Cards
Showcase is played using an ordinary pack of 52 cards. The ranking in each of the suits is Ace (high) through 2 (low).
Deal
Each player is dealt 13 cards. The remaining (26) cards are placed face down between the players to form the stock pile. The top card of the stock pile is turned face up and is known as the (current) display card.
The Play
The non-dealer leads to the first trick. Thereafter the player who wins a trick leads to the next. until the stock pile is exhausted after trick 13. (After trick 13, the end-game takes place). The winner of a trick takes the display card and places it face up in front of him / her along with other previously collected display cards. These exposed cards are collectively known as the player's showcase and forms part of the player's hand.
The "loser" of the trick takes the next card from the stock pile and adds it to his / her hand without showing his / her opponent and turns up the next topmost stockpile card as the new display card.
Tricks won in play of the first 13 tricks are of two types:-
Value-less Tricks won by a player who played the higher ranking card of the suit led wins the trick, but this trick does not count. The cards that constitute the trick are placed in the "discard pile", located somewhere near the stock, between the players.
Value-Tricks When the second player does not follow suit, the trick is won and counts as a value-trick. In effect the first 13 tricks are played at "all-trumps" and only ruffing tricks count in this phase of the game.
The Obligation to Follow Suit
For the purpose of trick-taking, the normal obligation to follow suit is that a player must follow suit of the card led to a trick if there is a card of that suit in the showcase, otherwise he / she is free to play any card from the hand.
The card used for the trick may be chosen from either the concealed hand or from the showcase.
Restriction on Playing cards From the Showcase
The play of cards in the showcase have some restrictions which form part of the overall strategic make-up of the game.
The lead to a trick is restricted to a card from the concealed hand in the play of the first 13 tricks.
Further, a Showcase card may not be used in a trick response when not following suit.
Thus Showcase cards may only be used in following suit in response to a trick that has been led by the opponent and result in a value-less trick for either player (for the first 13 tricks).
When the stockpile is exhausted after the 13th trick, the end game takes place. Both player's hands are showcased (ie. fully exposed) and if one of the players has a less number of value-tricks than his / her opponent (the lesser offender of re-negeing) , he / she may nominate a trump suit for the next 13 tricks, otherwise, in the case of a tie of the number of value-tricks taken, the end-game is played in no-trumps. In the end game every trick counts as a value-trick. The nominated trump suit may be any one of six choices being a single suit trump ( clubs, hearts, spades or diamonds), no-trumps or all-trumps (as in the play of tricks 1 to 13 ). The winner of the 13th trick leads to the 14th.
Scoring
At the end of a hand, each player scores one for each value-trick less six ( "for the book"). Players play to an agreed limit for a match.