They vary from one part of India to another, though the fundamental principles remain the same. Ganjifa is a trick-making game. The deal rotates in an anti-clockwise direction. The first player must lay his top cards in sequence first and then he draws the high cards of the others in order to establish more high cards his hand. The players who follow him do the same.
Special rules regulate the passing of the lead.
The skill of play lies in memorizing each card played, because it is essential to retain high cards for the last tricks. The loser in one round owes the number of cards lost to the winners, who have the right to exchange low against high value cards with him in the next deal. Thus, once a loser, it is difficult to recover. A rubber normally consists of three rounds. No card games with similar rules are to be found in Europe.