250 : An awesome cards game for 5 people!

First of all, thanks to Jeet who taught me this game! :) I find it one of the best card games I've played so far, and so, thought of putting up a basic how-to-play ( rules & procedure i.e.) so that you could give it a try as well.

The ground principle^† for 250 is the same as that in games that go by the names Coatpeace / Satranga / Blind Partner / 3-2-5 / 7-8 .

Point system:
1. Three of ♠ : 30 points
2. Ace (high) to Ten (low) : 10 points each (So, for all the four colours, total points = 10*5*4 = 200)
3. Five : 5 point each (So, for all the four colours, 5*4 = 20 points)

Adding all above (30+200+20), total points in the game = 250

Initial stuff & Rules:
1. Take out Two of ♣ and ♦ , so that the total no. of cards in the deck become 50 (each player will get 10 cards in all, i.e.).

2. Bidding starts at 150 and continues in (minimum) increments of 5, in a circle... a player could pass any number of times but also, join back the bidding at any time (of course, only when it is his/her turn - see example c) below). A few examples of how a bidding could proceed:

a) 150 -> 155 -> 180 -> pass -> 190 ->
pass -> pass -> pass -> pass -> pass
b) 150 -> 170 -> pass -> pass -> 175 ->
200 -> pass -> pass -> pass -> pass
c) 150 -> 200 -> pass -> pass -> pass ->
205 -> pass -> pass -> 210 -> pass ->
pass -> pass -> pass

3. Once a bid becomes final, the player who took that bid ( in the above example, it would be a) 190, b) 200, and c) 210 ) announces two cards (say, the King of ♠ and Ace of ♥ ).
The player(s) holding these two cards is(are) his partner(s) for the game, but they are not allowed to explicitly reveal this, of course!! If the bid is at 200 or above, then he can choose two Aces, but if it's less than 200, then he can choose only one Ace at the most.

Procedure:
1. One of the players equally distributes the cards amongst all, going in two rounds (5+5 to each)

2. The player next to him bids the first. Then the bid goes on, as explained above in #2.

3. Once the bid is final, the bidder announces two cards (i.e. chooses his/her "invisible" partner(s), as explained above in #3) and then, announces the cut-colour that he/she wishes.

4. The bidder now starts the game by dropping a card, this can be a high/low/seemingly-intelligent/seemingly-stupid/whatever card!! The main objective is to get his/her partner(s) revealed as soon as possible so that they (and 'they' can be either 3 or 2 people, here) contribute constructively in obtaining as much points as possible, during the course of the game. For example, the bidder chose the King of ♠ and Ace of ♥ and he starts the game by dropping, say Three of ♥ . The player who holds the Ace of ♥ could then, on his turn (though, he is not obliged to) drop this card thus revealing his affiliation to the bidder.

Simultaneously, their opponent(s) also need to know each other, so that they can prevent the bidding team from winning, i.e. not let them cross the final bid-value. To continue the case in the above example, assume the person next to the bidder does not either have the King of ♠ or the Ace of ♥ , (so he is not a partner) and furthermore, he does not even have a single ♥ card. So, he puts some cut-colour card. Then, a partner of his (i.e. another player who does not either have the King of ♠ or the Ace of ♥ too) could let's say, drop a Jack of ♦ (because this carries 10 points) on his turn, thereby clearly showing that he belongs to the opposition camp!

One important thing to remember is to try your best that the Three of ♠ is captured by your camp, as this could provide/snatch from you, 30 points in just one shot!!!


† : The players have to form at least the designated no. of sets for themselves (or their team). For this, they throw cards of the same suit and the biggest one gets that specific set unless cutting-colour suit card(s) has(ve) been also thrown. In that case, the highest colour