Ulti

About this board game

Ulti is a three-player trick-taking card game from Hungary, where one player bids, chooses trumps, and plays alone against the other two in partnership.

Ulti developed during the 20th century from the 18th-century card game Marias and the 19th-century game Talonmarias. It is traditionally played with a special William Tell deck containing 32 cards and the German suits Bells, Hearts, Leaves, and Acorns.

Each player receives 10 cards, leaving two cards as the Talon. The starting player may look at the Talon and exchange cards before making a bid. In turn, the other players may also inspect and exchange with it, but doing so requires them to make a bid higher than the previous one.

The bidding can cover a wide range of challenging objectives, including winning the hand, taking the final trick with the seven of trumps in an Ulti, losing every trick in a Betli, or winning every trick in a Durchmars. Most bids can be doubled when Hearts are played as trumps.

• Kontra: A player may declare that they believe the winning bid will fail when the first trick is played.
• Scoring: A successful bid gives its value to the winner; an unsuccessful bid gives that value to the other two players.
• Doubling: A correct Kontra earns double points, or double money when playing for money.

After bidding is complete, the players play out the tricks and check whether the contract succeeded. Ulti has no fixed endpoint, so the group can continue playing hands for as long as it has time.