How to play Dhumbal

Calling is a bet on everybody else's hand. It says that nobody at the table is as light as you are. You may only make it before you draw, and only with a hand at or below the table limit, which is 5 as standard. The button appears reading Call on 4, so you can see exactly what you are claiming before you press it.

Every hand goes face up at once and the totals are compared. If all of them are strictly heavier than yours, the call was right, you take the round and you are charged nothing.

If anybody matches you or beats you, you are caught. You are charged the penalty instead of your hand, 25 as standard, and the round goes to whoever really did hold the lightest hand. Equal is enough to catch you, which is why calling on exactly 5 at a table whose limit is 5 is the classic beginner's mistake.

A round can be over before a single card has been drawn. A hand dealt at or under the limit may call as the very first action of the round, and sometimes it should.

There are three endings and no others. Somebody called and was lightest. Somebody called and was caught. Or nobody called at all and the round ran out of turns.

That last one is a real ending, not a formality. The limit is 200 throws in one deal, counted across the whole table rather than per player, and it starts again at zero with every deal. Careful players really can circle that long, because the pile keeps going back under as a fresh stock. When the limit fires, every hand is shown as it stands, the lightest one takes the round, and nobody is penalised.

If two seats that did not call are tied for lightest, the tie is walked round the table from the dealer's left, where the deal started. It is not a shared result. The seat that takes the tie is charged nothing, and the seat that lost it is charged its hand in full.

A match is three rounds as standard. Between rounds the score dialog waits for Next round, so nothing moves on until you have finished reading it.

At the show, every seat is charged the cards left in its hand. The seat that took the round is charged nothing. A caller who was caught is charged the penalty in place of their hand, so their real total still appears in the Hand row while the Took row shows 25 instead.

Those points are then settled. The winner collects everything the others were charged, and everybody else pays what they were charged. That is the Paid row, and it always adds up to nothing.

Four seats holding 4, 12, 19 and 7, with nobody caught: the Took row reads 0, 12, 19 and 7, and the Paid row reads +38, -12, -19 and -7.

Two seats both holding 4, and the one who called is caught: the Hand row still reads 4 and 4, the Took row reads 25 and 0, and the Paid row reads -25 and +25. The penalty is what the catcher collects. That is what makes catching a caller worth the wait.

The running Total is the match score, and it is the right way up. Higher is better, a positive score is printed with a plus sign in front of it, and the whole table always sums to nothing. The match goes to the highest Total, not to whoever won the most rounds.

• Count your hand every turn. The line under the status reads Holding, and next to it is the limit the Call button is waiting for.
• Watch how many cards people are holding. The count under each seat is public, and somebody down to two cards is the clearest warning you will get that a call is coming.
• Keep a pair. Two kings are twenty points that can leave in one throw, which a single king can never do. That is worth more than it looks the moment your hand is heavy.
• Call one under the limit rather than on it, because a tie catches you. The medium bots wait until they are 1 under, and the hard ones wait until they are 2 under.
• If a throw empties your hand, call on your next turn. Nothing is lighter than nothing, so there is no reason at all to draw another card.
• Taking off the pile hands the table a fact about your hand. If the blind card from the stock is only a point or two worse, take the blind one.

Every table plays it a little differently, so the game's own page lets you set yours up before you start. These are the ones that change the game rather than the speed of it.

Dhumbal (धुम्बल)

The game. A least-count game, so the smallest hand is the one that wins.

Jhyap (झ्याप)

The other name it goes by. Same game, same rules.

Call (कल)

To say that nobody is lighter than you, which turns every hand at the table face up. Only before you draw.

Caught

What happens to a caller who is matched or beaten. Equal is enough, and the penalty follows.

Light and heavy (हलुका, भारी)

A hand worth few points is light and one worth many is heavy. Light is the one you want.

Thupro (थुप्रो)

The face-down stock, drawn blind.

Phaleko patti (फालेको पत्ती)

The face-up pile. Only its top card can be taken.

Throw (फाल्नु)

To put cards on the pile. Throw rather than discard, because here it may be several at once.

Set

Two or more cards of the same rank, thrown as one group.

Run (सिक्वेन्स)

Three or more consecutive ranks in one suit. Off unless the table turns it on.

Penalty (जरिवाना)

The flat charge a caught caller takes in place of their hand. 25 as standard.

Took and Paid

The two score rows. Took is points, where low is good. Paid is the settlement, where high is good and the row adds up to nothing.

Every family plays it a little differently. These are the ways we know of. The ones with a button are house rules this table can play.