Whist Score Keeper
Whist scoring is beautifully small — one point per trick over six — which is precisely why sloppy scorekeeping ruins it. When a whole evening turns on totals like 3–2, a single miscounted hand decides the match. This score keeper records each hand's trick split, checks that the two counts make thirteen, applies the tricks-minus-six rule, and runs the totals to a game of 5, 7, or 9 points, with an optional honors bonus for traditional tables.
Record the next hand
Enter each partnership's tricks — the two counts must total 13. Every trick over the six-trick book scores one game point.
Off by default — the online game here scores tricks only.
Enter tricks (0–13) for both partnerships.
The Book and the Odd Tricks
Every Whist hand produces exactly thirteen tricks, and the first six taken by each partnership form the book — a baseline that earns nothing. Points come only from odd tricks, the ones past six: a 7–6 hand scores a single point for the winning side, 8–5 scores two, and a clean sweep of all thirteen scores the maximum of seven. One consequence is that a Whist hand can never tie; thirteen is odd, so one side always clears its book.
Because both partnerships' tricks must account for the whole hand, this score keeper refuses any entry that does not total thirteen. That constraint is the same sanity check a careful scorer runs at a physical table, and it catches the classic mistake of crediting a contested middle trick to both sides.
Short, Long, and American Games
How long a Whist match runs depends on the target you pick before the first deal. English short whist plays to five points, the format our online table uses, and rewards steady one-point hands. Long whist plays to nine, and many American tables settle at seven. The score keeper offers all three targets, so the same tool covers a quick after-dinner rubber or a full evening of hands. Whichever target you choose, the first partnership to reach it wins the game.
The target changes the texture of play more than new players expect. Racing to five, a single 9–4 hand covers most of the distance and bold trump leads pay off. Grinding to nine, protecting a one-point edge hand after hand matters more than chasing a big haul, and the discipline described in our strategy guide — leading from length, saving trump, refusing to beat a winning partner — compounds across the longer match.
The Honors Option
Traditional English scoring adds honors: the ace, king, queen, and jack of the trump suit. If a partnership was dealt all four between the two hands, it claims four extra points; any three earn two. Honors reward the deal rather than the play, which is why many modern tables — and the online game on this site — skip them entirely. The score keeper leaves honors off by default and adds a per-hand honors entry when you enable the toggle.
If you do play honors, agree on the etiquette before the first deal: honors must be claimed before the next hand is cut, and strict short-whist tables do not let honors alone carry a side from four points to game. The score keeper applies honors exactly as entered, so your table's house rule stays in your hands.
A Sample Rubber
Say North–South opens with eight tricks against five: two points on the board. The next hand goes 7–6 to East–West, one point back. A 10–3 blowout then hands North–South four more points and, in a game to five, the match at 6–1. Entered hand by hand, the running totals tell that story at a glance — and the moment a side crosses the target, the score keeper calls the game. For the full rules behind the numbers, including revoke penalties and trump edge cases, see the how-to-play guide.
Rather play than tally?
The free online Whist table deals, enforces follow-suit, scores every hand over six, and plays the match to five points with an AI partner across the table.