Twenty-eight (card game)

Twenty-eight is an Indian trick-taking card game for four players in which the Jack and the nine rank as the highest cards in every suit, followed by the ace and the ten, an unusual card ranking that distinguishes it from most European trick-taking games. It is believed to descend from the game called 304 and to be related to the European family of Jass card games, and it is especially popular in the Lakhisarai district of the Indian state of Bihar and across Kerala in South India, where it is known by its Malayalam name Irupathiyettu. The standard game uses thirty-two cards from a normal deck, is played by four fixed partners in two teams, and is named for the twenty-eight points available from the highest-ranking cards in the deal. Related Indian card games in the same family include games known locally as 29, 40 and 56, each varying the point target and card count while keeping the same unusual Jack-nine-ace-ten ranking at their core.