Kung och Adel
Introduction
The name of this Swedish four-player trick-taking game means 'King and Noble'. The players are assigned social ranks: king or queen, noble, peasant and fool, and at the end of each hand players are promoted or demoted according to their success in winning their quota of tricks. The higher ranking players enjoy various benefits but also have a higher quota of tricks that they need to win to retain their ranks.
The aim is to achieve a high rank, ideally the monarch (king or queen) and to retain it as long as possible, but the game has no definite end. The players carry on playing for as long as they wish and there is no overall winner.
This kind of social ranking of players is characteristic of a number of climbing games of oriental origin, the best known of which in the west is probably President under its many names (in Sweden President is usually called Tölp, i.e. fool, which is also the name of the lowest rank in Kung och Adel). It is unusual for social ranks to be used in this way in a trick-taking game.
This page is based on a contribution from Johan Liu.
Players and Cards
This is a game for four players without partnerships, using a standard international 52-card pack without jokers. The rank of cards in each suit from highest to lowest is A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The direction of play is clockwise.
Deal, Trumps and Tribute
At the start of the game each player is assigned a rank by drawing a card from the shuffled pack. Whoever draws the highest card (ignoring suits) is the king (kung) or queen (drottning), the second highest is the noble (adel), the third is the peasant (bonde) and the lowest is the fool (tölp). If two or more players draw equal cards, those players each draw a second card to settle the tie between them. Example: Liza, James, Donald and Anne are playing. They each draw a card: Liza 7, James 4, Donald 2, Anne 4. So Liza is the queen and Donald is the fool. James and Anne have to draw a second card to decide which of them will be the noble. James draws a 10 and Anne a king, so Anne is the noble and Janes is the peasant.
It is the fool's job to shuffle the cards, and then deal them one at a time until each player has a hand of six cards. All players look at their cards and the monarch (king or queen) decides and announces which suit will be trumps. Alternatively, if the monarch has no card higher than a 10, they may order a reshuffle: the fool must collect the cards, shuffle them and deal 6 cards each again. The monarch may continue to order reshuffles until they receive a 6-card hand that contains at least one jack or higher card, at which point they must announce a trump suit.
When trumps have been announced, the fool completes the deal, giving 7 more cards to each player so that each has a hand of 13 cards.
Next the fool and the peasant must pay tribute. The fool gives their two best cards face down to the monarch and the peasant gives their best card face down to the noble. In return the monarch gives any two unwanted cards face down to the fool and the noble gives any one unwanted card face down to the peasant. "Best card" means highest trump, or if the player does not have enough trumps then the highest card(s) irrespective of suit. If there is a choice of equally high non-trump cards the player giving tribute has a free choice which of them to give. For example the fool holding just one trump, no aces and two kings chooses which king to give to the monarch along with the trump. In rare cases the monrach or noble might give back a card that they had received.
Play
The monarch decides who should lead to the first trick. The chosen player may lead any card and the other players, in clockwise order, each play a card. Players must if possible follow suit, by playing a card of the suit that was led. A player who has no card of the suit that was led may play any card.
The trick is won by the highest trump in it, or if it contains no trumps by the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner of the trick stores the four cards face down in a packet and leads any card to the next trick.
Result
After all 13 tricks have been played each player counts the trick they have won and these are compared to their quotas, which are:
- monarch: 6 tricks
- noble: 4 tricks
- peasant: 2 tricks
- fool: 1 trick
For the next deal, players who take at least their quota of tricks are ranked highest retaining their current relative ranks. The players who fall short of their quota are ranked lowest and their order is inverted.
Examples:
- monarch: 6 ✓ remains monarch
- noble: 3 ✕ demoted to fool
- peasant: 3 ✓ promoted to noble
- fool: 1 ✓ promoted to peasant
- monarch: 5 ✕ demoted to fool
- noble: 3 ✕ demoted to peasant
- peasant: 2 ✓promoted to monarch
- fool: 3 ✓ promoted to noble
The new fool shuffles and deals the next hand and the game continues with further deals for as long as the players wish.
Variations
Trumps and Tribute
The page Riddare, bonde, kung eller tölp? gives slightly different rules. The monarch sees all 13 of their cards before choosing trumps, and when paying tribute the cards are passed simultaneously, so that the monarch and noble have to decide what cards they will give to the fool and peasant before looking at the tribute they are given, and it is not possible to return the same card(s).
Promotion and Demotion
Some play that the ranks for the new deal are determined by the number of tricks by which each player over- or underperforms compared to their quota. Those who perform equally well compared to their quotas keep their relative ranks. For example:
- monarch: 6 (quota) demoted to noble
- noble: 3 (1 down) demoted to fool
- peasant: 3 (1 up) promoted to monarch
- fool: 1 (quota) promoted to peasant
or
- monarch: (1 down) demoted to peasant
- noble: 3 (1 down) demoted to fool
- peasant: (quota) promoted to noble
- fool: 3 (2 up) promoted to monarch