How to play Lockup
Lockup is a four-player trick-taking game with a twist you will not find anywhere else: tricks are points, but clubs cost you your turn. You play for yourself against Þóra, Leifur and Vigdís. Everyone gets thirteen cards, there is no trump suit and aces are high. Each trick you take is worth one point and the first player to reach 20 points wins the game.
The catch is the clubs. Win a trick with one club in it and you are locked up for the next trick; two clubs locks you out for two tricks, three for three, four for four. While you are locked up you cannot play: a card is pulled out of your hand at random and discarded, the lead passes to the player on your left, and the others play a short trick without you. Those are tricks — and points — you can never get back.
Because clubs are poison, the rules make them hard to dump. You may never lead a club unless your entire hand is clubs, and you must follow suit as normal. The one escape hatch: if a jack, queen or king is already on the table you may play your club of that same rank instead of following suit. It cannot win the trick — so the club lands in somebody else's pile.
- Click or drag — tap a highlighted card or drag it into the middle of the table.
- The 🔒 badge next to a player shows how many more tricks they are sitting out.
- Crossed-out cards are the cards lockup took out of a player's hand.
- Trick counter — each seat shows the tricks it has taken this hand; the running total is in the score table.
Strategy tips for Lockup
- Get rid of your high clubs early. A king or queen of clubs is the worst card in the deck — it is a lock waiting to happen. Watch for a picture card on the table and use the exception the moment it appears.
- Do not win a trick that already has a club in it. The last seat is the safe seat: if a club has been thrown, duck with your lowest card and let somebody else pay for the point.
- Lead suits you are long in. Every time you win a trick you keep the lead, and the leader is the one player who cannot be handed a club by the follow-suit exception unless they lead the picture card themselves.
- Being void is a weapon. Once you have no cards in a suit you may throw any club you like on it. Empty your short suits deliberately in the early tricks while the stakes are low.
- Count how many clubs are still out. Thirteen clubs are in the deck. Once most of them have been played the second half of the hand is a free-for-all — that is when a long strong suit turns into four or five uncontested points.
- When someone is locked up, attack. A locked player cannot take tricks, so tricks are being shared by three players instead of four. Cash your aces and kings while they are sitting on the sidelines.
- Near 20 points, play for the finish. A tie at 20 does not end the game — it keeps going until one player is ahead. If you are level, one clean trick is worth more than a clever club dump.
Frequently asked questions
What does "lockup" mean in the card game Lockup?
Lockup is the penalty for taking clubs. If the trick you win contains one club you are locked up for the next trick, two clubs for the next two tricks, and so on up to four. While you are locked up you do not play a card at all: one card is taken out of your hand at random and thrown away, and the trick is played by the other players without you. The lead simply passes to the player on your left.
Why can I play the queen of clubs when hearts were led?
That is the one exception to following suit. If a picture card — a jack, queen or king — is already on the table, you may play your club of the same rank instead of following suit. A queen of hearts on the table lets you play the queen of clubs. The club can never win the trick because there is no trump, so this is how you hand your clubs to whoever takes the trick.
Am I allowed to lead a club in Lockup?
Only when your hand is nothing but clubs. Any other time you must lead one of your hearts, spades or diamonds. That restriction is what makes clubs so hard to get rid of: you can only shed them when you are void in the suit that was led, or with the picture-card exception.
How do you win a game of Lockup?
Every trick you take is worth exactly one point and the first player to 20 points wins. There is no trump suit and aces are high. If two or more players reach 20 or more with the same score the game keeps going — hands continue to be dealt until one player is clearly ahead, so a game of Lockup always has a single winner.
Is Lockup the same as Hearts?
No. In Hearts you want to avoid taking tricks; in Lockup tricks are points, so you want as many as you can get. Clubs are the only thing you avoid, and they do not cost you points — they cost you turns, which means you sit out tricks you could have been winning. It is a race with a handbrake rather than an avoidance game.
How many players and cards does Lockup use?
One standard 52-card deck between four players, thirteen cards each, everyone playing for themselves — there are no partnerships. Here you play against three computer opponents, and your game is saved automatically so you can close the tab and come back to the same hand.
More free card games
If you like tricks without bidding, try Whist or the Icelandic three-hander Manni. For the opposite problem — a game where taking tricks is what hurts — play Hearts, or bid for exactly what you can take in Spades.