Bhabhi Thulla Getaway Offline Description
Getaway Card Game Offline Classic. The game aims to get away by playing all of one's cards. In Bhabhi Thulla, the last remaining player who fails to get away and is left holding cards is the loser. A version of the same game featuring a trump suit is played in Kerala, where it is known as Donkey.
The game is also known by many players as Bhabh means brother's wife. This name, which is applied to the loser of the game is a mocking insult. The game is sometimes known as Bhabhi Thulla, "thulla" being a Hindi slang word for police, applied to a card of a different suit that interrupts the play of a trick.
As the game continues, since not everyone plays every trick and players sometimes have to pick up cards, the players will run out of cards at different times. Players who run out of cards have "got away": they take no more part in the play and are therefore safe from losing. However, it is not possible to get away if you "have the power". If your last card is the highest in a trick in which everyone can follow suit, then it is your turn to lead to the next trick but you have no card. In this case, you must draw a card at random from the (shuffled) face-down waste pile, before the cards from the trick just played are thrown onto the pile. You must lead the card that you drew to continue the game. If you are lucky, and a higher card of that suit is played to the trick, then you will be out of the game and safe. If no one plays higher in that suit then you will have to lead again, either from the cards you pick up if there is a tochoo, or otherwise by drawing from the waste pile again.
Donkey
Shreesh has described a similar game played in Kasaragod, Kerala, featuring a trump suit determined by the first player who is unable to follow suit to a lead.
Like Getaway, it is played with a standard 52-card pack and the holder of the Ace of Spades leads it to the first trick, and as in Getaway players must follow suit if they can. The difference is that the first time a player is unable to follow suit, whether in the first trick or later, the suit played by the player unable to follow suit becomes the trump suit and does not end the trick.
From now on, players must still follow suit if they can and a player who has no card of the suit must play a trump if they have one. If a trump is led everyone must play trumps if possible. A trick that contains one or more trumps is won by the highest trump played. A trick without trumps is won by the highest card of the suit led.
If everyone plays either a card of the suit led or a trump, then as usual the trick is thrown away and the winner leads to a new trick. In the first trick, everyone must play a card, but the winner will only be the player of the Ace of Spades if everyone has a spade: if anyone is unable to follow suit a trump suit will be created and the player of the highest trump will win the first trick and lead to the second.
In the second and subsequent tricks, any card may be led. If a player has no card of the suit led and no trumps, they play a card of their choice from a different non-trump suit and this ends the trick. In this case, the winner of the trick must pick up all the cards played to it, add them to their hand, and then lead any card to the next trick.
The remaining rules are the same as in Getaway. A player who runs out of cards drops out of the play unless the final card they play wins the trick. If a player uses their last card to win a trick to which everyone followed suit or played a trump, the trick is thrown away and the player must draw a random card from the pile of previous tricks and lead that.
When all players except one have dropped out, the last player is the loser, known as a "donkey with x legs" where x was the number of cards they hold at the end of the play, including any they picked up from the final trick.
The game is also known by many players as Bhabh means brother's wife. This name, which is applied to the loser of the game is a mocking insult. The game is sometimes known as Bhabhi Thulla, "thulla" being a Hindi slang word for police, applied to a card of a different suit that interrupts the play of a trick.
As the game continues, since not everyone plays every trick and players sometimes have to pick up cards, the players will run out of cards at different times. Players who run out of cards have "got away": they take no more part in the play and are therefore safe from losing. However, it is not possible to get away if you "have the power". If your last card is the highest in a trick in which everyone can follow suit, then it is your turn to lead to the next trick but you have no card. In this case, you must draw a card at random from the (shuffled) face-down waste pile, before the cards from the trick just played are thrown onto the pile. You must lead the card that you drew to continue the game. If you are lucky, and a higher card of that suit is played to the trick, then you will be out of the game and safe. If no one plays higher in that suit then you will have to lead again, either from the cards you pick up if there is a tochoo, or otherwise by drawing from the waste pile again.
Donkey
Shreesh has described a similar game played in Kasaragod, Kerala, featuring a trump suit determined by the first player who is unable to follow suit to a lead.
Like Getaway, it is played with a standard 52-card pack and the holder of the Ace of Spades leads it to the first trick, and as in Getaway players must follow suit if they can. The difference is that the first time a player is unable to follow suit, whether in the first trick or later, the suit played by the player unable to follow suit becomes the trump suit and does not end the trick.
From now on, players must still follow suit if they can and a player who has no card of the suit must play a trump if they have one. If a trump is led everyone must play trumps if possible. A trick that contains one or more trumps is won by the highest trump played. A trick without trumps is won by the highest card of the suit led.
If everyone plays either a card of the suit led or a trump, then as usual the trick is thrown away and the winner leads to a new trick. In the first trick, everyone must play a card, but the winner will only be the player of the Ace of Spades if everyone has a spade: if anyone is unable to follow suit a trump suit will be created and the player of the highest trump will win the first trick and lead to the second.
In the second and subsequent tricks, any card may be led. If a player has no card of the suit led and no trumps, they play a card of their choice from a different non-trump suit and this ends the trick. In this case, the winner of the trick must pick up all the cards played to it, add them to their hand, and then lead any card to the next trick.
The remaining rules are the same as in Getaway. A player who runs out of cards drops out of the play unless the final card they play wins the trick. If a player uses their last card to win a trick to which everyone followed suit or played a trump, the trick is thrown away and the player must draw a random card from the pile of previous tricks and lead that.
When all players except one have dropped out, the last player is the loser, known as a "donkey with x legs" where x was the number of cards they hold at the end of the play, including any they picked up from the final trick.
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