<p>I made several AI agents that plays CallBreak. My current strongest <strong>rule-based</strong> agent uses the following lead:</p>
<ol>
<li>If starting with 5+ spades, lead them: lead boss, otherwise lead lowest.</li>
<li>Lead sidesuit Boss.</li>
<li>Lead strongest below the second-Boss from sidesuit with a second boss.</li>
<li>Lead low from Short sidesuit.</li>
<li>Lead Trash - low from worst suit.</li>
</ol>
<hr />
<p>Terminology:</p>
<ul>
<li>Lead - the first card in the trick.</li>
<li>Open lead - the lead in the first trick of the round.</li>
<li>Boss - Strongest card in the suit, based on the cards that were already played. For example, the King is the Boss if the Ace was played.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-08T16:05:31.710Z
2021-04-08T16:16:13.283Z
2021-04-08T16:16:13.283Z
Cohensius
<p><strong>CallBreak</strong> is an Indian variant of Spades, The rules differences from normal Spades are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Solo (no partnerships)</li>
<li>Possible bids are from 1 to 8  (no Nil bids)</li>
<li><strong>Players must play a stronger card than the current trick winner, if able.</strong></li>
<li>Can lead first trick with a spade (No “spades broken” rule).</li>
<li>No bags penalty.</li>
<li>Game ends after 5 rounds.</li>
</ol>
<h2>My question is, what is a strong open lead in CallBreak?</h2>
<p>While this question could be seen as opinion based, it is not so since I have access to a simulator of the game which allows me to compare clones of the same AI-agent that differ solely in the open lead, thus finding which open lead is better.</p>
<hr />
<p>It is available to play in many mobile game applications and also at <a href="http://callbreak.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://callbreak.com/</a>.</p>

<variants><spades><trick-taking-games>
Open lead in a variant of Spades, where players must play a winner if able (CallBreak)
Cohensius
# Open lead in a variant of Spades, where players must play a winner if able (CallBreak)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-04-08)

**CallBreak** is an Indian variant of Spades, The rules differences from normal Spades are:

1. Solo (no partnerships)
2. Possible bids are from 1 to 8 (no Nil bids)
3. **Players must play a stronger card than the current trick winner, if able.**
4. Can lead first trick with a spade (No “spades broken” rule).
5. No bags penalty.
6. Game ends after 5 rounds.

## My question is, what is a strong open lead in CallBreak?

While this question could be seen as opinion based, it is not so since I have access to a simulator of the game which allows me to compare clones of the same AI-agent that differ solely in the open lead, thus finding which open lead is better.

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It is available to play in many mobile game applications and also at <http://callbreak.com/>.

**Tags:** variants, spades, trick-taking-games


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2021-04-08. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

I made several AI agents that plays CallBreak. My current strongest **rule-based** agent uses the following lead:

1. If starting with 5+ spades, lead them: lead boss, otherwise lead lowest.
2. Lead sidesuit Boss.
3. Lead strongest below the second-Boss from sidesuit with a second boss.
4. Lead low from Short sidesuit.
5. Lead Trash - low from worst suit.

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Terminology:

* Lead - the first card in the trick.
* Open lead - the lead in the first trick of the round.
* Boss - Strongest card in the suit, based on the cards that were already played. For example, the King is the Boss if the Ace was played.


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