Keeping score of Trix

Four kingdoms, five contracts each. ScoresDeck tallies every contract as you tap it in and rotates the crown for you.

Trix is the reason most tables reach for a pen in the first place. Twenty contracts, four different penalty cards moving between four players, doubling that pays one player while it punishes another, and a Trix ladder that pays four different amounts depending on who went out first. It is a lot of arithmetic to carry between deals, and it is the kind people argue about afterwards.

This guide walks through scoring a full Trix match in the ScoresDeck app, screen by screen, from the Calculators tab to the final scoreboard. It does not assume you have used the app before. It does assume you know how Trix is played — if you are still settling what the King of Hearts costs or how a double works, read the rules of Trix first and come back, because this page is about the app, not the game.

Everything below covers standard four-player Trix. Trix Partners is set up and scored in exactly the same way — the only difference is that the win is credited to a pair rather than a player — so follow the same steps for either.

Before you start

Everyone you seat needs a ScoresDeck account, and you need to be following each other. The seat picker only ever offers people who follow you back, so if someone at the table is new, sort the follows out before you deal rather than halfway through setup.

One phone runs the match. The host enters every contract; everyone else gets an invite and can follow the same scoreboard live on their own device, so nobody has to take your word for a total.

Settle the house rules before the first contract, not after. Doubling and self-doubling change what the avoidance contracts are worth, and ScoresDeck locks them for the whole match once scoring starts — as it should, because a match scored under two different rule sets is not a match.

You also choose whether the match is public or private when you create it. Private keeps it off public feeds and profiles while still letting everyone playing — and anyone with the share link — watch it live, and it still counts toward every stat.

Step by step

1. 1

   Open the Trix calculator

   Go to the Calculators tab and pick Trix. Trix Partners — the 2-vs-2 version — sits next to it and is set up in exactly the same way, so follow this guide for either.

   

2. 2

   Set the table

   The setup screen is the Trix House: four seats around the felt. Trix is always exactly four players. Set the house rules here, before the match starts — doubling and self-doubling change what the avoidance contracts are worth, and they are fixed for the whole match.

   

3. 3

   Seat the players

   Tap the + on any empty seat and choose a player. The picker lists people who follow you back, and you can search it by username. The host takes seat 1 automatically.

   

4. 4

   Create the match

   Creating the match sends an invite to every seated player. Each seat's ring shows where that player stands — green for the host and for anyone who has accepted, cyan while their invite is still pending. You can start whenever the table is ready.

   

5. 5

   Score each contract

   The player whose kingdom it is calls all five contracts in whatever order they like. Tap the contract that was just played and enter the result — who took the King of Hearts, which Queens went where, who finished Trix in what order. ScoresDeck applies the penalty values and any doubling for you.

   

6. 6

   Record a double

   Doubling only exists if you switched it on at setup. Tap the 2x beside a player and ScoresDeck asks who doubled the card, then who fed it to whoever ate it, and resolves the rest: a doubled King of Hearts costs -150 instead of -75, and the player who doubled it and fed it away collects +75. A self-double - eating a card you doubled yourself - pays nobody.

   

7. 7

   Score the Trix contract

   Trix is the only contract that pays. Tap the four players in the order they went out, first to last, and the app awards 200, 150, 100 and 50 - marking the order as it goes with a gold trophy, a silver one, a lollipop, and a pacifier for whoever was still holding cards.

   

8. 8

   Follow the running score

   The scoreboard keeps every player's total and their current standing after each contract, so the table can see who is ahead without anyone adding up.

   

9. 9

   Finish the match

   After the twentieth contract — the fourth kingdom's fifth — ScoresDeck closes the match, declares the highest total the winner, and writes the result into every player's stats and their followers' feeds.

   

10. 10

    Leaving a match early

    Exit offers two very different things, and the line under each says exactly what it does. Forfeit records the match: you take the loss, the opponents take the win, and it counts toward everyone's stats. Cancel voids it for everyone and no result is recorded for any player. Neither can be undone, so read the two lines before you tap.

    

What ScoresDeck works out for you

The match opens by asking who holds the 7♥, because that is the player who starts, and from then on the crown rotates on its own. Finish the fifth contract of a kingdom and the app moves to the next king. You never choose who is up, and you cannot accidentally give one player two kingdoms and another none.

Penalty values and doubling are resolved for you. Tap in who ate the King of Hearts and who fed it, mark the Queens and who doubled them, and ScoresDeck applies the −75, −25, −15 and −10 values, the doubled −150 and −50, and the +75 and +25 the doubler collects for feeding the card away. Self-doubles are tracked separately, because they pay nobody.

The counts are capped as you enter them. Each contract knows how many penalty cards it has left to assign — the sheet counts down as you tap — so you cannot hand out fourteen diamonds or two Kings of Hearts and end up with a scoreboard that does not add up.

When the twentieth contract is in, the match closes itself. The highest total is declared the winner, the result is written into every player’s stats, and it reaches their followers’ feeds without anyone having to report it.

Worth knowing

• The crown rotates on its own. You never pick the next king — finish the fifth contract and the app moves on.
• Set doubling before you start. House rules are locked for the match once the first contract is scored.
• Trix Partners scores identically; only the win is credited to a team of two rather than one player.

Frequently asked questions

Stop keeping score on paper

ScoresDeck handles every point of Trix for you — running totals, the live leader, and the winner the moment the match ends.

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