3-2-5

3-2-5 (Teen Do Paanch) or 5-3-2 is a popular card game which is commonly played in India and Pakistan.^[1]

Cards

The game is played with a 30-card stripped deck limited to all 8s onwards for all suits except for the 7 of Hearts and the 7 of Spades. The 7s are not considered high trumps (spade highest) except in some variants where they are regular cards (in which case they could also be of any suit).

The game is popularly called 2-3-5 (do-teen-panch) and often refereed as 3-2-5, or 5-3-2 depending on playing tradition.

Game play

Basic game

"3-2-5" is very similar to bridge, except that there are three players instead of four, and all play individually. There are a total of 3+2+5 = 10 possible tricks. On each trick, the highest of the led suit wins unless it is trumped.

Rules

1. Each player becomes the dealer one by one.
2. The dealer has to make 2 tricks, the next person (who chooses the trump) 5, and the third 3.
3. Dealing the Cards - first distribute a set of 5 cards to each, as a single block of 5. The first person dealt to chooses the trump suit. Then the cards are dealt either as another block of 5 to each player, or in a variant, in sets of 3 and two. If the player choosing the trump does not like her first 5 cards, she may decide to ask the next set of 2 cards to be shown to all and the suit with the highest card in those 3 becomes the trump.
4. First lead is by the player setting the trump, subsequent ones are by the one who wins the trick
5. The 7 of spades and 7 of hearts are not the highest trumps - the order does not go 7 of spades, 7 of hearts, ace of trumps, and so on down. In an easier variant of the game, the 7s are not considered trumps(as mentioned by surya joshi).
6. In the end if someone makes more than what is required of him (like the dealer makes 4 instead of 2), then he is either "owed" tricks in the next round by those that made fewer than they were required to, or instead can 'pick' a card each for the extra tricks in the next round (the choice is on the part of the person who "owes" the tricks) i.e. if player 1 (the dealer) makes 4 and player 2 makes 2 (instead of 3) and player 3 makes 4 (instead of 5), then player 1 has the option of pulling one card each from the cards of player 2 and player 3 in the next round. In return, he can give back any of his unwanted (usually small) cards as long as he can show 2 cards of the same suit (in some regions, instead of 2, only 1 card of the same suit is necessary).
7. If anyone does not get the Trump, redeal needs to be done.

References