 2, 3 or 4 players. If with four players, two players normally team up against the other two.
The game uses a standard 52-card deck. Within each suit, the cards are ranked from highest to lowest: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
The four players are in fixed partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other.
One of the players flips one card to each player anticlockwise. The first player to take an Ace becomes Hâkem. The dealing is continued (notice that Hâkem gets no more card) until another player takes another Ace. This player becomes the partner of Hâkem. If necessary, the players must change seats so that the partners are sitting opposite each other. The player to the left of Hâkem, who is from the opposite team, becomes dealer.
Before the deal, the partner of Hâkem (the player to dealer's left) has the right to cut the deck. The dealer then deals out all the cards in 3 rounds so that each player has 13 cards. Each player receives 5 cards at a time in the first round, and 4 cards in the following rounds. The first cards are dealt to Hâkem (the player to dealer's right) and the deal continues anticlockwise, ending with the dealer. Hâkem must choose and declare the trump suit on the basis of his own first 5 cards only. To avoid any possibility that Hâkem's partner might help by passing information about his cards, the deal must be paused during the first round, and no cards given to Hâkem's partner until Hâkem has declared the trump suit.
Hâkem leads to the first trick. Each player in turn must follow suit. If a player holds no cards of the suit led, that player may play any card (including any trump card). The highest card in the trump suit always wins the trick. If no trump cards are played, the trick goes to the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next.
Before starting the game, one of the 2's is removed from the deck, leaving 51 cards (17 cards for each player). One of the players flips one card at a time to each player anticlockwise. The first player to take an Ace becomes Hâkem and the player to his left becomes dealer.
The dealer deals out all the cards in 4 rounds so that each player has 17 cards. Each player receives 5 cards at a time in the first round, and 4 cards in the following rounds. The Hâkem receives the first cards and the deal continues anticlockwise. The deal is paused after the first round, and continued after Hâkem has declared the trump suit.
Hâkem leads to the first trick. Each player in turn must follow suit. If a player holds no cards of the suit led, that player may play any card (including any trump card). The highest card in the trump suit always wins the trick. If no trump cards are played, the trick goes to the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next.
One of the players flips one card at a time to each player alternately. The first player to take an Ace becomes Hâkem and the other player becomes dealer.
The dealer deals 5 cards at once to Hâkem and 5 to himself and the undealt stock is placed face down in the middle of table. Hâkem examines his cards and declares the trump suit. Then he chooses 3 of his 5 cards to discard face down to start the discard pile. In the same way, the other player discards 2 unwanted cards from his hand face down.
Now Hâkem draws the top card from the undealt stock (without exposing it to his opponent). If he estimates it valuable, he can add it to his hand; otherwise he discards it face down and takes the next card from the top of the stock, which he must keep. If he chose to keep the first card, he must discard the second card face down, having looked at it. Now the other player draws from the stock, choosing to keep the first or second card in the same way. This continues, the players taking turns to draw, until the stock is exhausted. At this point, each player should have 13 cards in hand.
The decision whether to take the first card or wait for the second brings a lot of excitement to the game. Sometimes you miss a valuable card because you have picked the first card. Your opponent must not see any of your discarded cards.
Hâkem leads to the first trick. The other player must follow suit. If he holds no cards of the suit led, he may play any card (including any trump card). The highest card in the trump suit always wins the trick. If no trump cards are played, the trick goes to the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next.
Here is an archive copy of Ali Jahânshiri's Hokm page.
At the Varagh site you can play Hokm online against live players.
At Hokm Buzz you can play Hokm online against live opponents.