The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick any card may be led. (In subsequent rounds, the winner of the previous round selects the trump suit). The game may be played by two to seven players.įor the first deal the dealer deals seven cards to each player and one card is turned up to indicate that its suit is the trump suit for the first round.
The cards in each suit rank from highest to lowest: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. The ultimate object of Knockout Whist is to be the last player still 'standing' at the end of the game, with the object in each round being to win a majority of tricks.
It is a basic trick-taking game and is a good way to teach the concept of 'tricks' to children. It is often simply called Whist by players who are unfamiliar with the game properly called Whist. Knock-out Whist is a member of the Whist family known by a variety of names including Trumps in Britain, Reduction Whist, Diminishing Whist (from the way one less card is dealt each hand) and Rat.
