How to play Teen Do Panch

Teen Do Panch means “Three – Two – Five.” It is a 3-player trick-taking card game where each player has a target number of tricks to win each round, and your score is how far above or below that target you land.

Teen Do Panch is in beta

This is a free, pre-release app provided “as is”. Expect the occasional bug, and know that games, scores and history may be reset while we keep building. There is no money involved anywhere in the app — no purchases, no wagering, no prizes.

Found something broken, or a player behaving badly? Write to support@325cards.com — it genuinely helps.

New here? The 60-second version

Three players. Each round one player must win 5 tricks, one 3, one 2. That is the “3-2-5”.
The player targeting 5 picks the trump suit; everyone ends up holding 10 cards.
Follow the led suit if you can. Highest trump wins, otherwise highest card of the led suit.
Winning one trick is not enough — you bank tricks by winning two in a row. Until then they sit in the “at stake” pool.
Miss your target and you hand over cards at the start of the next round. Beat it and you collect them.

That is the whole game. Everything below is detail.

A quick word: “trick” = “hand”

A trick — one card played by each player, with the highest winning it — is called a hand in this game. Both words mean the same thing; the app’s scoreboards say “hands”.

The goal

Each round every player has a target number of hands. Your round score is hands won − your target (it can be negative) — that’s the middle number on the round-over screen.

The “total” column is the running count of hands you have actually won across the game (not the score). For example, a player who won all 10 hands in a round shows a total of 10.

Roles & targets (the “3-2-5”)

Every round, the three seats have different jobs and targets:

Trump-maker — target 5. Chooses the trump suit; needs the most tricks.
Third player — target 3.
Dealer — target 2. Needs the fewest.

The roles rotate every round — the dealer moves one seat forward — so over a game everyone plays each role. The “Info” button at the table shows who currently holds which role.

How a round is played

Deal: everyone first gets 5 cards.
Trump: the trump-maker picks the trump suit from those first 5 cards (tap a suit, then confirm). The rest of the cards are then dealt so everyone holds 10.
Play: 10 tricks are played. The trump-maker leads the first one.

A game runs for the number of rounds chosen when the table was created (3 or 6). The current round and the total are shown under Info.

Winning a trick

You must follow the led suit (the suit of the first card played) if you have it. If you don’t, you may play any card. Playable cards are highlighted; cards you can’t play are dimmed.
The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins.
Card order, high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7.
The winner of a trick leads the next one.

The “doubling” rule — the key twist

Winning a single trick does not immediately count it. Won tricks pile into an “at stake” pool. You only claim tricks by winning two in a row — then you take the whole pool plus the current trick at once.

If someone else wins in between, the streak resets and they start building their own claim. The 10th (final) trick always sweeps the pool, so nothing is ever left unclaimed. The table shows how many tricks are “at stake” and who can claim them by winning again.

Falling short — the card exchange (round 2+)

From the second round on, the previous round’s results are settled before the first trick (right after trump is chosen and all 10 cards are dealt):

If you made fewer hands than your target, you owe one card per missing hand to whoever made more than theirs. Targets always add up to 10, so debts and credits match exactly. Every debt is settled by exchange that round — nothing carries into a new game.
Slide & lock: if you owe, you hold your cards face-down toward the winner. Shuffle them if you like, then lock the order.
The winner slides one face-down card toward themselves — a blind pick, so they can’t choose your best card on purpose. If you’re sitting together, you can both see it’s an honest draw: they slide the 3rd card, and your 3rd card is the one that leaves.
The winner then looks at their (now 11) cards and gives one back — usually a weak one, and it may even be the card they just drew. This repeats one card at a time until the debt is settled.
Private: only the two players involved see which cards move — the third player only sees that an exchange is happening.
If two players owe, the lower target settles first (2 → 3 → 5). If two players are owed, the higher target draws first (5 → 3 → 2).
Computer: the computer arranges and locks automatically when it owes, and blind-picks a position when it’s owed. Outstanding debts are listed under Info in the table header.

Your turn, undo & drag-to-play

A strip always shows whose turn it is; it glows when it’s yours.
Undo window: when you tap a card it floats up for a few seconds before it is actually played. Pull it down to take it back, push it up to play at once, or just wait for it to go. Other players don’t see it until it commits.
Drag-to-play: drag a playable card upward and release to play it straight away. That is a deliberate gesture, so there is no undo.
The very last card of the round simply glides in — there’s nothing left to reconsider.

Between rounds — Go / Hold

When a round ends you see each player’s round score and running total.
The next round starts only when enough players tap Go and nobody is Holding.
Tap Hold to pause things (e.g. for a break); remove your hold when you’re ready.
You can review the last trick from the round-over screen.
An advertisement may play at this point — the round waits for everyone, so nobody is rushed and nobody is left behind.

Tables & joining

Create a table (Public or Private) — you’re seated as a player right away.
Join by typing a code (you’ll confirm first) or by tapping a public table. Opening a shared table link asks you to confirm joining; choosing “No” takes you back to the lobby.
A friend without an account can take one seat as a guest by opening your table link. Guests can play, but can’t create tables of their own.
You can be at only one table at a time. If you try to start or join another, the app points you back to the table you’re already at.
The computer can take the 3rd seat only when 2 people are waiting and both agree — or you can keep waiting for a third person. You choose how strong it plays when you add it.
A table that never fills up closes automatically after about 5 minutes. You can also exit & close a table you are waiting at yourself.

Leaving, breaks & timeouts

Stepping out to the lobby: you can keep your seat and come back (within 15 minutes) a limited number of times. Once you’ve used your allowance, leaving again ends the game for everyone. The leave screen always tells you how many breaks you have left.
While a player is away, the game pauses for everyone and reconnects automatically when they return — or tap Connect now.
If it’s your turn and you’re idle too long (about 4 minutes), you’ll be asked to play, add 2 more minutes (up to twice), or end the game. Ignoring it ends the game.
If you’re quiet for about 5 minutes, the live connection is released to save resources — tap Reconnect to jump back in.
A game with no activity at all for about 16 minutes ends automatically.
These limits exist so nobody is left staring at a table waiting for a player who has walked away.

Fair play & being a good table-mate

This game only works because nobody can see anyone else’s cards. Please don’t:

share your hand with another player at the table, or play two seats yourself;
use bots, scripts or modified clients;
exploit a bug instead of reporting it;
stall, quit repeatedly, or pick an offensive name.

Accounts that do these things can be limited or closed — see the Terms of Service, section 6.

Your account, ads & privacy

Email verification is required before you can create or join a table — it keeps throwaway accounts off the tables. Verify from the link we email you, then tap “I’ve verified — check now”.
Account settings (lobby → your name) let you change your display name and initials, change your password, and delete your account at any time. We never refuse a deletion — how to delete your account explains what happens and what is kept.
The game is free, and ads on some screens and between rounds are what pay for it. Where the law requires it, we ask before showing personalised ads — non-personalised works just as well and the game is identical.
Full detail: Privacy Policy, Terms of Service and Delete your account.

Appearance & sound

In the lobby you can set the theme to System (follows your phone or browser), Light, or Dark. The 🔊 / 🔇 button in the lobby and at the table turns the game sounds on and off; your choice is remembered on that device.

Have a single question rather than the whole ruleset? The FAQ is searchable. Ready to play? Open the game.