Trex, pronounced Tricks or Trix, and also known as Ticks, is a four-player Middle Eastern card game mainly played in the Levant region (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine).
During his or her "kingdom" a player may choose to play any contract based on his or her cards.
After the four kingdoms are complete, 20 deals have been played, every player has chosen every contract once: the game is over.
Four of the five contracts are trick-taking games in which the aim is to avoid taking tricks, or particular cards.
The player who takes the trick containing the king of hearts loses 75 points in standard setting.
One common strategy followed in the pursuit of forcing the card's holder to collect it him or herself is for players to purposely lead hearts when possible.
Each card of the diamond suit taken in a trick costs 10 points off the running total of the collecting player.
Players try to get rid of their cards as soon as they can by playing them to a layout, which begins with the jacks, and continues upwards in each suit to the ace and downwards to the two.
The cards are shuffled and redealt, and the dealer can choose any contract that he has not already played (including Trex).
Generally, the king of hearts is an important game, and the easiest to pick if the player has the right cards.
If a player counts cards correctly, they may be able to lead with the king when an opponent has the ace alone in their hand.
If a player only has high cards of the suit their partner has run out of, they should keep playing that suit (high to low) until their partner runs out of another one, or an opponent is forced to collect.
Tafreesh (see above) is a very common strategy in this contract, and especially useful when a player has a queen with a lot of protection of low ranks.
Keep an eye out for high rank diamonds and avoid playing tlata'shawy.
It's also a good idea for a player to keep at least one high-mid rank diamond to allow their partner to hand them the game if they are stuck.
If playing partners, a player should not pick slaps if they only have low ranks as their partner's hand may also have a low value, and keeping a high card will allow them to give hand the game to the player.
When an early game trick has low or medium ranks, the player can leave it.
Sometimes it's better for a player to lead with high cards so they will not collect tricks in the late game, as above.
One player might play a suit that their partner ran out of in order to let them get rid of their high ranks.
Trex is usually the most important and decisive contract (especially in partners), and it's the only positive score game (outside of doubling).
When the player forced to play cards for their opponent, they should try to focus on only one suit, preferably the one they have the most of.