The name
Dehla (also dehlaa, dahla) means “ten”, and pakad / pakkad means “to catch” or “to hold”. Put together the name simply describes the game: catch the tens. You will see it written as Dehla Pakad, Dehlo Pakad, Dehla Pakkad, Delha Pakkad and a handful of other transliterations — they are all the same game.
Where it sits in the card-game family
Delha Pakkad is a trick-taking game — the same broad family as Whist, Spades, Bridge and Hearts. Its closest relatives are Court Piece and Rung, with which it shares the idea of one player naming a trump suit for the whole hand. The twist that makes Delha Pakkad its own game is that only four cards — the 10s — decide who wins.
Regional variation
Like most folk card games, Delha Pakkad has no single rulebook. Families differ on how trump is called (from five cards or from the full hand), whether a team also needs a majority of tricks, how a clean sweep of all four tens is scored, and which direction the deal moves. The rules guide describes a common baseline and notes the popular variations.
About this version
This is a free browser version of Delha Pakkad. You can:
- Create a private room and share a short code with three friends.
- Play a solo game against three AI opponents.
- Sign in with a username or with Google.
Games run in real time over a WebSocket connection, so play feels immediate. The server deals and referees every hand, so the rules are always applied consistently.
Start a game or read how to play.