Evening ranked
#7K28P
© 2026 28Arena. 28 is a traditional game; this is an implementation of it, played for rating and for fun.
No wagering. No real-money play. No purchases.
Skill · Strategy · Lasting partnerships
Play 28 online with friends or against players around the world. Build a rating that means something, find the partner you keep winning with, and compete in tournaments with a published draw.
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Two partnerships, sitting opposite
7 through Ace, four suits
Across the whole deck
Bronze through Grandmaster
Fast enough for a break
The classic, built for competition
28 has survived for generations because the rules are simple and the partnership play is not. What it never had online was the infrastructure a competitive game needs — a rating that carries between matches, opponents at your level, and a record of every hand you have played.
The name is the points, not the cards. Thirty-two cards carry twenty-eight points between them, and every bid in the game is a claim on some share of those twenty-eight.
How a hand works
Click through a hand. The table on the right redraws at each stage.
Thirty-two cards, four players. Everyone gets four to start — enough to judge a bid, not enough to be certain.
Want the whole thing? Read the two-minute guide or the full rules.
The one rule everyone gets wrong
In 28 the order runs Jack, Nine, Ace, Ten, then King, Queen, Eight, Seven. The four cards that carry points are the four at the top, which is why a hand full of Kings looks strong and wins nothing.
The number under each card is what it is worth.
Learn the rulesMultiplayer
Three ways to sit down, depending on how much you want to decide. Every one of them puts you at a real table with real people and a server keeping score.
Join the queue and the server seats you with three players inside your rating band. Rated, and usually under a minute.
Browse tables that are short a player and take the empty chair. You can see who is already sitting and what they are rated.
Open a table, send the code, and keep the same four people all evening. Never rated, so nothing is at stake but the argument.
#7K28P
Arjun
At a tableAt a table#7K28P
Meera
In a matchIn a match
Rohit
Partnerships
Two strong players are not automatically a strong pair. 28Arena rates partnerships separately, so the record you build with somebody is its own thing — with its own rating, its own win rate and its own streak.
It is the closest thing the game has to a signature. Play twenty hands with the same person and you stop needing to guess what they are holding — and the duo rating is what says whether that instinct is real.
How ratings workDuo rating
1876
Ranked
Every rated match moves your rating up or down depending on who you beat. Seven leagues sit on top of that single number, from Bronze to Grandmaster, and matchmaking uses the number rather than the badge.
Tournaments
Tournaments run on the Swiss system, the same format chess congresses use. Everybody plays every round, and you are paired against a team on a similar record — so an early loss costs you the lead, not the night.
The shape of an evening
24 members · 8 online
Club rating
1842
Club table
Your record
Rating, peak, matches, win rate, tournament wins, current form and the partner you win most with — all of it built from matches you actually played, and all of it public if you want it to be.
Browse public profilesVikram
1923
Peak 1986
In the browser
No install, no plugin, no launcher. Open a tab and sit down.
One account
A browser player can join a room a phone created, and a phone can join one made in a browser. The same server runs the match either way, so rating, friends, clubs, tournaments and history follow the account rather than the device.
Why people come back
~6minutes
±rating
2of you
5rounds
Questions
28 is a trick-taking partnership card game from South India, played by four people in two teams of two, with partners sitting opposite each other. It uses a 32-card deck — the 7 through Ace of each suit — which between them carry 28 card points. That total is where the game gets its name. Players bid for the right to name a trump suit, then play eight tricks to try to take the points they promised.
Yes. 28Arena runs the full game in your browser with no download — you are seated at a table with three other people, and the match is refereed by a server rather than by whoever is dealing. You can play a quick rated match, open a private table for friends, or enter a scheduled tournament.
Yes, completely. There is nothing to buy, no subscription, no advertising between hands and no paid advantage of any kind. Every table, every rated match and every tournament is open to every account.
Yes. Create a private table and share the room code — anyone with it can take a seat, on any device. The table persists between hands, so the same four people can play all evening and hit rematch without setting anything up again. You can also add players you meet in matches and challenge them directly.
Quick Match puts you in a queue and seats you with three other players inside your rating band, so the table is roughly even. You do not choose your partner in Quick Match — the seating decides it, which is part of the challenge. Matches found this way are rated.
A rated match is one where the result moves your rating. Quick Match and duo queue matches are rated; private tables are not, so an evening with friends cannot damage a ladder position and cannot be used to farm one either.
Ratings are Elo, the same family of system chess uses. You gain points for beating a stronger table and fewer for beating a weaker one, and the calculation runs on the server after every rated match. Ratings map onto seven leagues from Bronze to Grandmaster, and your peak rating stays on your profile even if your current rating dips below it.
28 is a partnership game, so a partnership is rated as well as a player. Every pair who play together build a duo rating that is separate from either person’s individual rating, along with a record of matches played together, win rate and best streak. Two good players are not automatically a good pair, and the duo rating is what says so.
A Swiss tournament pairs you against opponents on a similar record rather than knocking you out. Everybody plays every round, so one early loss does not end your evening — you simply face other teams who also lost. After the Swiss rounds the best records advance to a knockout bracket. Pairings and tie-breaks are generated by the server and published, so nothing about the draw is a matter of opinion.
Yes. The same server runs every match, so a browser player and a phone player sit at the same table with no difference in rules, timing or rating. Your account, friends, clubs, tournaments and match history follow you between them.
Four, in two partnerships. Partners sit opposite one another, so the turn order alternates between the two sides. If you are short of players, Quick Match will fill the empty seats for you.
From strongest to weakest: Jack, Nine, Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Eight, Seven. The Jack beating the Ace is the thing that surprises everyone exactly once. The same order applies in every suit, and in trump.
A 32-card deck: the 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of all four suits. Only four of those ranks carry points — Jack is worth 3, Nine 2, Ace 1 and Ten 1 — which comes to 28 points across the whole deck.
Trump is the suit that beats every other suit for the hand. The player who wins the auction chooses it, and in 28 they choose it face down: one card of the trump suit is set aside concealed, and nobody — not even their partner — knows what it is until somebody asks for it to be turned up. Deciding when to ask is one of the deepest parts of the game.
Yes. The match lives on the server, not in your browser, so you can refresh the tab, switch devices or lose signal for a moment and sit straight back down in the same seat with the same cards. There is a grace period before a seat is considered abandoned.
Yes. A private table has a short room code you can send to anybody. You choose the match format and how long the hands run, and the table stays open between matches so the same group can keep playing. Private tables are never rated.
No. 28Arena is a competitive strategy card game. There is no wagering, nothing to pay in, nothing to buy and no prize of monetary value — the only things at stake are your rating and your standing. If you are looking for a site to gamble on, this is not one.
Your seat is waiting
Find three players, bring your own four, or climb the ladder one table at a time. It takes about ten seconds to sign up and one more to sit down.
Free to play · No download · No wagering, ever
The whole deck · 32 cards
#A4X2M~5 min a hand
An illustration of the table browser. Live tables appear here once you sign in.
In a tournamentIn a tournament
Nithya
OnlineIn the lobby
An illustration of the friends list.
Friends
Add the people you enjoyed playing against, and their presence tells you what to do next: challenge somebody in the lobby, watch a friend who is mid-match, or drop straight into the table they are sitting at.
An illustration of a duo profile.
Diamond I1923
77 to Master
Beat a stronger table and you gain more. Lose to a weaker one and you lose more. The calculation runs on the server.
Quick Match seats you inside your rating band, so a table is roughly even before a card is dealt.
The highest rating you have ever held stays on your profile, whatever happens afterwards.
The same rating places you on the world ladder, your country’s, and among the people you play with.
| 1 | Kerala Kings | 3–0 | 3.0 |
| 2 | Ace Hunters | 3–0 | 3.0 |
| 3 | Card Masters | 2–1 | 2.0 |
| 4 | Your teamYou | 2–1 | 2.0 |
| 5 | Royal 28 | 2–1 | 2.0 |
| 6 | Trivandrum Jacks | 1–2 | 1.0 |
An illustration of the standings screen. Live tournaments appear in the lobby.
An illustration of a club page.
Clubs
A club is a persistent group with its own table, its own ranking and its own history. The table stays open whether or not anybody is sitting at it, so there is always somewhere for your four to go.
Recent form
Regular partner
An illustration of a player profile.
Direct card interaction, with the legal plays lit and the rest dimmed.
A clock on the seat that is thinking, and a score you never have to work out.
The match is on the server. Close the tab by accident and your seat is still yours.
The browser client is live today. The mobile apps share the same account.
Still stuck? Get in touch.