How to Play Manni
Manni is a lively trick-taking game for exactly three players, and one of the best-loved card games in Iceland. It is the kind of game that comes out at Christmas and on long winter evenings, with a pencil, a scrap of paper and plenty of friendly argument. Its charm is that no two hands feel the same: a single card cut from the pack decides whether you will be fighting for tricks or trying hard to avoid them.
Several versions are played in different parts of the country. The rules below are for the popular version from Hornafjörður in the southeast, often called Hornafjarðarmanni, and they are the rules our free online Manni game uses. The rule variations page describes the older "Basic Manni" and other home rules.
What You Need
- Three players, each playing for themselves.
- A standard 52-card deck, no jokers. Aces are high, except in a Nullo hand (more on that below).
- A pencil and paper with two columns for each player: plus points and minus points.
Seating, dealing and play all go to the left (clockwise). The deal passes to the left after every hand. In our game you sit at the bottom, West is on your left and East on your right.
The Aim
Each hand is twelve tricks. With three players, a fair share is four tricks each, and four is called par. In most hands you want to beat par by taking more than four tricks. In a Nullo hand you want to stay under par by taking fewer than four. The first player to collect 10 plus points ends the game, but the winner is whoever has the best net score once minus points are taken away.
Step 1: The Cut Sets the Contract
Before the deal, the dealer shuffles and the player on the dealer's right cuts the pack and shows everyone the card they cut to. That card sets the contract for the whole hand:
| Cut card | Contract | What you try to do |
|---|---|---|
| 2, 3, 4 or 5 | Nullo | Take as few tricks as you can. No trump. The ace is the lowest card, below the 2. |
| 6, 7, 8 or 9 | Trump | Take as many tricks as you can. The suit of the cut card is trump. |
| 10, jack, queen, king or ace | No trump | Take as many tricks as you can. There is no trump. |
The cut card is then placed at the bottom of the pack. Because of the way the cards are dealt, the bottom card is the last one dealt, so it always ends up in the dealer's hand. Everyone knows the dealer started with it, which is worth remembering during play.
Example. West is dealing, so you (on West's right) cut. You turn up the 7 of hearts: hearts are trump this hand. Had you turned up the 4 of clubs, the hand would be Nullo; a queen of anything would mean no trump.
Step 2: The Deal and the Manni
The dealer deals face down, starting with a packet of four cards to the Manni, a spare pile in the middle of the table. Then three cards go to each player, starting on the dealer's left and ending with the dealer. This pattern (four to the Manni, three to each player) repeats until the pack runs out, four rounds in all.
When the deal is done, each player has 12 cards and the Manni has 16. The Manni stays face down and in order; nobody may look at it.
Step 3: Swapping with the Manni
Now each player gets one chance to improve their hand, in this order:
- The player on the dealer's left may discard up to 7 cards and take the same number from the top of the Manni.
- The player on the dealer's right may discard up to 5 cards and replace them the same way.
- The dealer may discard and replace up to as many cards as are left in the Manni.
Swapping is optional; you may keep your hand as dealt. You must choose your discards before you see the replacements, and the discarded cards are put aside face down, out of play for the rest of the hand. Other players see how many cards you swapped, but not which ones.
Example. You are on the dealer's left in a no-trump hand. You hold two aces and a long run of diamonds, plus four small clubs and spades that will never win a trick. You discard those four, take the top four cards from the Manni, and hope for a king or two. West, next, can swap up to five. If West swaps three, the Manni has nine cards left, and East, the dealer, may swap up to nine.
In our online game, tap the cards you want to swap. The button says exactly what will happen ("Swap 3 cards with the Manni"), and Hint suggests which cards to swap and why.
Step 4: Playing the Tricks
The player on the dealer's left leads the first trick with any card. Going to the left, each player plays one card. You must follow suit if you can. If you have none of the suit led, you may play any card, including a trump.
- If any trumps were played, the highest trump wins the trick.
- Otherwise, the highest card of the suit that was led wins. A card of another suit never wins.
- The winner of each trick leads the next one.
In trump and no-trump hands, cards rank from ace (high) down to 2. In a Nullo hand there is no trump and the ace is the lowest card, so the ranking is king (high), queen, jack, 10 and so on down to 2, then ace. An ace in Nullo is a safe card: it can never win a trick unless it is led and nobody else can follow suit.
Example, Nullo. East leads the 6 of spades. You hold the ace, 3 and jack of spades. The ace is the lowest card, so playing it is the safest way to lose this trick. West, last, follows with the 9 of spades and has to take it with the highest spade played.
Step 5: Scoring a Hand
When all twelve tricks have been played, each player counts the tricks they took and compares them with par, which is four.
| Tricks taken | Trump or no-trump hand | Nullo hand |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4 minus points | 4 plus points |
| 1 | 3 minus points | 3 plus points |
| 2 | 2 minus points | 2 plus points |
| 3 | 1 minus point | 1 plus point |
| 4 (par) | nothing | nothing |
| 5 | 1 plus point | 1 minus point |
| 6 | 2 plus points | 2 minus points |
| 7 or more | 1 more plus point for each trick | 1 more minus point for each trick |
The important twist: plus points and minus points are written in separate columns and are not cancelled against each other as the game goes on. A player can have 7 plus points and 5 minus points at the same time.
Worked example. Hearts are trump. You take 6 tricks, West takes 4 and East takes 2. You score 2 plus points, West scores nothing and East scores 2 minus points. The next hand is Nullo: you take 5 tricks (1 minus point), West takes 1 (3 plus points) and East takes 6 (2 minus points). After two hands the sheet reads: You +2 / −1, West +3 / −0, East +0 / −4.
Step 6: Ending the Game
Hands continue, with the deal passing to the left, until at the end of a hand at least one player has 10 or more plus points. Then the game is over. Each player works out their net score: plus points minus minus points. The highest net score wins. If two or three players tie for the best net score, they share the win.
Note that the player who reached 10 plus points is not necessarily the winner. Suppose you finish with 10 plus and 6 minus (net 4), while West has 8 plus and 2 minus (net 6). West wins, even though you ended the game.
Quick Reference
- 3 players, 52 cards, 12 cards each plus 16 in the Manni.
- Dealer's right cuts: 2–5 Nullo, 6–9 that suit is trump, 10–A no trump.
- Swap: dealer's left up to 7, dealer's right up to 5, dealer up to what is left.
- Dealer's left leads; follow suit; winner leads next.
- Par 4. Over par is plus (under par in Nullo); plus and minus kept apart.
- Game ends when someone has 10 plus points; best net score wins.
Ready for more? Our Manni strategy guide covers swapping and play for each contract. If you enjoy three-handed games, also try Skat, Germany's three-player classic, or Oh Hell!, another game where the number of tricks you take matters as much as winning them.