The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (124 page)

they beat the contract, or to the soloist if he wins.

2. The soloist may declare ‘Slam’, undertaking to win al

eighteen tricks.

The fol owing variants may be encountered but are no longer

recognized by the FFT. (a) A partner may declare ‘No trumps’ if he

holds neither any trump nor the Excuse; ‘No courts’, if he holds no

court card; or ‘Misere’, if he has either of the above but prefers not

to say which. This earns him a private and personal bonus at end of

play. (b) In some circles, a slam bid overcal s a bid ‘against the

play. (b) In some circles, a slam bid overcal s a bid ‘against the

dog’. (c) Some also recognize a ‘Lit le Slam’ bid of seventeen tricks.)

Play The soloist either takes the dog and discards, as detailed above

under ‘Auction’, or moves it to his side of the table if playing

‘without’, or to the opposite player’s side if playing ‘against’. Eldest

leads to the first trick, and the winner of each trick leads to the

next. Subsequent players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

must play a trump if possible. In playing any trump – whether to a

plain-suit or a trump-suit lead – it is obligatory, if possible, to play

a higher trump than any so far played to the trick, even if it is

already being won by a partner. The trick is taken by the highest

card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any are played. Al

tricks won by the partners are kept together in a single pile.

The Excuse Whoever holds the Excuse may play it at any time and

in contravention of any rule stated above. If it is led, the suit to be

fol owed is that of the second card played. The Excuse normal y

loses the trick. If, however, it is led to the last trick, and its holder

has won al seventeen previous tricks, then it wins.

If the soloist plays the Excuse, he may, when the trick has been

taken, retrieve the Excuse from the won trick, and replace it with

any card (preferably worthless) that he has himself already won in

a trick. If he has not yet won a trick, he lays the Excuse, face up, in

front of him and, upon winning a trick, passes one of its cards to

the opposing side. In either case, the Excuse is then incorporated

into one of his tricks, and cannot be played again.

If a partner plays the Excuse to a trick, and it is taken by the

soloist, he has exactly the same privilege of retrieving it in exchange

for a card from a trick won by his own side, and of retaining it for

this purpose if his side has yet to win a trick.

Obviously, if the partners (or, improbably, the soloist) win not a

single trick, they cannot reclaim the Excuse.

Last trick There is a bonus (see below) for winning the last trick if

Last trick There is a bonus (see below) for winning the last trick if

it contains the lowest trump – No. 1, cal ed le petit. This is paid by

the soloist to each of the partners if either of them wins it, or by

each of them to the soloist if the lat er wins it, regardless of who

actual y played le petit.

Score At the end of play, the opponents count the value of al the

tricks and counters they have won, including the six dog cards if the

soloist played ‘against’. Cards are counted in pairs, each pair

consisting of two blanks or a blank and a counter. A pair of blanks

counts 1 point; a blank and a counter take the value of the counter.

The partners’ count is then subtracted from 91 to yield the

soloist’s count. As stated above, he needs 36, 41, 51 or 56 to win,

depending on whether he took three, two, one or no bouts. If he

wins, he is paid the appropriate amount by each opponent; if not,

he pays it to each of them. If scores are kept in writing, it is

necessary to record only the amount as won or lost in the soloist’s

own score column, since a set lement properly made on the basis of

the final scores wil come to the same thing as if each deal had

been set led in coins or counters when it occurred.

For the main contract, the score won or lost is a basic 25, plus 1

for each point by which the soloist exceeded or fel short of his

required count. This total is then doubled in a garde contract,

quadrupled at ‘no dog’ (garde sans), or sextupled at ‘against the

dog’ (garde contre).

Example. The soloist bid garde and took two bouts for 52 points, or 11 over the

target. He scores (25 + 11) × 2 = 72. With two bouts and 40, he would have

been one short, and lost (25 + 1) × 2 = 52 points. With three bouts and 40, he

would have been four over, and scored (25 + 4) × 2 = 58 game-points.

The score for a misère (if recognized) is 10, for a bunch of Ten

10, of Thirteen 20, Fifteen 30, and Eighteen 40. This is scored

independently of winning or losing the main contract; it is not

multiplied according to the bid made; and it goes to the soloist if he

declared it, or to each opponent if one of them did.

declared it, or to each opponent if one of them did.

The score for petit (the lowest trump in the last trick) is 10. This

is scored independently of the main contract and goes to the soloist

or to each opponent as described in the appropriate paragraph.

Some make it a fixed score; others multiply it by two, four or eight,

according to the contract.

The score for a declared slam may be set at 500 for a lit le slam

and 750 for a grand, and is won or lost as a fixed amount.

Notes on play The first two players should bid cautiously,

especial y the second as he hasn’t even the advantage of the lead.

The third and fourth may be bolder if the first two pass. The

average number of trumps dealt is about five; no bid should be

undertaken with fewer. Few players now bid petit: if you can fulfil

a basic contract you might as wel bid garde for the higher score. A

bid ‘without’ would be undertaken with the hand on the left, and a