Indian card games list: popular patte games and their quick rules

Updated 2026-09-28 · Mandli

Almost every Indian family has a deck of patte in a drawer, usually missing one card and held together with a rubber band. And almost every family plays a slightly different set of games with it, depending on the state, the train journeys and which uncle taught whom.

This Indian card games list covers the ones people play most, with a two or three line summary of each, so you can pick a game and get started. The first part is games you can also play in Mandli, our free party-games app, where the app deals, follows the rules and counts the points. The second part is well-known Indian games that Mandli doesn't have, listed here only so the list is complete.

A quick note: Mandli is points only. There's no money, no coins and no betting in the app, and this guide won't tell you how to play any game for stakes.

How we use card words in this list

Indian players use their own names for suits and cards, and they vary by region. The common ones:

• Hukum: spades. Also the word for trump.
• Paan: hearts.
• Eent: diamonds.
• Chidi: clubs.
• Ikka is the ace, Badshah the king, Begum or Rani the queen, and Ghulam the jack.
• Dehla is the ten, and a thulla is when you can't follow suit and drop a card from another suit.

1. Dehla Pakad (Mendikot)

A 4-player partnership game, with partners sitting opposite. The goal is to capture the four tens. A team with 3 or 4 tens wins the hand. With 2 tens each, more tricks wins.

In the Band Hukum style Mandli uses, one player hides a card after the first 5, and its suit is the secret trump until someone can't follow suit and opens it. Taking all four tens is a Mendikot, and taking all 13 tricks is a Bawan.

2. Teen Do Paanch (3-2-5)

The train-journey game for exactly 3 players, with a 30-card deck and 10 cards each. Every hand the targets are 5, 3 and 2 tricks, and they rotate. The 5-trick player picks trump after seeing their first 5 cards.

If you beat your target, next hand you name a suit, take the highest card of it from whoever fell short, and hand one card back. Highest total after the match wins.

3. Satti (Sevens)

All 52 cards are dealt. The 7 of Paan opens, and then every suit grows from its 7: up from 8 to King and down from 6 to Ace. You can also put down any other 7.

If you can play, you must. First to empty their hand wins. Simple to learn, but holding the right card back can block the whole table.

4. Gadha Laut

The Hukum ka Ikka leads the first trick, and everyone must follow suit. If everyone follows, the trick is thrown away. If someone can't, they play any card, a thulla, and whoever played the highest card of the led suit picks up the whole trick.

Empty your hand and you're safe. The last player still holding cards is the Gadha.

5. Bluff

All the cards are dealt out. On your turn, play 1 to 4 cards face down and claim a rank, like 'Teen Badshah'. The first play of a pile sets the rank, and the others must claim the same rank or pass.

The next player can call 'Bluff!'. If the claim was a lie, the player who lied picks up the pile. If it was true, the caller does. First to empty their hand wins.

6. Machhli Pakdo (Go Fish)

Each player gets a few cards and the rest go in the middle as the talaab, the pond. On your turn, ask someone for a rank you hold ('Badshah hai?'). If they have it, you take all of them and ask again. If not, they say 'Machhli pakdo!' and you draw one.

Four of a rank make a book, or a machhli. Most books at the end wins.

7. Rang Milao (colour matching)

This one isn't a traditional patte game. It uses Mandli's own 108-card deck in four colours, Laal, Hara, Neela and Peela. Match the top card by colour or number, use action cards like Chup! (skip) and Ulta (reverse), and change the colour with Rang Badlo.

When you're down to one card, tap 'Mandli!', or someone can catch you and make you draw 2.

Other Indian card games (not in Mandli)

These are hugely popular across India, but Mandli doesn't have them. The summaries are general, and every family has its own house rules.

• Rummy (Indian 13-card rummy): each player gets 13 cards and tries to arrange them into sequences and sets by drawing and discarding. Most versions need at least one pure sequence, with no joker in it, to declare.
• 29 (Twenty-Nine): a 4-player partnership game with a 32-card deck, where the Jack and the Nine are the highest cards. Players bid for the right to set a hidden trump, and the bidding team must capture the card points it bid.
• Court Piece (also called Rang or Coat Piece): a 4-player partnership trick game with a full deck. One player picks trump after seeing their first five cards, and a team aims to win 7 tricks. Winning the first seven in a row is a court.
• Teen Patti: a three-card game where players compare hands like trail, sequence and colour. It is usually played with stakes, and it isn't in Mandli.
• Ghulam Chor (Old Maid): one jack is taken out, everyone discards pairs, and players pick cards from each other's hands. Whoever is left with the odd jack is the chor.

If you already love these, try Dehla Pakad or Teen Do Paanch next. They scratch the same trick-taking itch.

Playing Indian card games online with friends

Playing cards over a video call is awkward: nobody can see anyone's hand, and someone has to deal. In Mandli, one person creates a room, shares the link on WhatsApp, and everyone joins with just a name, no login. Friends without the app open the link in their browser.

The app deals, hides every hand, blocks illegal moves and keeps the score. Card games have fixed seats, 4 for Dehla Pakad and 3 for Teen Do Paanch, so anyone extra in the room watches and gets a seat in a later game. There's voice chat inside every game, and you can play in Saath mode when you're in one room, or Door mode when everyone is at home.

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