A–Z Reference

The complete Rung glossary

Every term you'll hear at a Rung — Court Piece, Coat Piece — table, defined. Rules vocabulary, regional slang, partner-signalling lingo. Bookmark this page or jump straight to a term you're unsure about.

Core game terms

Rung

The trump suit for the round. The suit declared by the caller after seeing five cards, which beats every non-trump card for the rest of the round. From Urdu/Hindi for "colour" or "trump". Also written Rang.

Court Piece

An alternative name for Rung, common in India and English-speaking diaspora communities. Same rules, same game. See What is Court Piece?

Coat Piece / Coat

The diaspora-Anglicised name for Court Piece. "Coat" on its own usually means a Coat Piece session. See What is Coat Piece?

Caller

The player who receives the first five cards and declares the trump suit (Rung) for the round. The caller leads the first trick.

Hukam

Urdu/Hindi for "command" or "rule". In some regions, used as another name for the trump suit — i.e. "what is the Hukam?" means "what is trump?".

Panj

Literally "five" in Urdu/Hindi. Refers to the first five cards dealt to the caller — the only information they have before naming trump.

Tricks and rounds

Sar

A single trick — one round of four cards, one from each player. The highest card of the led suit wins the Sar, unless a trump is played. The winner of the Sar leads the next one.

Hand

A single round of 13 tricks. "We've played three hands" means three rounds.

Pot

The shared pile of sars in the middle. Every trick adds 1 to the pot; nobody banks it until someone claims it with a Double Sar. Whatever is left at the end of the round goes to the winner of the final trick.

Double Sar

Winning two tricks in a row from the 5th trick on. The player who does it claims the whole pot for their team, and the pot starts again from zero. Not the same as a Goon Court.

Pees

Winning the round with 7 or more of the 13 sars. Worth 5 points.

Court

When the caller's team wins all 13 sars in a round. Worth 10 points — "we Courted them" means we took every sar.

Goon Court

The reverse of a Court: the caller's team loses all 13 sars and the defenders take everything. Worth 20 points to the defenders — the biggest swing in the game.

Goon

Short for Goon Court. "They got Gooned" = they called trump and didn't bank a single sar.

Match target

The points a team needs to win the match: 50, 75, 100 or 120, picked by the host.

Ranked season / RP

On rung.gg, monthly seasons rank players from Dehla (10) through Ghulam (Jack), Begum (Queen) and Badshah (King) to Ikka (Ace), plus a Top 10. A win earns +15 RP (rank points), a loss −10, and leaving early costs another −10. Only matches with a real player on each team count. Each new month, everyone keeps half their points.

Rule variants

Senior

The player who won the last trick (and leads the next one).

Senior Ace

An optional rule about "Ace on Ace". A first Ace always wins normally. If you win a trick with an Ace and then lead another Ace, that second Ace is penalised: in Demote mode (the default) it counts as a 2; in Block mode it can't win the trick, so you can't bank the pot off it. Off means no penalty.

Void Twelfth / 12th Sar

On by default. No sar is awarded for the 12th trick — it goes into the pot, and whoever wins the 13th trick takes the whole pot.

Hidden Trump

A variant where the caller names trump without showing their five cards. The trump suit is only revealed when the first off-suit card is played, adding an information-warfare layer.

4-2 / 5-3-3-2

Dealing patterns. "4-2" means each player gets cards in batches of 4 then 2 (and so on). "5-3-3-2" has the caller get 5 first, then 3, 3, and 2. Rung Online deals 5-4-4: every player takes 5, then 4, then 4.

Strategy and partner play

Signalling

The unspoken language of partner play. The card you discard tells your partner what you have (and don't have). Beginners ignore signals; experienced players treat them as half the game.

Lead

The first card played in a trick. The player who won the previous trick leads the next one.

Void

Having no cards of a particular suit. When you are void in the led suit, you may play a trump or any other card.

Trump in / Over-trump

To play a trump card on a non-trump-led trick (trump in), or to play a higher trump on top of an opponent's trump (over-trump).

Long suit / Short suit

Long suit: a suit you hold many cards in (4+). Short suit: one you hold few cards in (0–2). Calling trump in your longest suit is usually safer.

Count

Tracking which cards have been played. Good players "count trumps" — they know exactly how many trump cards are still in play at any moment.