Call Brake: Same Game, However You Spell It

Call brake is Call Break, spelled the way it sounds. Four players each play alone, spades are always trump, and before the cards are played you call how many tricks you will take, from 1 to 13. Make the call and you score it, plus 0.1 for each extra trick. Fall short and you lose it: call 4, take 3, and you write −4 on the sheet.

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Call Brake: Same Game, However You Spell It

Why it gets spelled so many ways

The usual English spelling is Call Break. But people mostly say the name rather than write it, and "break" and "brake" sound the same, so players searching for the game type what they hear: call brake, callbreak as one word, kol brek. All of them mean this game.

Spelled many ways

Fast thumbs on a phone keyboard add a few more. Callbark, collbreak, col break, calbreak, callbrek and even cell break all turn up when people look for the game, and every one of them means the same thing: four players, spades as trump, and a call you have to make. If you typed one of them to get here, you are in the right place.

The rules in one minute

Four players, no partners. A full 52-card pack, thirteen cards each, and spades are always trump; nobody picks a trump suit. Starting on the dealer's left, each player calls a number from 1 to 13: the tricks they promise to take. You must follow the led suit, and you must head the trick when you can, which means beating the highest card of the led suit if you are able. Out of the led suit, you must cut with a spade. Make your call and it becomes your score; fall short and you lose the same number. Extra tricks are worth a tenth each. The full Call Break rules walk through a whole round.

What the name means

"Call" is your bid, the number you say before the first card. If you take fewer tricks than that, your call is broken and it counts against you. The game is also known as Call Bridge, the name pagat.com uses for it, and as Lakadi. Some Call Bridge tables play a little differently, for example with a lowest call of 2; ours allow a call of 1. The variants page lists the differences.

It is not quite Spades

Spades is a partnership game; Call Break is every player for themselves. Spades lets you duck a trick; Call Break makes you head it if you can. And Spades punishes extra tricks with the bag rule, while Call Break simply pays a tenth of a point for each one. Our full comparison covers the differences one by one.

Call brake questions

Is call brake the same as call break?

Yes. It is one game with two spellings that sound the same. The usual spelling is Call Break: you call your tricks, and missing the call breaks it. "Brake" is simply how the word sounds, and it is one of the most common ways players type the name.

What does the "call" mean?

Your bid: the number of tricks you promise to take before the hand starts, from 1 to 13. There is no zero call. Make it and you score it; miss it and you lose that many points.

Are spades always trump in call brake?

Yes. There is no trump-calling phase; spades are trump in every hand. That is one of the clearest differences from games like Court Piece or Tarneeb, where choosing trump is a big part of the game.

Is call brake the same as Spades?

Same family, different game. No partners, compulsory trick-heading, and tenths for extra tricks. See Call Break vs Spades for the full side-by-side.

Can I play call brake online free?

Yes, right here in your browser: bots or private rooms with friends, no download, no account.