Play Cinco Vidas online

Bet how many hands you'll win and nail it, or it'll cost you lives.

Playing Cinco Vidas online

Cinco Vidas seats 2 to 8 and is one of the few house games that works just as well at a small table as a full one. The host picks how many lives everyone starts with and how high-card ties are resolved.

Each round has two halves: first you bid how many tricks you will win, then you have to hit that number exactly. Missing high costs the same as missing low, so winning too many tricks is just as bad as winning too few.

The table tracks the bids, stops the dealer’s bid from making the total add up, and resolves the single-card round - where you see everyone’s card but your own - on its own. The next round starts automatically.

What gets settled before the deal

The host sets two things. First, how many lives everyone starts with, from 1 to 5: with five the game runs long and there is room to come back, with one or two it is a sprint where the first mistake weighs enormously.

Second, how a high-card tie is settled - whether the trick goes to whoever played it first or whoever played it last. It looks like a detail and it decides a fair few tricks, because it changes whether you want to lead strong or hold back.

Your first game

Each round is two separate decisions: bidding how many tricks you will win, and then hitting that number exactly. Overshooting costs the same as falling short, so winning too many tricks is just as bad as winning none.

The table will not let the dealer’s bid make the total add up to the number of tricks in the round. If you are last to bid you will see one option locked on screen: precisely the one that would have left everybody happy.

The single-card round is the odd one and it helps to know it before it arrives: you see everyone else’s card but not your own, and you bid blind on the only one you cannot look at.

How to start a game

1. Create a room from this page and share the code on screen with whoever is playing.
2. Everyone opens House Of Decks, enters that code and takes a seat at the table.
3. Once there are between 2 and 8 of you, the host deals and the game begins.
4. If you would rather not organise anything, drop into Quick Play and play with whoever is waiting.

Deck: Standard 52-card deck · Players: 2 to 8 players

Full rules for Cinco Vidas