How To Play Estimation

Estimation is a fun, easy to learn, group card game. The more players, the better! This game requires a little skill and a little luck.

The card game Estimation is a trick-taking game where you score points by correctly predicting the amount of tricks you will take each round.

Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play estimation below.

Estimation Tutorial

Needed

52 card deck; two or more players; pen and paper for scorekeeping

Objective

Score the most points during the game play. Points are scored by correctly guessing how many tricks you will take in a round.

Card Rank

Highest to lowest – Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

The trump suited cards outrank all other suited cards.

Deal

In the first round, one card is dealt to each player. Each additional round, the number of cards dealt increases by one until an agreed upon amount. Then, the cards dealt decreases by one at a time back to one card being dealt.

Bidding

After the cards are dealt, the top card of the remaining deck flipped up. The suit of the flipped up card is the trump suit for the round. Each player will then state how many tricks he/she will take during the round.

The player left of the dealer bids first, and bidding continues clockwise. The amount bid cannot equal the amount of cards each player was dealt. This way, at least one player is wrong every round.

Game Play

The player left of the dealer plays the first card. Play continues clockwise, with players having to play a card in the lead suit, if possible. If a player cannot follow the lead suit, he/she can play any card.

The player with the highest ranking card in the lead suit would win the trick unless a trump suited cards was played. If trump was played, the highest ranking trump card wins the trick. The player that wins the trick leads the next trick.

Scoring

If a player won the amount of tricks bid, he/she is awarded the amount of tricks bid plus ten points. If a player won more or less tricks than bid, he/she is given the negative amount of tricks bid minus ten points.