How to Play Catch the Ten

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Catch the Ten is a partnership trick-taking game played with a stripped deck of 36 cards. It rewards careful card management, sharp memory, and close cooperation between partners. The trump suit dominates every hand, and the Ten of trumps is the single most valuable card on the table, making its capture the central drama of every round.

The game is particularly popular in Scotland, where it has long been a fixture of family gatherings and social clubs. It is compact enough for a kitchen table and engaging enough for serious players: the combination of a simple structure and genuinely interesting decisions keeps it fresh hand after hand.

A little history

Catch the Ten is traditionally associated with Scotland and is sometimes listed as a Scottish national card game, though its precise origins are unclear. It appears to belong to the same broad European family as Scotch Whist and shares clear structural similarities with games of the All Fours group. References to it appear in nineteenth-century Scottish recreational literature, but a definitive earliest date of record has not been firmly established. Some sources treat Scotch Whist and Catch the Ten as the same game under different regional names; others distinguish them by minor rule differences.

Setting up

1. Remove all 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s from a standard deck, leaving 36 cards.
2. Four players sit in two partnerships of two; partners sit opposite each other. For 6 players, form two partnerships of three, again alternating seats around the table.
3. Cut for deal; highest card deals first. The deal passes clockwise after each hand.
4. Shuffle thoroughly and deal all 36 cards clockwise, one at a time, face down: 9 cards each for 4 players, 6 cards each for 6 players.
5. Turn the last card dealt to the dealer face up to determine the trump suit, then add it to the dealer's hand.
6. Agree on a target score before play begins. The standard target is 41 points.

How to play

1. The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick by placing any card face up on the table.
2. Play proceeds clockwise. Each player must follow suit if they hold a card of the led suit.
3. If a player cannot follow suit, they may play any card, including a trump.
4. Trump cards beat all non-trump cards regardless of rank. If no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit wins the trick.
5. If more than one trump is played to a trick, the highest trump wins.
6. The winner of each trick leads to the next trick.
7. Within the trump suit, the ranking from highest to lowest is: Jack, Ten, Ace, King, Queen, 9, 8, 7, 6. In all other suits the ranking is: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6.
8. Continue until all cards have been played, completing 9 tricks per hand (4-player) or 6 tricks per hand (6-player).
9. Score the hand according to the scoring rules below, then deal the next hand.
10. The first partnership to reach or exceed the target score (traditionally 41 points) wins the game.

Winning and scoring

Points come exclusively from trump cards captured in tricks. The scoring values are: Jack of trumps 3 points, Ten of trumps 10 points, Ace of trumps 4 points, King of trumps 3 points, Queen of trumps 2 points, and Nine of trumps 1 point. The remaining trump cards (8, 7, 6) and all non-trump cards score nothing. The total available in any one hand is therefore 23 points. Both partnerships score the trump cards they have captured; if no partnership reaches the target in a given hand, add points cumulatively and deal again. The first partnership whose cumulative total reaches or exceeds 41 points wins the game. In the event that both partnerships cross 41 in the same hand, the partnership with the higher total wins; if scores are level, play an additional hand to break the tie.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns the obligation to follow suit. Following suit is compulsory; a player who fails to follow suit when able commits a revoke. The standard ruling is that a revoke discovered before the trick is turned and quitted may be corrected without penalty. A revoke discovered after the trick is quitted typically results in the offending partnership forfeiting all points scored in that hand, with the points awarded to the opposing partnership instead. Agree on your revoke penalty before the first hand is dealt.

A second common question involves the moment at which trump is established. Trump is fixed the instant the dealer's final card is turned up, before the dealer looks at the rest of their hand. If the turned card is the Jack or Ten of trumps, the dealer holds an immediate scoring advantage, but the card is still part of their hand in the normal way. In 6-player games where the deal comes out exactly even, there is no turn-up card; players must agree in advance whether to determine trump by another method, such as the dealer naming trump after examining their hand, or by cutting to a trump card separately.

How to win more often

• Protect the Ten of trumps: if you hold it, avoid leading it early. Draw out the Jack first, or wait until you are confident the Jack has already been played.
• Count trumps played. Tracking how many of the nine trump cards have fallen tells you whether the Ten or Jack is still at large and guides your decisions in the final tricks.
• Lead from strong non-trump suits to exhaust opponents' hands before springing trumps. Players who run out of a suit are forced to trump or discard, revealing information about their holdings.
• Communicate with your partner through your leads. Leading your highest card in a suit signals strength; leading low signals weakness and invites partner to lead through that suit later.
• When holding both the Jack and the Ten of trumps, lead the Jack early to protect the Ten. Holding them together and leading low elsewhere risks losing the Ten to a forced trump play when you least expect it.

Variations

Scotch Whist

Scotch Whist is the name most commonly used outside Scotland for what is effectively the same game. The rules are identical in most versions, though some published descriptions of Scotch Whist use a 52-card deck dealt to four players (13 cards each) rather than the 36-card stripped deck. In the 52-card version the full hand gives more scope for suit management but the core scoring and objective remain unchanged.

Three-Partnership (6 players)

With 6 players it is also possible to play in three independent partnerships of two rather than two partnerships of three. Each pair aims to reach the target score independently, and the first pair to do so wins. This format increases competition and removes the positional advantage of alternating-seat partnerships, but requires more careful tracking of which opponents currently lead the scores.

Variable Target Score

Some groups set the target at 31 points rather than 41, producing a shorter game better suited to younger players or a quick session. Others play to 51 or 61 for a longer, more decisive contest. The choice of target does not affect the card values or the play itself, only how many hands are typically required to finish.

No-Trump Declaration

In some informal regional variants, rather than turning up the final card to set trump, the dealer may examine their full hand and declare a trump suit of their choice, or declare no trumps for that hand. When no trumps is declared, only the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten of each suit score, at standard face values, and tricks are won purely by rank of the led suit. This variant is not traditional but is widely played in family settings as a way of giving the dealer more agency.

Catch the Ten: frequently asked questions