The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (117 page)

K Normal y the second lowest card of al , but it beats a winning

Seven, and in that event can then be beaten by K or 3. If led, or

played second to the lead of 3, it holds the trick only if nothing

else but Sevens or SK are played.

K Normal y the lowest card of al , but it beats K when the lat er

is beating a Seven. If led, or played second to the lead of 3, it

holds the trick only if nothing else but Sevens are played.

Play Eldest leads to the first trick and the winner of each trick leads

to the next. The lead to any trick may be of a singleton, pair, triplet

or quartet of the same rank – any rank, including Sevens and Kings.

(Whether 3 counts as a King for this purpose is unclear, and must

be agreed beforehand.) The fol owers must play the same number

of cards as those led, and they may be any cards at al , not

necessarily of the same rank or suit. (Exception: If Voormsi is

heading the trick, and an opponent holds Toqu, he must play it.) A

singleton trick is taken by the highest card played, as detailed

above. A multi-card lead is beaten only by a group of cards of

which each and every one beats a dif erent card of the group led.

Before the next lead, each in turn, beginning with the trick-winner,

draws a card from stock until the hands are restored to four cards,

or none remain to draw. (When two play, they each draw one after

playing each card.)

Two-player rule Whoever plays the higher of the first two cards

draws one from stock, waits for the other to do so, then plays third

to the trick, which is won by whoever plays the highest of the four.

Score Points are scored for the fol owing feats. Remember that Toqu

( J) and Voormsi ( K) are equal in rank, and if both fal to the

same trick the second one played beats the first.

1. Score 2 points for playing Toqu and thereby capturing

Voormsi played by an opponent. However, you may not

capture it from your partner, otherwise you immediately lose

capture it from your partner, otherwise you immediately lose

al your points and the game ends.

2. Score 1 point for playing 3 and thereby capturing Voormsi,

no mat er who played it, provided that Voormsi would

otherwise have won the trick. (Thus the bonus does not apply

if Voormsi has been discarded on a Seven, or played to a

doubleton trick won by Toqu and 3.)

3. Score an additional 1 point for playing 3 if, besides

capturing Voormsi, you also thereby capture Toqu, provided

that it was itself capturing Voormsi by virtue of being played

after it. This nul ifies the Toqu player’s 2-point bonus.

4. Score 1 point for playing Voormsi and winning the trick, but

not if you played it last to the trick, or if Toqu has already

gone, or if you hold Toqu yourself. In other words, you get the

bonus for playing it only when, so far as you knew, it risked

being captured by Toqu. If chal enged, you must show that

you are not holding Toqu yourself. (Logical y, therefore, you

don’t get the point if you capture Toqu with Voormsi in the

same trick.)

5. Score 1 point for winning any five tricks, and 1 for each trick

in excess of five. However, winning al nine tricks (or 12 if

three play) nul ifies the hand.

6. Score an additional point for winning the first five tricks in

succession, but don’t stop playing until the sequence is

finished – in case you win them al , or more than needed for

game.

A side scoring more points than needed for game deducts the

excess from their target score. For example, if you stand at 7 and

score 5, you go up to 9 then down to 6.

Examples: To illustrate the trick-winning powers of special cards, here are some examples. In each case, the first card is the one led and the others follow in

order.

7- K- 3- K won by 3 (always wins if not led)