Dhihaeh — Dehla Pakad / Mendikot Online

What is Dhihaeh?

Dhihaeh (Dhivehi: ދިހައެއް) is the Maldivian name for the partnership trick-taking card game widely known as Dehla Pakad (Hindi) or Mendikot / Mindi Kot (Marathi). It is played across South Asia and its diaspora with a standard 52-card deck.

Four players sit in two fixed teams of two (partners face each other). The objective is straightforward: capture the tens. Each of the four tens (10♠ 10♥ 10♦ 10♣) taken in a round of four cards — a "hand" — counts toward your team's total. The team that captures three or more tens wins the deal.

A match plays a set number of deals (best-of 1, 3, 5, or 7). The team with the most decisive wins — measured first by "Bangs" (capturing all four tens in a single deal), then by total deals won — takes the match.

How to play

Setup and deal

The full 52-card deck is dealt evenly — 13 cards to each player. The player to the left of the dealer leads the first hand.

The hukum (trump suit)

The trump suit — the "hukum" — determines which cards can beat any other suit. In the default implicit rule, there is no hukum at the start of a deal. The first time a player cannot follow the suit that was led, the suit of the card they play becomes the hukum for the rest of that deal.

Variant rules are also available: declared (a player names the hukum openly before play begins), hidden (a random set-aside card determines the hukum, revealed only when the first void occurs), and no-trump (no hukum at all — the led suit always wins).

Playing a hand (trick)

Each hand consists of four cards, one from each player in turn. The leader plays any card; subsequent players must follow suit if they can. If they cannot, they may play any card (potentially setting or using the hukum). The highest card of the led suit wins — unless a hukum card was played, in which case the highest hukum card wins. The winner of a hand leads the next one.

Capturing the tens

Only the four ten-cards matter for scoring. When a hand is won, any tens among the four cards are captured by the winning team. A deal is locked (and ends early) once one team secures three or more tens, or holds two tens with seven or more hands won (making it impossible for the opponents to catch up).

Bang and Big Bang

If one team captures all four tens in a single deal, that is a Bang — a decisive victory. If a team also wins every single hand (all 13) in addition to all four tens, that is a Big Bang — an instant match win regardless of the score.

Play continues past a lock if the leading team has captured all tens so far and a Bang is still possible (the opponents hold no ten yet). This gives the dominant team a chance to chase the Bang.

Match scoring

A match plays the full set of deals (not "first to a majority"). The winner is determined by: more Bangs wins outright; if Bangs are tied, total deals won breaks the tie. The next deal's leader comes from the winning team — the player to the left of the dealer always leads.

Ways to play

• Solo vs computer bots — four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Ultra (a Monte Carlo tree-search AI with endgame solving).
• Online with friends — create a room and share the invite link. Up to four human players; bots fill any empty seats.
• Any device — works in the browser on phone, tablet, or desktop. Installable as a PWA for an app-like experience.
• Free — no cost, no in-game purchases, no ads during play.

More games on THAASBAI