Ulti

Ulti is the national card game of Hungary.

Background to the Game

It was developed in the 20th century from the rules of the 18th century card game Marias and the 19th century card game Talonmarias. It is traditionally played with a special deck of cards called the William Tell deck. The deck has 32 cards - like a modern Skat deck - but uses German suits (Bells, Hearts, Leaves, Acorns).

The Game

Ulti is a trick-taking game for three players. In each hand the player who wins the bidding chooses trumps (or no trumps) and plays alone against the other two players in partnership.

Each player is dealt 10 cards. The start player is allowed to look at and swap with the two cards left over (called a Talon). Once they have done this they must make a bid. Each player in turn can choose to look at the Talon and swap cards with it but if they do they must make a bid which is of higher value than the previous one.