Thulla (also called Bhabhi) is a shedding game: get rid of every card in your hand and avoid being the last one holding. Follow suit when you can — and dodge the dreaded pile, because the player who can’t will scoop it all up.
Be among the first to play out all of your cards. You never want to be the player left holding cards at the end — that player is the Bhabhi and loses the round. The trick is to shed your cards without ever getting stuck collecting the pile.
Shuffle one standard deck and deal all 52 cards out as evenly as possible among the players.
Players may look at their own hands but keep them hidden from everyone else.
Whoever holds the Ace of Spades will start the first round.
The player with the Ace of Spades leads it to open the round.
Going clockwise, each player must follow suit — play a card of the same suit that was led.
Once everyone has followed, the highest card of the led suit wins, and that player leads the next round.
Thulla! If you can’t follow suit, play any card you like. The player who had laid the highest card of the led suit must pick up the entire pile.
Continue leading and following until only one player still has cards in hand.
There are no running points — only finishing order:
As soon as you play your last card, you are "out" and safe, in the order you finished.
The single player left holding cards is the Bhabhi and loses the round.
Across a session, the player who is Bhabhi the fewest times comes out on top.
Shed your high cards early while a suit is still "safe" to lead.
Hang on to a low card in a suit so you can dodge winning an unwanted trick.
Watch which suits opponents have run out of — that’s where a thulla is coming.
Late in the round, count cards: forcing the lead onto a stuck player wins it for everyone else.
Now that you know the rules, jump into a live table and put them to work.