Court Piece vs Hokm

Court Piece and Hokm play almost the same hand and score it very differently: in Hokm a kot is the first seven tricks in a row and worth 2 points, while in Court Piece a Court is all thirteen and worth 13 at the table. Hokm (حکم) is the Iranian game and Court Piece (رنگ) the South Asian one, and anyone who grew up with one recognises the other within a hand. Both hand the first five cards to a trump caller and both are won by taking seven of thirteen tricks.

Scoring, the biggest difference

Hokm scores by the hand and plays to 7 points: an ordinary win is 1 point, taking the first seven tricks consecutively is a Kot and scores 2, and if the opponents take the first seven consecutively against the Hâkem it is a Hâkem Koti worth 3. Court Piece names its scores after the numbers they are worth: 0 for a lost hand, 7 for a seven-to-six win, 13 for a Court (all thirteen, your own trump), and 52 for a Bavan, all thirteen when the other side called the trump. Bavan literally means fifty-two.

The Bavan has no Hokm equivalent

A Kot in Hokm is about the first seven tricks in a row. A Court in Court Piece is about all thirteen. They are different achievements, and the confusion between them is the most common mistake players make when they move between the two games. Court Piece also keeps the bayasi, eighty-two, where a player shows their hand to the opponents and claims all thirteen anyway. Hokm has nothing like it.

What is the same

More than people expect. Both are four-player partnership games on a full 52-card deck, partners sitting opposite. Both deal anticlockwise and both deal five cards to the trump caller first, then four and four. In both, the caller names the trump suit from those first five cards alone. In both, you must follow the suit led if you can, and if you cannot, trumping is optional rather than compulsory, so you may simply discard. And in both, seven of the thirteen tricks wins the hand.

How the trump caller is chosen

This is the first real difference at the table. In Hokm the dealer flips one card face up to each player anticlockwise, and the first player to receive an Ace becomes the Hâkem. In Court Piece the usual method is a toss: four cards are dealt face up, one to each player, and the team holding the highest card calls the trump. If that ties, the toss is repeated. Same purpose, different ritual, and Court Piece decides it by team rather than by individual.

Who calls next hand

In Hokm the Hâkem keeps the rank as long as their team keeps winning; when they lose, the player to their right becomes Hâkem. Court Piece works by team: win the hand you called and you keep calling, lose it and the right passes to the other side. Court Piece adds a rule Hokm has no equivalent for. If you sweep all thirteen having called the trump, the right to call passes to your own partner rather than staying with you.

The thirteenth-card rule

Court Piece gives a caller who dislikes their five cards a way out: they may ask for a redeal, or declare that the trump will be whatever suit their thirteenth card turns out to be. That is the tehrvin, and it is a real gamble taken in public. Hokm has no such option; the Hâkem names a suit from what they hold.

Which to learn first

If you know either one you already know most of the other, so learn whichever your friends play. Court Piece has the richer scoring and the variants (Single Sir, Double Sir, Hidden Rung), while Hokm is the tighter, faster game with a simple race to seven points. Both reward the same core skill: calling a trump on five cards and counting what has gone. Our app plays Court Piece and keeps match points rather than 7, 13 and 52, and its Single Sir mode is the one with a Hokm-style first-seven Court.

Also known as Court Piece · Coat Pees · Hukum · حکم · Rung · رنگ · Troeff Call · Trump