Goon Court, Bavan and Bayasi: The Big Sweeps

A Goon Court is all thirteen tricks taken by the side that did not call the trump. At the table it scores 52, which is why the same result is also called a Bavan: bavan is the Urdu word for fifty-two. Goon kot, goon coat, bavan coat, bavney and baunie are more names for that one result, not bigger or smaller versions of it. In our app it is the largest score a single hand can give, 4 match points, and it gets a badge of its own. At the table only one result beats it: bayasi, the 82 coat, a sweep claimed with your cards face up.

Court or Goon Court: who called the trump

Both are sweeps of all thirteen tricks. What separates them is which side named the rung: on your own call it is a Court (kot, coat), worth 13 at the table; on theirs it is the Goon Court, worth 52.

Why a Bavan is worth four Courts

The hakem names the trump after seeing five cards, so the calling side starts every hand with an edge: they picked the suit that suits them. Seven tricks against that edge already beats the call. Taking all thirteen against it means the callers never once made their own trump count, and that is why the table pays 52 for it, four times the 13 for a Court. Only bayasi, the eighty-two of the open-hand challenge, sits above it on the ladder.

Court Piece scoring: 0, 7, 13, 52 and 82

Goon kot, bavan coat, bavney: one result, many spellings

Court Piece is passed on at the table in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Hindi, and people write down what they hear. Kot, coat and court are one word, so goon kot, goon coat and goon court are one result. Bavan turns up as baavan, bawan, bavan coat and bavan court, and you will also see bavney or baunie. They are not separate results of different sizes, a mistake that gets copied from page to page. What makes it a Goon Court is that the other side called the trump, not how lopsided the hand looked.

Court Piece terms: rung, sir, kot, bavan and the rest

Bayasi (82): the open-hand coat

Bayasi means eighty-two, and it is the rarest call in the game. The challenger shows their cards to the opponents and declares that they will still sweep all thirteen tricks. Win it open-handed and it scores 82, a bayasi court; lose it and you take nothing. You will see it written bayasi coat, bayasi court, biyasi, 82 coat or 82 court, and every spelling means the same claim.

It is so hard because nothing is hidden. The opponents can see exactly what you hold and play against it: every suit you are short in and every trump you lack is in front of them. That is why it sits at the top of the ladder, above 13 for a Court and 52 for a Bavan or Goon Court.

Hokm, the Iranian cousin, has nothing like it. Our app does not have the bayasi challenge either; it keeps match points, with +3 for a Court and +4 for a Goon Court.

Playing for one when you defend

A Goon Court is only alive while your side has won every trick. The first trick the callers take ends it, and from then on you are playing for an ordinary defended win, which still pays more than the callers get for winning their own call.

1. Count the rung as it falls. There are thirteen trumps, and the hakem usually names the suit they hold most of in their first five, so expect the callers to hold several. Once theirs are gone, your other winners are safe.
2. Lead trumps when your side holds the high ones. Drawing the callers’ trumps early stops them cutting your aces and kings later.
3. Watch for voids. A caller who has run out of a suit can cut it, and one cut trick ends the sweep. Cash your winners in the suits they still hold first.
4. Do not spend two winners on one trick. If your partner is already winning it, throw a small card. Trumping is never compulsory.

In our Classic mode the hand does not stop at seven while the callers have none. It plays on for all thirteen, and the moment the callers take a trick it ends as an ordinary defended win. That makes the chase free: at 7-0 you have already beaten the call, and the last six tricks only decide between 3 and 4 match points.

In Single Sir the target is shorter. The first seven tricks in a row is already a Goon Court, and a single trick to the callers along the way breaks the run.

Practise defending against bots, free in your browser

How our app scores and celebrates it

The app keeps match points instead of the 0, 7, 13, 52 ladder. The calling side gets 1 for winning a hand and 3 for a Court. The defending side gets 3 for beating the call and 4 for a Goon Court, the most any single hand pays. A match runs to 3, 5, 7 or 10 points.

In Single Sir, taking the first seven tricks straight ends the hand on the spot as a Court (+3) or a Goon Court (+4), and the message bar says which. Hidden Rung has no caller, so it has no Court and no Goon Court: a won hand is 1 point to either side.

Sweep all thirteen and the hand ends on a full-screen badge with confetti and its own sound. A Court gets the gold COURT badge. A Goon Court gets the GOON KOT badge, "Trump callers defeated", with a crimson flare and a second burst of confetti.

Single Sir: where the first seven straight is a Court

Seven straight or all thirteen: where tables differ

Not every table agrees on what a kot is. Pagat.com, the card games reference, counts taking the first seven tricks of a deal as a court in ordinary Court Piece, and in Hokm, the Iranian cousin, a kot is also the first seven in a row. In urban Sindh, Karachi especially, a Court means all thirteen and nothing less, and so does a Goon Court. Our Classic and Double Sir play it the Karachi way. Our Single Sir plays the first-seven way, for the Court and the Goon Court alike. At a new table, settle which one you are playing before the first card, because it decides whether a 7-0 start has already earned the sweep.

The full Court Piece rules, with the other regional differences

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