How to play Katte
The six-card trick-taking game for 2 to 6 players
Katte (also spelled Catte) is a fast card game played with a single 52-card deck. Every player gets six cards, and the aim is to win the hand by playing your cards cleverly across six tricks. This page explains every rule. You can also practise against computer players before playing online.
The basics
- Players: 2 to 6 at a table.
- Deck: 52 cards, no jokers. Ace is the highest card and 2 is the lowest. There is no trump suit.
- Deal: each player gets 6 cards.
- Ante: every player puts the same amount of play-money chips into the pot at the start of a hand. The winner takes the pot. The chips are virtual and have no cash value.
Automatic wins
Before play starts, the cards are checked. A player wins the hand immediately if they hold either of these:
- Four of a kind: four cards of the same rank, plus any two other cards.
- Six of one suit: all six cards in the same suit.
An automatic win pays more than a normal pot: each opponent pays the winner the ante, and some tables pay double. If two players have an automatic win at the same time, nobody wins. All cards are shown and the hand is dealt again.
Tricks 1 to 4: beat or discard
The first four tricks decide who stays in the hand.
- The leader plays one card face up. Its suit is the lead suit.
- In turn, each other player either plays a higher card of the lead suit to beat the current best card, or discards a card face down.
- The last player to beat the lead takes the trick and leads the next one. If everyone discards, the leader wins the trick.
The must-beat rule. Until you have won a trick, you must beat the current best card whenever you hold a higher card of the lead suit (you choose which beating card to play). If you cannot beat it, you discard any card face down. Once you have won at least one trick, you are free to beat or to discard. A card that could beat the best card is always played face up, never hidden.
Face-down discards stay hidden from the other players, so nobody knows what you threw away.
Qualifying
After four tricks, you must have won at least one of them to continue. Players who won none are out of the hand and lose their ante. If one player wins all four tricks, they win the hand straight away, and it is paid like an automatic win.
Trick 5: the two-card showdown
The remaining players each hold two cards. The winner of trick 4 leads trick 5 by showing one card face up. Every other remaining player then shows one card face up, in turn order. Nobody can discard in this trick. The card you do not show stays face down as your last card.
The must-beat rule still applies: if you hold a higher card of the lead suit than the current best, you have to play it. The highest card of the lead suit wins the trick, or the leader if nobody beats it.
Trick 6: the final reveal
Trick 6 plays itself. Everyone still in the hand turns over their last card at the same time. The suit of the trick 5 winner’s last card sets the lead suit. The highest card of that suit wins the hand. If no other player has that suit, or nobody beats it, the trick 5 winner wins.
Note that winning trick 5 gives you the lead in trick 6 but does not guarantee the win, since another player’s last card may beat yours.
Who leads and timers
- The first hand at a table is led by a random player. After that, the previous winner leads.
- Online, each turn has a timer. If it runs out, the game plays for you: the highest legal card when you must show a card, and your lowest card when you discard. If you could beat the best card, the beat is played.
- If a player leaves mid-hand, a computer player takes their seat so the game can finish.
Playing online
Choose a quick match to be seated at a public table, or create a friends table and share its code or invite link. Everyone clicks ready, and the hand is dealt. Players who join while a hand is running are shown by name and are dealt in from the next hand.