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How to play Whot

Nigerian rules, as played in the Surulere Games Lounge. Updated 18 October 2026.

Whot is the card game most Nigerians grew up on: in the parlour, at parties, in the back of the shop. Match the call card by its shape or its number, use the special cards to make other players suffer, and be the first to finish your cards. That's check up, and you win.

The cards

A Nigerian Whot deck has 54 cards in five shapes: circles, triangles, crosses, squares and stars. On top of those are five Whot cards, numbered 20. Not every shape has every number:

So there are no 6s or 9s at all, crosses and squares have no 4, 8 or 12, and stars stop at 8. It's worth knowing: if you need a cross 8, nobody has it.

The deal

1. Two to four people can play. Shuffle and deal five cards to each player.
2. Turn up one card from the pack. That is the call card: the card everyone must follow. The first call card is never a Whot, and if it is a special card it does nothing: just follow it.
3. The rest of the pack goes face down. That is the market.
4. Draw lots to decide who starts. Play then goes round the table.

Your turn

On your turn, do one of these:

• Play a card that matches the call card, by its shape or by its number. On a circle 7 you can play any circle, or a 7 of any shape. The card you play becomes the new call card.
• Play a Whot, which goes on anything, and call the shape the next player must play.
• Go to market: take one card from the market. That ends your turn, even if the card you picked could have been played.

You can go to market whenever you like, even when you could play. Sometimes it's smarter to keep a good card for later.

The special cards

Six numbers do something extra when you play them. This is where the wahala starts.

• 1 · Hold onYou play again straight away. Your next card must follow the 1 you just played.
• 2 · Pick twoThe next player picks two cards from the market and misses their turn, unless they defend with another 2.
• 5 · Pick threeThe same, but the next player picks three, unless they defend with another 5.
• 8 · SuspensionThe next player misses their turn. With only two of you, you play again.
• 14 · General marketEverybody else picks one card from the market, and you play again.
• 20 · WhotGoes on any card. Call a shape ("I need triangle!") and the next player must play that shape or another Whot.

Defending a Pick two or Pick three

When someone plays a 2 on you, you can only answer with a 2 of any shape. That passes the pick on and makes it bigger: two 2s in a row means the next player picks four, three means six. A Pick three works the same way with 5s, going up by three each time. If you can't (or won't) defend, you pick up the whole lot and your turn ends. You can't block a pick with a Whot.

After someone picks up, the 2 or 5 stays as the call card, and the next player follows it as normal.

After a Whot

Once a shape is called, only that shape counts: the number on the Whot means nothing. The next player plays the called shape, plays another Whot and calls a new shape, or goes to market.

Winning: check up

The first player to play their last card wins. That's check up. In Lagos Hotel your last card can be any card, even a special one: the game ends the moment your hand is empty.

Some people play that you must shout "last card", or that you can't finish on a special card. Lagos Hotel doesn't use those house rules: everyone can see how many cards you are holding anyway.

When the market runs out, the played cards under the call card are shuffled into a new market and the game goes on. If there's nothing left to pick anywhere, the player holding the fewest cards wins.

Tips to win

• Keep your Whot for last. It goes on anything, so it gets you out of trouble when nothing else matches. Don't waste it early.
• Hold a 2 or a 5 to defend. Without one, a Pick two can turn your five cards into nine.
• Watch everybody's card count. When someone is down to one or two cards, hit them with a Pick two, a Pick three or a Suspension.
• Call the shape you have most of. When you play a Whot, call the shape you're holding the most cards in, so you can follow it again.
• Count the deck. There are no 6s, 9s or cross and square 4s, 8s and 12s. Calling stars late in the game is cruel: there are only seven.
• Use Hold on and General market to finish. Both let you play again, so a 1 or a 14 followed by your last card is a quick check up.

Whot words

Call card

The face-up card on the table. Your card must match it.

Market

The face-down pack. "Go to market" means take one card from it.

I need…

What you say when you play a Whot: "I need star!"

Hold on

A 1: you play again.

Pick two, pick three

A 2 or a 5: the next player picks up, unless they defend.

Suspension

An 8: the next player misses their turn.

General market

A 14: everybody else picks one.

Check up

Playing your last card. You win.

Whot in Lagos Hotel

• Nobody can peek. The hotel's server shuffles, deals and holds every hand, so not even the player who started the game can see your cards. You see your own hand and how many cards everyone else has.
• Play with people or the house. Sit at a Whot table in the Surulere Games Lounge and invite whoever is in the room. Empty seats go to the hotel's own players: Madam Titi, Bros Emeka, Sisi Funmi and Baba Ludo.
• No dulling. If someone stalls for about 45 seconds, the hotel plays one turn for them so the game keeps moving.
• Play at home. Buy a Whot table from the furniture shop, put it in your apartment and play with your visitors.
• Get on the champions board. Wins against real people count towards today's champions on the lounge wall. Games against only the house players don't count.