The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (19 page)

suit.

If this brings them to the 250-point target, they win, and play ceases

immediately. Otherwise, the side winning the last trick wins also

the cachet e, which counts as a thirteenth trick, and scores for any

quint(s) it may contain. If neither side has reached or exceeded 250,

the thirteen tricks are then counted at 5,10, or 20 each, depending

on any doubling. If both sides are stil under 250, or both are over

but tied, there is another deal.

| Whist for three players

Manni (Spr⊘yte)

Manni is the Icelandic for chap or bloke. The fol owing version is

cal ed Hornafjaröar-Manni, of which its Internet contributor says: ‘It

is one of several versions of card games cal ed Manni… The story

says that a local minister of our church is the author. This version is

the most popular in Hornafjoröur as in other parts of the country

for the past decades.’ (But the fact that an identical game is played

in Norway under the name Spr⊘yte, meaning ‘squirt’, may absolve

the Icelandic minister of any such responsibility.)

Preliminaries Three players use a 52-card pack ranking AKQJ

T98765432. Deal a batch of four cards face down to the table

(forming the manni), then a batch of three to each player, and

repeat until there are 16 in the manni and 12 in each hand. The

player at dealer’s right cuts the manni, shows the bot om card of the

top half to determine what game is to be played, then places the

top half face down beneath the bot om half of the manni.

Games If the cut card is low (2 to 5), the game is nolo. The aim is

to win as few tricks as possible, playing at No Trump and with Ace

counting low.

If it is intermediate (6-10), the game is trumps. The aim is to win

tricks, with the suit of the cut card as trump and Ace counting high.

If it is high (Jack to Ace), the game is no trump. The aim is to

win tricks, playing at No Trump and with Ace counting high.

Exchange Before play, eldest may exchange up to seven cards with

the manni, second-hand can exchange up to five, and dealer up to

as many as remain. (If dealer takes his ful entitlement, he wil get

the card that decided the game.) Source does not state whether the

exchange involves discarding first and then drawing replacements,

or drawing the stated number and then discarding the surplus. The

former seems more likely.

former seems more likely.

Play Eldest leads. Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

may play any card. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit

led, or by the highest trump if any are played, and the winner of

each trick leads to the next.

Score In positive games, each player scores 1 point per trick taken

in excess of four, or minus 1 for each trick less than four. In nolo,

these scores are reversed. Game is 10 points.

Bismarck

The three-player equivalent of Dutch or Norwegian Whist. A game

is 12 deals, each player dealing four times in succession. Dealer

receives 20 cards, from which he rejects any four face down; the

others receive 16 cards each. Deal (1) is played at no trump. (2) Cut

or turn the last card for trump. (3) Dealer announces trumps. In the

first three deals, dealer scores1 point for each trick taken above

eight, and each opponent 1 point per trick taken above four. (4) No

trump misére: dealer scores 1 point for each trick below four, the

others 1 point for each below six.

Sergeant Major (8-5-3, 9-5-2)

Varieties of this modern extension of Bismarck are played in the

armed services, and relatives of it in India and the Middle East. Deal

sixteen each in ones and four face down as a kit y. Dealer names a

trump suit, discards four, and takes the kit y in their place. Eldest

leads, and tricks are played as at Whist. The dealer’s target is 8

leads, and tricks are played as at Whist. The dealer’s target is 8

tricks, that of eldest 5, the other’s 3; and each wins or loses 1 point

(or stake) per trick taken above or below his quota. A player who

took more than his quota is ‘up’, one who took less is ‘down’. In

subsequent deals, after the cards have been dealt but before the

kit y is taken, if just one player was up in the previous deal he

gives to each opponent who was down one unwanted card from his

hand for each trick by which the other fel short. For each card

received, the recipient must return to the donor the highest card he

holds of the same suit (the same card, if he has no other). If two

players were up, they each do this to the third, starting with the one

who has the higher target to reach in the current deal.

(This practice seems borrowed from oriental Climbing games: see

page 457.) After any such exchanges, dealer discards four and takes

the kit y, as before. The game ends when somebody wins 12 or

more tricks in one deal. Variations are inevitable. In a Canadian

equivalent, the targets are 9-5-2.

Chinese Whist

Like four-hand Chinese Whist, but deal eight each face down, eight

face up, one in hand, and leave the 52nd card face down out of

play.

Dummy Whist

I was delighted to see him, and suggested we should have a game of whist with a

dummy, and by way of merriment said: ‘You can be the dummy.’ Cummings (I

thought rather ill-naturedly)… said he couldn’t stop; he only called to leave me the Bicycle News, as he had done with it.

G. and W. Grossmith, The Diary of a Nobody, 1892

Deal three hands and a dummy hand, the lat er face up on the

opposite side of the table from the person playing it. Each takes the

dummy for the duration of a rubber, which is 5 points up, and a

game is three rubbers. Lowest cut at the start of the game takes

dummy in the first rubber, highest in the third.

Whist for two players

Double Dummy

Players sit adjacently (not opposite each other), the one cut ing the

lower card having choice of relative position. Deal four hands

including two dummies, one opposite each player, the first card of

the pack going todealer’s dummy. Turn the dummies face up. Non-

dealerleads andplay proceeds to the left, each playing alternately

from his own hand and from dummy.

German Whist

Deal six cards each and stack the rest face down. Turn the top card

for trump. Non-dealer leads first, suit must be fol owed if possible,

and the winner of a trick draws the top card of the stock and adds it

to his hand. The loser draws the next card, and the previous trick-

winner, before leading to the next, faces the top card of stock. Play

winner, before leading to the next, faces the top card of stock. Play

continues normal y when the stock is empty, and whoever wins a

majority of the last 13 tricks scores the dif erence between the two

totals.

Humbug

Players face each other. Deal four hands, including two dummies.

Each announces whether he wil play as dealt or exchange his hand

for the dummy on his right, which he must then play. Ignoring

dummies, play 13 tricks of two cards each. Score as at Whist.

Calypso

4 players, 208 cards (4 × 52)

An ingenious hybrid of Whist and Rummy, invented by R. W. Wil is

of Trinidad, polished by Kenneth Konstam, and promoted –

unsuccessful y – by British playing-card companies in the 1950s as a

cross between Bridge and Canasta. Disconcertingly odd at first play,

it rewards perseverance.

Cards Use four 52-card packs, preferably of identical back design

and colour, and certainly al the same size, weight, and finish.

Shuf le them together very thoroughly before play. Cards rank

AKQJT98765432. Partners and trumps The players cut ing the two

highest cards are partners against the two lowest, and sit opposite

each other. Whoever cut highest deals first and has the choice of

seats, thereby determining his own and everyone else’s personal

trumps.

Deal Thirteen cards each face down in ones, and stack the rest face

down to one side. These wil gradual y be used up in subsequent

deals. A game consists of four deals, one by each player, the turn to

deal passing to the left.

Object A calypso is a 13-card suit sequence. Your aim is to build

calypsos in your own personal trump suit, to assist your partner in

building calypsos in his, and to hinder your opponents from

building calypsos in theirs. The cards used for building them come

from those you win in tricks, not directly from hand. The catch is

that calypsos must be completed one at a time. That is, you may

not start a second calypso until you have completed your first. If

any cards won in a trick duplicate those already in a calypso under

construction, they cannot (with one slight exception) be retained for

future calypsos. It is therefore practical y impossible for anyone to

complete al four possible calypsos, and even three wil be

something of a feat.

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.

If the leader leads his personal trump, then the trick is taken by

the card led, regardless of rank, or by the highest personal trump if

any are played (by anyone who cannot fol ow suit).

If the leader leads from any other suit, then the trick is taken by

the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest personal trump if

any are played.

If the trick is being taken by two identical cards, or by personal

trumps of dif erent suits but equal rank, then the first such card

wins.

A If somebody else leads your personal trump suit, you cannot trump it, but

can only hope to win the trick by being the first to play the highest card of it.

The winner of a trick takes from it any cards needed towards the

building of his current calypso, and passes to his partner any

needed for his. The remainder are stacked face down on a pile of

won cards belonging to his partnership, only one such pile being

needed for each. These cards wil be either of the opponents’ suits,

or of one’s own but unusable because they duplicate cards already

contained in the calypso under construction.

A completed calypso is immediately bunched together and

stacked face up on the table in front of its builder. Its owner may

then start building a new one, and for this purpose may use any

valid cards in the trick just taken.

Ending and scoring When thirteen tricks have been played, the next

in turn to deal does so, and this continues until four deals have

been played. Each side then scores as fol ows:

500 for each partner’s first calypso

750 for each partner’s second calypso

1000 for each subsequent calypso

20 per card in an unfinished calypso

50 for each card in the winnings pile

Comment Resist thetemptationtolead personaltrumpsatevery

opportunity for the novelty of winning easy tricks. Opponents can

easily thwart this by playing cards that duplicate those in your

current calypso, thus preventing them from being used in future

calypsos.

Don’t forget…

Play to the left (clockwise) unless otherwise stated.

Eldest or Forehand means the player to the left of the dealer