The complete guide: crosswise teams, trumps, leading a trick and following suit, points for cards and the letters of the word "КОЗЁЛ", controls on muta.pro and tips for beginners.
Kozel is a team-based trick-taking card game for four people. Players sit in pairs crosswise and in each hand fight for the points that won tricks carry. The pair that scores fewer points in a hand receives one letter of the word "КОЗЁЛ". The team that is first to collect all five letters loses — it becomes the "goat". Your task is to play so that the letters go to your opponents, not to you.
There are four players at the table: you (🧑) and three bots — Boris, Galina and Stepan. Teams are formed crosswise: team A — you and Galina (seated opposite), team B — Boris and Stepan. Partners play for a shared result.
The game uses 32 cards in four suits: ♠ Spades, ♥ Hearts, ♦ Diamonds, ♣ Clubs. Ranks from lowest to highest: 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. Each player is dealt 8 cards, after which a series of tricks begins.
At the start of each hand a trump suit is chosen at random — it is shown in the right panel as "Trump: …". Trumps beat any cards of other suits, however high those cards may be.
One player leads a trick with any card from hand. Click a card — available cards are highlighted in gold on hover. The prompt "Your move — lead any card" means you are opening the trick.
The others must follow with a card of the same suit as the lead, if they have one in hand. If they have no card of that suit, they may discard any card or beat the trick with a trump.
The trick is taken by the highest card in the led suit, or by the highest trump if trumps were played. The winner of the trick leads first in the next one.
Cards carry points: Ace — 11, Ten — 10, King — 4, Queen — 3, Jack — 2, the rest — 0. The team that wins the trick takes the points of all four cards in it.
After the hand the points of both teams are totalled. The pair with fewer points receives the next letter of the word "КОЗЁЛ". The right panel shows the letters accumulated by each team.
During the hand the "Trick points (game)" panel shows the current totals of both teams. When all the cards are played, the totals are compared: the losing pair receives a letter. The word "КОЗЁЛ" has five letters in all. The team that is first to collect all five loses the game and becomes the "goat" — the other pair wins. After the hand, the "Hand N" and "Trick N" counters help you follow the course of the game, and the "↻ New game" button starts everything over.
Don't waste trumps on empty tricks. Keep them to intercept a trick holding the opponent's valuable cards.
Into an opponent's trick that is already clearly won, throw sevens and eights — zero-value cards you won't miss.
If the trick is definitely going to your partner (Galina), toss an Ace or a Ten in there — the points go to your team.
Remember the trumps that have gone: once the opponents are out of them, your ordinary high cards are safe again.
Before you play a card, it pays to "read" the table for a second — which suits and trumps have already fallen and who the points are going to. In Kozel, the led suit outranks card strength: the winner is the highest card in the suit that was led, or the highest trump if a trump reached the table.
The lead was ♥, but the trump ♣7 takes the trick — the lowest trump beats even the Ace and the Ten of hearts.
Such a read takes an instant, but it is exactly what separates the experienced player from the novice. The beginner looks only at their own card; the strong player first sees the whole picture of the table, and only then decides what to play. The three questions below are worth asking yourself before every move.
A single trump instantly changes the owner of the trick: however many points lie in it, everything goes to whoever trumped higher.
Determine from the last strong card whose pair is currently taking the table. That decides whether to feed points, cover, or discard an empty.
Four empties (7-8-9) — a table worth 0 points, no loss to give away. A table with two Aces is 22 points, worth fighting for with a trump.
A non-trump Ace is 11 points and the top strength in its suit, but against a trump it is defenceless. The main way to take the opponents' points is to force them to lay out a valuable card when you have none of their suit and do have a trump: then you ruff the trick and take everything in it.
The opponent put in ♦10 and ♦A (21 points), and a cheap trump Jack takes them for itself.
A trump Jack or 7 is worth 0–2 points, but it takes off the opponent's Ace with a Ten. Spend the lowest trump on a ruff, and save the highest to intercept.
A suit you hold none of is a window for a ruff. Don't lead it yourself: wait until an opponent goes into it and puts points under your trump.
If you are short of trumps, don't rush to ruff the very first trick — save the trump for the endgame, where the Aces and Tens come out.
When you have none of the led suit, you play any card — and here the fate of the points is decided. The rule is simple: into an opponent's won trick goes an empty, into your own or your partner's — "gold". One wrong discard hands the opponent 10–11 points and, possibly, a letter.
The opponent takes the trick — discard ♠7 (0 points), and save ♥A: to give it up here is to hand over 11 points.
7, 8 and 9 are worth 0 points each. Give exactly those to where the opponent wins — the loss is nil.
Is Galina guaranteed to take the trick? Toss an Ace or a Ten in: the deck's 120 points are split between the pairs, and in your pot they are the same 21 points.
The pair with the smaller total gets a letter. Once your pot passes 60 out of 120, a letter no longer threatens you — give the rest away calmly.
On muta.pro the classic team Kozel is played: 32 cards, crosswise pairs, the five-letter word "КОЗЁЛ". But beyond the site the game has dozens of home editions — worth knowing so you don't argue about the rules in live company.
Some play to the shorter "КОЗА" (4 letters) for a quick game, others to the full "КОЗЁЛ". The longer the word, the more hands there are and the smaller the role of a single random deal.
In some editions a pair can remove a letter it already has if it takes all 120 points clean in a hand. On muta.pro the letters only accumulate — this keeps the score transparent.
The related game "Burkozel": the same point logic, but "burs" are added — the duty to beat higher. A good next step once you've mastered ordinary Kozel.
Separately, keep the score-to-goal in mind. While your pair has zero or two letters, you can risk it for a big point grab; on the fourth letter, in position "КОЗЁ", the task changes — not to win the hand, but merely not to score less than the opponent in it. One cautious deal at this line often decides the whole game.
Four trumps in hand — you can run a "ladder": with trump leads draw them out of the opponents and clear the road for your Aces.