Fun Facts and Trivia

  • The game - 28 , most likely, originated from the game 304 , a popular card game in Sri Lanka. It is very close to Thunee which is also a descendent of 304. Also 28 is almost identical to 29 except for minor scoring rules. Twenty nine is very popular in Bangladesh.  The real root game should be the Dutch game of Jass (KlaverJass) . There has to be some strong dutch connections in these regions. 

  • The Perfect Game:

    Six Player 28 is the perfect card game. Because 6 and 28 are the first and second perfect numbers. If you are not familiar with Perfect numbers, see the Wikipedia page on Perfect Number . 

  • Devil's Game - The Official game of Hell.

    Six Players, Six cards in each hand and typically played with Six cards per team to keep score. Six-Six-Six is the Number of the Beast . No wonder why it is so much fun to play this game - it must be a sin.  

  • 28 Lingo in  Malayalam (Kerala):

    Popular terms used in the game in Kerala and its possible origins. (This are strictly opinions of the author and have no authoritative research or endorsements supporting it, added here for the entertainment of curious minds) 
  • Turup:  The word used for trump in the game. Initially I was thinking this originated from Malayalam (orTamil) word  thu-ra-ppu (opening) as trump is made effective by opening a card during the game play. However, I am pretty certain that this is actually the  Dutch word for trump - Troef,  reaffirming the Dutch origin of the Game.  This is not the only word borrowed from Dutch, others include Klaver (for Clubs) , Harten (Hears) pronounced commonly as Adu-then by many.
  • Perise: Top active card in a suit. This term does seem to have some Tamil(?) origin as Perise in Tamil means big.  Or may be Perise means something different in Dutch or  Arabic, where the word Gulan also came from.

  • Gulan: Jack , likely originated from Ghulam , meaning servant in Bengali/Arabic. Jack is considered as the servant among the court cards like King and Queen in a deck of cards. Gulan Perise is a commonly used alternate name for 28 in Kerala.

  • Thani: A special bid where the player claims to win all tricks by playing solo. This term likely came from the similar option in the related game Thunee

  • Cot: The claim made in the middle of game that bidding team will win all tricks. This likely originated from the “Full Court” also used as “Court” sounding like Cot, from a variant of 304 game where it is used for similar action.
    Thani and Cot are not supported in this iOS app as the additional complexity do not justify the marginal fun (strictly author’s opinion)

  • Kunuk: The token ornament worn by losing team in classic real world game . It is very striking that there is a term "Khanuck" in Thunee , although it is used in different context ( more close to Cot).

  • What do you think?

    If you have another explanation for these terms or a different term you like to add, let the developer know by email to developer@twentyeight.app or leave a comment below.

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Now you can play 28 with your Friends.

After a long time in development, the multiplayer version is here.  This app has a unique take on multiplayer game -  you can host a game and invite your friends to an exclusive game room.  As a host, you control all aspect of the game including the seating arrangements,  suspending players who are not active and many other interesting options.  Also check out the integrated chat functionality. Hope you like this app. Please leave a feedback in the comments below on what you like and what other functionality you want to see added in future. If you run into issues, feel free to contact the developer by email  developer@twentyEight.app  or use the contact support option in the game table to send relevant info along with email.
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