Dummy hand

A dummy hand or ghost player is an imaginary extra player in a card game, used to make a game more challenging, as a special hand in a game or to compensate for a missing player. A ghost player can take the place of a human player either as a dead hand (their cards or pieces are not used in the game), or under the control of another player.

Dead hand

In the case of card games and tile games the ghost player is dealt cards or tiles which are subsequently not used in the game (which are considered dead cards). The ghost player does not participate in the game, reveal their hand or score any points.

In some versions of three player mahjong the last 13 tiles of the game are not used as though they belong to a fourth player who has not played their hand. That player also takes the fourth wind position.

In Rummoli the ghost position is known as the widow. An extra hand is dealt to a ghost player and those cards are not revealed until the end of the game. This is designed to keep some cards out of the game, making it more challenging to win difficult hands.

Controlled hand

In other games the ghost players cards are controlled by a selected player (effectively meaning that player plays two separate hands). The points earned in the ghost hand are not scored separately but are scored to the player who controlled the ghost hand.

A ghost player in Bunko, or other games with multiplayers formed in partnerships, represents the unfilled seat or position in a game, in which one person will play for him/herself as well as the ghost position.

In dummy whist, a dummy hand is won and controlled by the winner of an in-game auction, during each hand.

Tournaments

In tournaments, especially in draw tournaments such as tennis, of single elimination, a ghost player may be added in certain rounds if there are not enough players to fill out a binary tournament table. In this case the non-ghost player automatically wins the game which is known as a bye.