45's – Play Real Auction 45’s on your mobile devices.
Play the authentic 45’s card game — fast, strategic, and true to how it’s actually played. No gimmicks. No shortcuts. Just real 45’s. Classic 45’s, Done Right
Authentic Rules You Won’t Find Elsewhere
Smart, Competitive AI
Strategic Gameplay
Accurate Scoring
Built for Smooth Play
Accessible
No Ads. No Tracking. No Data Collection.Just the game.New to 45’s?
45's has had different variations over the past 100 years. While we've taken the effort to ensure that the game is as close to Merrimack Valley / Nova Scotia rules as possible, we've added some additional options such as the 30/60 overbid, and a custom kiddie size.
As time allows, we may periodically include additional options to allow for some custom rules that people have adopted over the many decades that 45's has been played.
Currently, this version is offline play only. Zero data, zero ads, zero information sharing.
Future versions may replace the current version to allow the option for online play, ranking, badges, invites and timed play. As with all of our games and apps, personal information will NOT be collected from NE Design Works.
How to Play 45's
45's (Auction Forty-Fives) is a classic trick-taking card game with roots
in Ireland and popular in New England and Canada. It rewards sharp bidding,
partnership play, and the willingness to hold your top trumps back for the
right moment.
Quick Start
- Choose a mode: **Partners** (2 v 2) or **Cut throat** (2, 3, or 4 players
each for themselves).
- Everyone is dealt 5 cards.
- Bid, in turn, from 15 to 30 points based on how many points you think
you can win. Highest bidder picks trump.
- Play out five tricks, following suit if you can.
- Each trick is worth 5 points; the trick with the highest trump gets a
5-point bonus. First to 120 wins — but only by making their own bid.
The one truly non-obvious rule is the renege privilege on the top three
trumps. **See the explanation on Reneging**.
Objective
Be the first player (Cut throat) or team (Partners) to reach **120 points**
by successfully making bids. Reaching 120 as a defender does not end the
match — you have to win a bid in the hand that crosses 120.
Players and Modes
**Partners** — always 4 players in two teams. You (South) partner with the
player across from you (North). The two CPU opponents (West and East) form
the other team. Team scores are combined.
**Cut throat** — 2, 3, or 4 players. Every player scores individually. Set
the number of players in Game Options before starting the match.
The Deal
Each hand uses a standard 52-card deck, freshly shuffled.
Cards are dealt in a strict pattern:
1. **3 cards** to each player, in turn.
2. **The kiddie** — 1, 2, or 3 cards dealt face-down to the center of the
table (configurable in Game Options; the default is 3 cards).
3. **2 more cards** to each player, in turn.
Every player ends with 5 cards. The remaining cards form the draw pile,
used later to refill hands after discards.
The dealer rotates one seat to the left after each hand.
Card Rankings
45s uses **non-standard rankings**. Trump cards are ordered one way, and
off-suit cards are ordered another. Learn these tables — they're the single
biggest source of surprise for new players.
Trump Rankings
Whichever suit is trump, the top three cards are always: **5 of trump, Jack
of trump, Ace of Hearts** — in that order. The Ace of Hearts is always a
trump card, even when hearts is not the trump suit.
The rest of the trump suit varies by color:
**Trump = Clubs or Spades (black):**
5 · J · A♥ · A · K · Q · 2 · 3 · 4 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10
*Note the "reversed" order among the small black cards: 2 beats 3, 3 beats 4,
6 beats 7, and so on.*
**Trump = Diamonds (red):**
5 · J · A♥ · A · K · Q · 10 · 9 · 8 · 7 · 6 · 4 · 3 · 2
**Trump = Hearts:**
5 · J · A♥ · K · Q · 10 · 9 · 8 · 7 · 6 · 4 · 3 · 2
*(When hearts is trump, the Ace of Hearts is simply the trump Ace — third
from the top, in the same slot it would occupy in any other trump suit.)*
The Ace of Hearts
Special rule: the Ace of Hearts is **always a trump card**. If someone leads
the Ace of Hearts when spades is trump, it counts as a trump lead — you
must follow with trump if you can.
Off-Suit Rankings
The app supports two conventions, selectable via the "Use classical off-suit
Ace ranking" toggle in Game Options.
**Default (Ace always high in off-suit):**
- Red suits (♦ ♥): A · K · Q · J · 10 · 9 · 8 · 7 · 6 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2
- Black suits (♣ ♠): A · K · Q · J · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10
**Classical (Ace low in off-suit):**
- Off-suit ♦: K · Q · J · 10 · 9 · 8 · 7 · 6 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · A
- Off-suit ♥: K · Q · J · 10 · 9 · 8 · 7 · 6 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 *(A♥ is always trump)*
- Off-suit ♣ / ♠: K · Q · J · A · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10
The default is a common New England house rule; the classical option
matches the traditional Auction 45's rankings.
Bidding
Bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left and moves clockwise
around to the dealer. **Each player bids once** — either a numeric bid or
"pass."
Legal bids are **15, 20, 25, and 30**. Each bid must be higher than the
current high. You can bid over your partner in Partners mode.
If every player passes, the **dealer is forced to bid 15**. This
guarantees every hand has a bidder; you never re-deal.
30 for 60 (Optional)
Enabled by default; can be turned off in Game Options.
If a player has already bid a plain 30 in the current hand, a following
bidder may call **"30 for 60."** This is an aggressive bid: you commit to
sweeping all 30 hand points. Make it and you score +60. Fail to sweep and
you lose 60 points.
Trump Selection
The winning bidder chooses the trump suit. This happens **before** the
kiddie is revealed — the bidder must commit to a trump without seeing what
the kiddie contains.
Only after trump is chosen do the kiddie cards get added to the bidder's
hand. This means the bidder should base their trump choice on the 5 cards
they were originally dealt.
Discard and Draw
Now that everyone has their cards (and the bidder has picked up the
kiddie), every player discards cards they don't want.
- You may keep as few as 1 card and as many as 5.
- The bidder typically discards most heavily because they have extra
cards from the kiddie.
Once everyone has discarded, the dealer refills each hand back up to 5
cards from the draw pile. **The winning bidder is dealt to first**, all the
way back up to 5 cards, before any other player receives a card. After the
bidder is at 5, the deal continues clockwise from the bidder.
Playing the Hand
The winning bidder leads the first trick. The winner of each trick leads
the next.
Follow-Suit Rule
When someone leads a card, you must follow suit **if you can**:
- **If a trump is led**, you must play a trump card (subject to the renege
rule — see next section).
- **If a non-trump card is led**, you must play a card of that suit — or
you may optionally break suit with one of the three top trumps (see
"Non-Trump Lead Privilege" below).
Non-Trump Lead Privilege
On a **non-trump lead**, even if you could follow suit, you may choose
instead to play one of the three top trumps:
- The **5 of trump**
- The **Jack of trump**
- The **Ace of Hearts** (when it is acting as trump for another suit)
This is optional — you may still follow suit normally.
Winning the Trick
- Any trump beats any non-trump.
- Between two trumps, the higher trump wins.
- If no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit wins.
The Renege Rule
The renege privilege is the single most misunderstood rule in 45s. Read
this section carefully.
What Reneging Means
**Reneging** means playing a non-trump card on a trump lead — breaking
suit when you could have followed. In most card games this is illegal. In
45s, the top three trumps have a limited privilege that allows it.
When It Applies
The privilege lets you hold back the **5 of trump**, the **Jack of trump**,
or the **Ace of Hearts** (when it is acting as trump) from being *bled* by
a lower trump lead.
You may renege (play any non-trump card) **only when every trump in your
hand is a privileged top trump that strictly outranks the card that was
led.**
If you also hold any other trump — either a non-privileged trump (like the
Ace of trump, King of trump, or a small trump) or a privileged trump that
doesn't outrank the led card — that trump can be bled, and you must play
trump normally.
Why This Rule Exists
The idea is that your top trumps shouldn't be forced out by an opponent
playing a low trump. If your only trump above the lead is one of the top
three, you can hold it back and play something else. But if you also have
a lower trump to sacrifice, you have to play that one — you can't skip
the follow-suit obligation.
Examples
Assume trump is **spades** and the opponent leads a low trump — say the **2♠**.
| Your hand | Legal plays | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 5♠, 8♥ | any card | 5♠ is the only trump; privileged; outranks 2♠ — held back, renege available |
| 5♠, J♠, 8♥ | any card | Both trumps are privileged and outrank 2♠ |
| 5♠, A♠, 8♥ | **5♠ or A♠** (not 8♥) | A♠ is a non-privileged trump; can be bled — must play trump |
| 5♠, 3♠, 8♥ | **5♠ or 3♠** | 3♠ is non-privileged trump — must play trump |
| 5♠, K♠, 8♥ | **5♠ or K♠** | K♠ is non-privileged trump — must play trump |
| A♥, K♠, 8♥ | **A♥ or K♠** | K♠ is non-privileged trump — must play trump |
| A♥, 8♥ (trump=♠) | any card | A♥ is the only trump; privileged; outranks 2♠ |
Now assume the opponent leads a **higher trump** — say the **5♠** (the top
trump).
| Your hand | Legal plays | Why |
|---|---|---|
| J♠, K♠ | **J♠ or K♠** | J♠ does not outrank the 5 — no privilege protection |
| A♥, 8♥ | **A♥** | A♥ does not outrank the 5 — must play trump |
Turning Reneging Off
If you'd rather play with strict follow-suit and no renege privilege, turn
off **Allow reneging** in Game Options. The non-trump-lead privilege (Section
"Non-Trump Lead Privilege" above) is always on and is not affected by this
toggle.
Scoring
At the end of each hand, points are counted and applied to match scores.
Hand Points
- Each of the 5 tricks is worth **5 points**.
- An extra **5 points** goes to the trick containing the highest-value trump
played anywhere in the hand.
- Each hand is worth **30 points total**.
Bidder Outcome
- **Made the bid** — the bidder's team scores their hand points normally.
- **Set** — the bidder's team **loses the bid amount** from their match
score.
- Non-bidder teams always score whatever hand points they earned.
30 for 60
- **Made** (all 30 hand points): +60 to the bidder's match score.
- **Failed**: −60.
Back to Zero (Optional)
If Back to Zero is enabled in Game Options, after every hand any player or
team whose score lands **exactly** on the configured threshold (45–120,
picked in 5-point steps) resets to zero.
This applies to everyone, including the bidder. If you make a bid and land
exactly on the threshold, you reset to zero and do NOT win the match.
Overshoot doesn't trigger it — only an exact match.
Winning the Match
- The first player (Cut throat) or team (Partners) to reach 120 points wins.
- Winning requires **making your own bid** in the hand that crosses 120.
Crossing 120 as a defender does not end the match.
- A failed bid always subtracts points from your score, no matter how far
ahead you are.
Game Options
All settings are on the setup screen before the match starts.
| Option | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Mode | Partners | Partners (2v2) or Cut throat (individual scoring) |
| Number of players | 4 | 2–4 in Cut throat; fixed at 4 in Partners |
| Cards in the kiddie | 3 | 1, 2, or 3 cards dealt to the kiddie |
| Allow 30 for 60 | On | Enables the optional 30-for-60 bid |
| Use classical off-suit Ace ranking | Off | On → Ace is low in ♦ and below J in ♣/♠. Off → Ace is always the highest off-suit card. |
| Allow reneging | On | Enables the classical trump-lead renege privilege for the top three trumps |
| Back to Zero rule | Off | If a score lands exactly on the threshold after a hand, it resets to zero. Threshold picker: 45–120 in 5-point steps. |
AI Reactions
For flavor, the game shows small emoji reactions next to player names in a
few situations. Reactions appear a moment after the event so they feel more
like real players noticing what happened, and clear a few seconds into the
next hand.
- **Bidder set**: a random handful of players react — the bidder's team gets
a sad or angry emoji, opponents get a laughing emoji.
- **Back to Zero triggered**: whoever was reset shows sad; everyone else
laughs.
- **Wasted primary trump (Partners only)**: if a partner played a 5, J, or
A♥ of trump on a trick their partnership won with a different card, that
partner gets an angry emoji — a wink at the wasted top trump.
Accessibility
- **VoiceOver** is fully supported. Card names, whose turn it is, trump/bid
status, and hand results are all announced.
- Cards display both a suit symbol and a text label.
- Both landscape and portrait orientations are supported.
Privacy
- The game runs **entirely on your device**. There are no network requests
during gameplay.
- **No accounts, no logins, no in-app purchases, no advertising.**
- **No analytics, no tracking, no data collection** of any kind.
See our full [Privacy Policy](./privacy.html) for details.
Happy playing!
**Effective Date:** June 27, 2026
**Developer:** Steve Nihan - NE Designworks
**Contact:** games@NEDesignWorks.com
Summary
45s Offline is an offline mobile game. It does not collect, store, transmit, or
share any personal data or any other information about you or your device.
The game runs entirely on your device.
What we collect
**Nothing.** 45's Offline does not collect any data from you, including but not limited to:
- Personal information (name, email address, phone number, date of birth,
address, payment information).
- Account credentials. The app does not require an account, login, or
registration.
- Device identifiers (advertising ID, device ID, IP address).
- Usage analytics, crash reports, performance telemetry, or diagnostic data.
- Location data.
- Photos, contacts, microphone input, camera input, calendar, or any other
data from your device.
- Cookies or similar tracking technologies.
The app does not request any permissions that would allow it to access such
data.
Third-party services
45's Offline does not integrate any third-party analytics, advertising,
crash-reporting, social, or tracking services. No SDKs that transmit data
to external servers are included in the app.
Network communication
The app does not connect to the internet during normal gameplay. No data
about you, your device, or your activity is transmitted off the device by
the app itself.
The app makes no network requests of any kind.
Children's privacy
Because 45's collects no data of any kind, it collects no data from
children. The app complies with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act (COPPA) and similar children's privacy laws in other
jurisdictions by virtue of not collecting any data from any user.
Your rights under GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws
These laws give you rights over personal data that a company holds about
you. Because [App Name] does not collect, store, or process any personal
data, there is no such data for us to disclose, correct, export, or delete.
In-app purchases and advertising
The app contains no in-app purchases and no
advertising.
Changes to this policy
If this policy is ever updated, the new version will be posted at the same
URL where you found this one, and the "Effective Date" above will be
updated. Material changes will be noted at the top of this page.
For additional option consideration or to report issues with game play, please contact us via
email: games@nedesignworks.com
Copyright © 2026 New England Design Works - All Rights Reserved.
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