56 is the bigger, louder cousin of 28 Gulan. Six players split into two teams of three, one player bids how many of the 56 points on the table their team can win, and the whole table plays to make it or break it. Here is how it works, and where to play it with live voice chat.
PLAY 56 FREEIn Kerala the game is called Ampathiaaru or Ambathiyaaru, from the Malayalam word for fifty-six, അമ്പത്തിയാറ്. In English it is simply Fifty-six or 56. There is no single official way to write the Malayalam name in English letters, so you will see all of these:
They are all the same game. 56 belongs to the same family as 28 (Gulan, Erupathettu), which is played across Kerala and other parts of India under different names, and it also has European cousins in the Jass family of trick-taking games. If you already know 28, you already know most of 56.
56 is played with two packs, using only the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten and Nine of every suit. That makes 48 cards. In every suit, the cards rank from highest to lowest like this, and they carry these points:
| Rank (high → low) | Card | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jack | 3 |
| 2nd | Nine | 2 |
| 3rd | Ace | 1 |
| 4th | Ten | 1 |
| 5th | King | 0 |
| 6th | Queen | 0 |
Each suit holds 7 points in each pack, so four suits in two packs add up to exactly 56 points. That is where the game gets its name, and it is why a bid of 56 means one team must win every point.
Six players sit around the table, and partners sit alternately. Seats 1, 3 and 5 are one team, and seats 2, 4 and 6 are the other, so everyone has an opponent on each side. Each team starts the match with 12 tables, which are the score you play to protect.
The 48 cards are dealt out so that every player holds 8 cards. Players may look at their own hand but not at anyone else's.
Players take turns to bid or pass. A bid is a number of points from 28 up to 56 that your team promises to win, together with the trump suit you want, or no trump. Each bid must be higher than the one before it. When everyone else has passed, the highest bidder's call stands.
An opposing player can double the bid to raise the stakes, and the bidding side can redouble in reply.
One player leads a card and everyone else plays one in turn. You must follow the suit that was led if you can. A trump card beats any card of another suit, and among cards of the same kind the higher rank wins. Whoever takes the trick leads the next one. The points in the cards a team wins are added to its count for that hand, and the hand ends after all 8 tricks.
If the bidding team wins at least the number of points it bid, it takes tables from the other team. If it falls short, it pays tables. Bigger bids are worth more but cost more to lose:
| Bid | Win | Lose |
|---|---|---|
| 28 – 39 | 1 table | 2 tables |
| 40 – 47 | 2 tables | 3 tables |
| 48 – 55 | 3 tables | 4 tables |
| 56 | 4 tables | 5 tables |
On 28gulan.com, a double adds one table to what is at stake and a redouble adds one more. Households differ here, and some play doubles as multipliers, so agree the rule at your own table.
Hands are played one after another until one team has no tables left. The team that still has tables wins the match.
House rules vary from family to family and from town to town. The rules above are the common core, and the online table follows them.
56 is a talking game. Partners read each other's bids, tease the table and argue about who should have led what, and part of the fun is being on a call together. On 28gulan.com you can:
56, called Ampathiaaru or Ambathiyaaru in Kerala (അമ്പത്തിയാറ്), is a trick-taking card game for two teams. In the six-player version, two teams of three play with 48 cards worth 56 points. One player bids how many points their team will win, and the team scores if it reaches that number.
They share the same card order (Jack, Nine, Ace, Ten, King, Queen) and the same card points (3, 2, 1, 1). 28 is played with 32 cards worth 28 points, while 56 uses two packs, 48 cards worth 56 points, with bids from 28 to 56 and a score kept in tables.
Six, in two teams of three, is the format on 28gulan.com. Some groups also play it with four or eight. If you are short, you can fill seats with bots.
Yes. They are different English spellings of the Malayalam name for fifty-six, and Fifty-six is the English name. They all mean the same game.
Yes. Open the 56 table, enter a name, choose an avatar and create a table. It is free and runs in your browser.
Yes. Fifty-six is also documented by card-game historians as a game of the Jass family. A good outside write-up is on Pagat's page on Fifty-six.
Grab five friends, or a few bots, and sit down to a game of Ampathiaaru.
PLAY 56 FREE