The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (153 page)

Hoyles isthe much simplerand possibly ancestral gamecal ed in

English Rol ing Stone, together with its negative version Sift Smoke.

Also at achable to the family, however, are ‘scapegoat’ games – my

proposed term for traditional gambling and drinkinggameslike Old

Maid and Chase the Ace, where the last one in is disgraced by being

stuck with a penalty card.

Rol ing Stone (Enfle, Schwel en)

3-6 players, 32-52 cards

A simple but maddening game, whose French and German titles

imply inflating or swel ing, from the way one’s hand tends to grow

in size. With accurate play, it threatens to go on for ever.

Preliminaries From three to six players use a number of cards

ranking AKQJT98765432 in each suit. Ideal y, the number of cards

is eight times the number of players, so strip out lower numerals

from the Twos upwards as necessary. Shuf le thoroughly and deal

eight each.

Object The aim is to be the first to run out of cards. Play Play to the

left. Eldest leads any card face up. Each in turn thereafter must play

a card of the same suit if possible. The first person unable to do so

must take up al cards so far played and lead to the next trick. If al

fol ow suit, whoever plays highest wins the trick, throws it away,

and leads to the next.

Winning Play ceases the moment anyone plays the last card from

their hand. That player scores the total values of al cards remaining

in other players’ hands, with Ace to Ten at face value and courts 10

each.

Variant As described in Le Guide Marabout, a player who cannot

fol ow suit must draw from stock until he can, or until it runs out.

Stortok

(2-5p, 36c) This more ingenious Swedish equivalent employs a 36-

card pack ranking AKQJT9876 in each suit. Deal five each and

stack the rest face down. Turn the top card of stock to start the

discard pile. The suit of this card is the high trump, and the other

suit of the same colour automatical y becomes the low trump.

Eldest starts by playing a bet er card than the turn-up and

drawing a replacement from stock, and each in turn thereafter must

similarly beat the previous card played and then draw a card from

stock. A bet er card is a higher card of the same suit, or any trump

to a non-trump, or any card of the high trump to a card of any

to a non-trump, or any card of the high trump to a card of any

other suit. Anyone unable or unwil ing to beat the previous card

must pick it up and take it into hand, but does not then draw from

the stock.

If everybody plays to the trick, it is turned down and a new one

started by the person who played last. If anyone picks up instead of

playing, the trick is turned down and a new one started by the

person to that player’s left. When the stock runs out, play continues

with the cards left in hand. As players run out of cards they drop

out of play, and the last one left with cards in hand is a stortok, or

‘great fool’.

Sift Smoke

3-6 players, 32/52 cards

Also cal ed Lift Smoke (mistakenly) and Linger Longer

(appropriately), Sift Smoke can conveniently be classed as the

negative version of Rol ing Stone.

Preliminaries From a 32- or 52-card pack, ranking

AKQJT987(65432) in each suit, deal three players eight each, four

players six, five players five, or six players four each. Turn the last

card (dealer’s) face up for trump, and stack the rest face down.

Object To be the only player with cards in hand when everyone

else has run out.

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

to the next. Fol ow suit if possible, otherwise play any card. The

trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest

trump if any are played.

The winner of each trick, and no one else, draws the top card of

stock and adds it to hand before leading to the next. As players run

out of cards, they drop out of play, and the winner is the last player

out of cards, they drop out of play, and the winner is the last player

left in. If al play their last card to the same trick, its winner wins

the game.

If the stock runs out before anyone wins, the won tricks are

gathered up, shuf led, and laid down as a new stock.

Score The winner scores a point for each card remaining in hand.

Credit is sometimes given for tricks won. For example, each may

score 1 per trick taken, the winner’s trick-score being then

multiplied by the number of cards left in hand.

Durak (‘Fool’)

2-6 players, 36 cards

Dealing is traditionally regarded as menial work, undertaken as a punishment

by the loser of the previous hand. Only the dealer handles the cards –they are

not usually cut, as in other card games. If any other player touches the cards they become the fool and take over the job of dealing. Sometimes the dealer may offer the cards to be cut after shuffling; if the player to whom they are offered falls into the trap of cutting the cards, that player becomes the dealer and takes over the role of the fool. Hence the expression: ‘Shapku s duraka ne snimayut’ (‘One

should not take the hat away from a fool’).

John McLeod and Alexey Lobashev, 1998

Russia’s most popular card game is played in many versions, some

of which have spread to neighbouring countries in recent years. It is

usual y played by four in fixed partnerships, but is easier to

describe in its two-handed form, as fol ows.

Preliminaries Deal six cards each, in threes, from a 36-card pack

ranking AKQJT9876. Turn the next for trump and half cover it with

the remaining cards turned face down as a stock.

Object To be the first out of cards when the stock is exhausted. The

loser is durak –‘a fool’.

Play In each bout, one player at acks and the other defends. Non-

dealer at acks first; thereafter, the winner of each bout at acks in the

next. Each bout proceeds as fol ows:

At acker leads any card. Defender must then either pick it up and

add it to his hand, or beat it by playing a higher card of the same

suit or a trump if a plain suit was led. At acker continues with any

card of the same rank as either of the first two, and, again, defender

must either beat it or else take al cards so far played up into hand.

If at any point the defender picks up instead of playing bet er, the

at acker may also press upon him any further cards that he could

legal y have led – that is, any cards matching one or more ranks of

those picked up; but he may not give more than six cards away,

including those picked up.

This continues til al twelve cards are played, or one player fails

to play the next card. Note that the two fol ow dif erent

requirements: the at acker’s lead must always match the rank of any

card so far showing, and the defender’s reply must always be higher

in suit or a trump.

If al cards are played out, the at acker draws six cards from

stock, waits for the defender to do likewise, then starts a new bout

with any desired lead. But a bout more commonly ends because

one player fails to play the next card, in which case…

Conceding If the defender fails, he does so by gathering up al cards

so far played to the bout and adding them to his hand. He wil

continue to defend in the next bout.

If the at acker fails, he concedes the bout by turning the played

cards face down and pushing them to one side, where they remain

out of play for the rest of the game. He then becomes the defender

in the next bout.

Drawing and ending If any cards remain in stock before the next

Drawing and ending If any cards remain in stock before the next

bout begins, each player in turn, starting with the at acker, draws

cards one at a time from the top of the stock until either he has six

cards or the stock runs out with the taking of the trump turn-up.

The defender does not draw, of course, if he holds six or more

cards.

Play continues without further drawing until one player runs out of

cards, thereby winning – or, more precisely, not being left a fool. If

the defender’s last card beats the at acker’s last card, the result is a

draw.

Optional rule Aplayerwho was dealt †6,orwhodrawsitfromstock(but

not who acquires it by failing to ward of an at ack), may

immediately exchange it for the trump turn-up.

Durak for 3-6 players (as individuals)

Deal six cards each. If six play there wil be no stock, but the last

card is stil shown for trumps, though of course it may not be

swapped for the †6.

Order In the first bout the player at dealer’s left is the principal

at acker, the player at at acker’s left is the sole defender, and the

player at defender’s left acts as an auxiliary at acker. Theoretical y,

other players may also act as auxiliaries, but in practice this makes

life unfairly dif icult for the defender and it is usual to restrict the

at ackers to two or three. In any case, the principal at acker has

priority and special privileges. No one else may at ack without his

permission, and he alone is al owed to ask the next auxiliary if he

has a good at acking card.

Rules of at ack No mat er who at acks, the fol owing rules apply:

each at acking card after the first must match the rank of at

each at acking card after the first must match the rank of at

least one card already played in the current bout;

the total number of at acks made in any single bout may not

exceed the number of cards held by the defender at the start

of the bout, or six, whichever is the lesser.

Each pair of cards is left face up, with the at ack card half covered

by the defence card, and not combined with any other pair.

If more than three play, it is often agreed that first defender (only) cannot be attacked with more than five cards, rather than six, as compensation for his

severe positional disadvantage.

Successful defence The defender wins the bout if he:

beats al the at ack cards so far played, and no one makes any

further at ack; or

beats six at ack cards in succession; or

having started with fewer than six, beats every at ack made

and so runs out of cards.

If he wins the bout, al the at ack and defence cards are thrown

out face down, and the successful defender becomes the principal

at acker in the next bout. This begins when everyone has drawn as

many cards as needed to restore their hand to six, for which

purpose the principal at acker draws first, then the other at ackers

in rotation, and then the defenders.

Failed defence If unable or unwil ing to defend, the defender picks

up al the cards so far played in the bout and adds them to his

hand. In addition, al those who were entitled to at ack may load

him with any additional cards which they could legal y have played

in the same bout.

Ending As players run out of cards they drop out of play, and the

last one left in is the loser, or fool.

McLeod gives this example of procedure from an individual game

between four players.

1. West at acks North. North fends of al at acks and runs out of

cards.

2. North having no cards, it is for East to at ack South, which he

does with success.

3. South having picked up, it is for West to at ack East. This also

succeeds, but West uses al his cards.

4. East having picked up, South must at ack East, as the others

have no cards.

Partnership Durak

Four may play crosswise as two against two, six as two partnerships

of three, each player being flanked by an opponent and sititng

opposite one. Play as above, except, of course, that no one at acks

their own partner.

Here is an il ustration of playing order:

1. West at acks North. North fends of al at acks and runs out of

cards.

2. North having succeeded, it is for his side to at ack; but as

North has no cards South takes his part and at acks East, with

success.

3. South now at acks West, but West beats every at ack.

4. West must next at ack South, in place of North, who has no

cards.

5. South picks up the at ack card, and now East at acks South.

Note that East and West continue to play alternately as usual,