Card game
Naija Whot
Match it. Pick it. Call last card.
The card game everyone knows, with your own house rules. Play with two to six friends, with Pick two, Pick three, General market and Whot, while others watch.
What is Whot?
Whot is a Nigerian shedding card game. Match the shape or number of the card in play, use the special cards to slow your rivals down, and be first to play every card.
The server deals, shuffles and applies every effect. Your cards are never sent to the other players.
How to play
Six steps from an empty room to a rematch.
01
Take a seat
One player per seat, two to six at the table. Anyone else in the room watches.
02
Pick the rules
The host chooses Classic Naija Whot, Casual, or sets every rule by hand. Rules are fixed once the game starts.
03
Match the card
Play a card with the same shape or the same number as the card in play, or a Whot. Playable cards glow gold.
04
Use the specials
Hold on, Pick two, Pick three, Suspension, General market and Whot change what happens next.
05
Call Last card
When you play down to one card, call it. If someone catches you first, you pick up the penalty.
06
Run out first
Be first to play every card. Play single rounds, or add up points across three or five.
Rules
What the server does. Settings the host can change are marked as house rules.
The deck
- 54 cards: 12 circles, 12 triangles, 9 crosses, 9 squares, 7 stars and 5 Whot cards numbered 20.
- Circles and triangles run 1 to 5, 7, 8 and 10 to 14. Crosses and squares run 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14. Stars run 1 to 5, 7 and 8.
- The deck is shuffled and dealt on the server. Your cards are sent only to you. Everyone else sees how many you hold.
Baseline play (Classic Naija Whot)
- Everyone is dealt six cards and one card starts the pile. The starting card is never a special card.
- On your turn play a card that matches the shape or the number of the card in play. A Whot can be played on anything.
- If you have nothing to play, pick one card from the market and your turn ends.
- Pick two and Pick three can be passed on with the same number, and the total grows.
- You must call Last card as you play down to one card. If another player calls you out first, you pick two.
- The first player to play every card wins the round.
Special cards
- 1 Hold on: the player plays again.
- 2 Pick two: the next player picks two cards and misses the turn, unless the rules let them stack.
- 5 Pick three: the next player picks three cards, with the same stacking choices.
- 8 Suspension: the next player misses a turn.
- 14 General market: every other player picks a card. The player who played it plays again (or play moves on, if the host chooses).
- 20 Whot: asks for any shape. The next card must match that shape, or be another Whot.
House rules are the host's choice
- Households play Whot differently, so nothing beyond the baseline above is presented as the one official rule. Every variation below is a setting.
- Hand size, turn direction, a turn clock, which special cards are on, the size of a General market, and whether a Whot must ask for a different shape.
- Whether picks stack (not at all, same number, or any pick), and whether a Whot cancels a pick.
- What happens when you cannot play: pick one and end the turn, pick one and play it if it fits, or keep picking until you can play.
- Whether you may pick when you have a card to play, whether you can go out on a special card, whether Last card must be called and what the penalty is.
- First out, or play on to place everyone; one round or the lowest total over three or five rounds.
When the market runs out
- The discard pile, except the card in play, is shuffled and becomes the new market.
- If no card is left anywhere and nobody can play, the round ends and the player with the fewest cards wins.
Leaving and reconnecting
- A dropped connection isn't leaving. Come back and you get your hand, the card in play and any pick you owe exactly as they were.
- A player who is away has their turn skipped after a few seconds: they pick from the market (or take the pick they owe) and play moves on. Cards are never played for anyone. Someone who misses more than three turns in a row without coming back is counted as having left.
- If you leave, your cards go back to the market and the others play on. If only one player is left, they win.
Settings
The host sets these in the lobby before the game starts.
Rules
Setup
Special cards
Picking
Winning
Watching
Everyone else in the room watches live: the card in play, how many cards each player holds and what just happened. Spectators never see anyone's hand.
Ready to play?
Start a room, invite friends, and deal the first hand.