Ristikontra is played by four players (two versus two) with a deck of 52 cards. The goal is to win as many points as possible and in case of the more advanced variation also avoid the dirty state. Aces are worth 11 points, tens 10 points, kings 4 points, queens 3 points and jacks 2 points respectively.
Each player receives 6 cards and plays one of them during each trick. The last player, who played a card with the same value as the firts card of the trick, wins the trick and plays first in the next one. After the trick is won, players take one card from the side deck. A player cannot start the trick with a card of the same value 3 times in a row.
Playing in the dark (optional rule): instead of playing a card from hand, player can play a card from the side deck (without looking at it first).
Dirty game (optional rule): the game has two phases. First phase lasts as long as there are cards in the side deck. Second phase follows. If a team wins a queen in the first phase, they become dirty. It is not allowed to play the 4th king in the first phase. A dirty game is cleaned up in the second phase by winning a king.
Depending on the type of victory, players receive 1-5 coins for the leaderboard. 1 coin for collecting more points than opponents, 2 coins for dirty game of the opponent team, 3 coins for collecting 118 or more points, 4 coins for winning all tricks, 5 coins for dirty game of the opponent team if the only worthy card they have won is a queen.
