Mendicot, also searched as Mindi or Mindi Kot, is a traditional Indian partnership card game related to Dehla Pakad. Four players in two teams, partners sitting opposite, chase one prize: the four tens. Capture three tens to win the hand, all four for a Mendicot. Play now against the computer, or learn the rules first.
Partner up two against two, follow suit, and capture the tens to win the hand.
Also searched as Mindi or Mindi Kot
Families search for this game as Mendicot, Mendikot, Mindi, Mindi Kot, Mindi Coat and Mendhi Coat — all the same capture-the-tens card game, though households differ on whether the trump is set face down before play or cut during it. Dehla Pakad is a close relative that many families play alongside it, but its traditional rules can differ from Mendicot, so we describe them as related rather than identical.
Four players sit in two teams of two, partners facing each other, and each receives 13 cards. Play moves anticlockwise: follow the led suit if you can, otherwise play any card — including a trump. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit, with ace high. The trick winner leads next.
Every trick that contains a ten is a prize. Capture three of the four tens and your team wins the hand; capture all four and you score a Mendicot — the win the game is named after. If the tens split two and two, the team that took seven or more of the thirteen tricks wins. Take all thirteen tricks and it is a whitewash.
In the hidden-trump game, a card is set aside face down before play, and its suit becomes trump the moment a player cannot follow suit and asks for it to be revealed. In the cut-trump game there is no face-down card: the first time a player cannot follow suit, the card they play sets the trump for the hand.
You and the partner opposite you win and lose together, so every trick belongs to the team, not the player. Feed a ten to a trick your partner is winning, save your trumps for tricks that carry a ten, and trust your partner to cover the suits you are weak in.
Play Mendicot against the computer anytime, or start a private family room and invite family from their own phones.
Mendicot — the partnership game your family may know as Mendikot, Mindi or Mindi Kot, and a close cousin of Dehla Pakad — puts four players in two teams and gives them one shared prize: the four tens. It rewards partnership play and card memory over simply holding high cards, which is why the quiet aunt who counts every card is the most feared player at the table. Learn how to play Mendicot below, then play Mendicot online free — no download, right in your browser.
Mendicot is played by exactly four players in two teams of two, with partners sitting opposite each other. Because partners face each other, the turn alternates between the teams as play goes around. You use a standard 52-card deck, ace high.
The whole deck is dealt out, 13 cards to each player — usually in batches of five, four and four. Play moves anticlockwise, so the player to the dealer's right will lead the first trick.
In the hidden-trump version, a card is set aside face down before play, and its suit becomes trump once it is revealed — which happens when a player cannot follow suit. In the cut-trump version there is no face-down card: the first off-suit card played sets the trump for the whole hand. Lazy Patta offers both as house rules, with hidden trump as the family default.
The player to the dealer's right leads the first trick, and play continues anticlockwise. Everyone must follow the led suit if they can; a player with no card of that suit may play anything — including a trump.
The highest trump wins the trick; if no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins, with ace high. The winner of each trick leads the next one.
Every trick that contains a ten is a prize, and the tricks your partner wins count for your team too. Feed a ten to a trick your partner is already winning, and save your trumps for tricks that actually carry a ten.
When all 13 tricks are played, count the tens in each team's tricks. Three or four tens win the hand; capturing all four is a Mendicot, and taking all thirteen tricks is a whitewash — the biggest win of all. If the tens split two and two, the team with seven or more tricks wins the hand.
Mendicot is the game of long power-cut evenings and winter holidays — a candle on the table, cousins cross-legged on the floor, and a grandparent quietly explaining why you never lead a ten. Because partners win and lose together, it teaches something most card games never do: watching out for the person sitting across from you. Nobody plays alone, the youngest cousin gets carried by a sharp partner, and every captured ten sets off a small celebration on one side of the mat. It is the kind of game families pass down — and it is exactly as much fun on four phones as it was on one bedsheet.
No download, no install, no sign-up hoops — Mendicot runs free in your browser, on any phone or laptop. Practise against the computer at your own pace, or start a private family room and share the link on WhatsApp so cousins in Mumbai, Nairobi and New Jersey can take their seats from their own phones. The table is always four seats, and computer players can fill any empty chairs until the family shows up.