The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (64 page)

who got what from whom.

Preliminaries Four players sit crosswise in partnerships and play to

the right.

Cards Deal twelve cards each, in batches of four, from a 52-card

pack ranking AKQJT98765432. The last four go, face down, to the

table.

Object For the declaring side to win at least the number of points it

contracted in exchange for nominating trumps. Points are scored for

winning tricks (5 each), Aces and Tens (10 each), and Fives (5 each)

– a total of 165.

Auction Each in turn, starting with eldest, bids to win a minimum

number of points, which must exceed that of any previous bid. The

lowest bid is 85. No trump suit is mentioned in the auction.

Play Declarer takes the four table cards, discards any four, face

down, which wil count as a won trick to the declaring side, and

leads to the first trick. The suit of the card led is automatical y

trump. 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 The non-declarers always score what they make. So do the

Score The non-declarers always score what they make. So do the

declarers if successful, with a special score of 250 for winning al 13

tricks. If not, they lose the amount of their bid, doubled if they take

less than their opponents. The scores are recorded like this:

125 / 135 30 = bid 125, made 135 to opponents’ 30.

125 / -125 50 = bid 125, made only 115 to opponents’ 50.

125 / -250 90 = bid 125, made only 75 to opponents’ 90.

Game Play up to 505 points, or any other agreed total.

Roque for three

Omit 2, deal fifteen each and six face down to the table. The

lowest bid is 95, the highest 185. As in the four-hand game, the

counting cards total 100, but there are 15 tricks at 5 points each,

and the declarer’s six discards count 10, making 185 in al . The

slam score is 350. Game is 650.

Da Bai Fen (‘Competing for a Hundred’)

4 players (2 χ 2), 54 cards

A rich and skil -demanding Chinese game, first described by John

McLeod in The Playing-Card (Vol. VI I, No. 3). (A similar game for

six to twelve players in ad hoc partnerships, appropriately cal ed

Zhao Pengyou, ‘Looking for Friends’, appears on the Pagat website.

Unfortunately, it would take about ten pages to explain here.)

Format Four players sit crosswise in partnerships and play to the

right. The ful game can go on for hours, but may be shortened by

prior agreement.

Cards Use a 54-card pack including Jokers distinguishable as black

and red. In each deal there are eighteen trumps: the two jokers,

plus al the cards of a suit appointed trump during the deal (the

trump suit), plus al four cards of a particular rank (the trump

rank), which at the beginning of the game is the Two. Trumps run

from highest to lowest as fol ows:

1. Red Joker

2. Black Joker

3. The card of the trump rank and suit (e.g. initial y if spades

are trump)

4-6. The other three cards of the trump rank (e.g. 2, 2, 2, al

equal-ranking)

7-18. A-K-Q-J-T-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 (omit ing the card of the trump

rank)

Cards in plain suits rank AKQJT98765432, omit ing the trump

rank.

Object To win counting-cards in tricks, and to win the last trick.

The counters are: each King 10, each Ten 10, each Five 5, making

25 in each suit and 100 in al .

Declarers and opponents In the first hand the declaring partnership

is that of the player who first draws a Two in the deal. In

subsequent hands the declarership remains with the previous

declarers until they lose a contract, when it passes to their

opponents.

Deal Cards are not dealt in western fashion but are drawn from a

stock in Chinese fashion. For the first hand one player is randomly

designated the Starter. The Starter shuf les the cards, has them cut

by either opponent, and sets the pack face down on the table. He

then draws the top card of stock to start his hand, and each in turn

then draws the top card of stock to start his hand, and each in turn

to the right does likewise until everyone has 12 cards and six

remain untaken. A trump suit may be declared during the draw as

fol ows.

Trumps The trump rank is always that which corresponds to the

score of the declarers. At the beginning of the game, each side starts

with a score of 2 points, thus making Twos the initial trump rank.

During the draw, a player who draws a card of the trump rank may

set it face up on the table and declare its suit trump. He need not

do this immediately – or even at al – but may hold on to it until he

sees how his hand is shaping up and declare it later. He may not,

however, consult with his partner. Note that the trump suit is

always that of the first player to declare it, and any player who

previously drew a card of the trump rank without declaring it has

no comeback.

Last six cards In the first hand the Leader is the player who declared

trumps; in subsequent hands, the Starter is also the Leader.

Assuming a trump suit has been declared, the Leader takes the last

six cards into hand without showing them, and discards any six face

down out of play. (Variant: In some circles the six undealt cards are

exposed before being taken into hand.) The Leader’s discards are

not shown until the end of play, and must be kept separate from al

other cards that are played out.

In the rare event that no one declared trumps during the draw, the

Starter turns the last six cards face up, one at a time. The first card

of the trump rank to appear establishes the trump suit, and the rest

are not exposed. If none of the trump rank appear, the trump suit is

that of the highest of the six exposed cards (other than Jokers), or

the first exposed of equal y high cards.

Trumpless hands Any player who has not a single one of the 18

trumps may, before the opening lead, expose his hand and claim a

trumps may, before the opening lead, expose his hand and claim a

draw, but may not consult his partner about this. This happens so

rarely, and the consequences are so elaborate, that the best thing to

do is shuf le the cards and go through the whole procedure again.

Play The Leader leads to the first trick, and the winner of each trick

leads to the next. A player may lead any single card (I use the term

‘singleton’ for this) or several cards of the same suit, but he may

lead several only if al of them are the highest cards remaining of

that suit in anybody’s hand. In other words, they must be

unbeatable unless trumped. Failure to meet this requirement

constitutes a revoke, for which the penalty is that play ceases and

the of ended side scores as if it had won every trick. Note that a led

singleton need not be the highest remaining of its suit.

Each of the others in turn must play as many cards as were led,

and must fol ow suit as far as possible. Having run out of that suit,

they may play as they please.

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

the highest trump if any are played. A multiple trick is taken by the

highest card of the suit led, unless one or more fol owers had none

of that suit and played as many trumps as cards led, in which case it

is taken by the highest trump played. Of equal y high trumps, the

first played always prevails.

As play proceeds, the opponents extract from their won tricks al

Kings, Tens and Fives, and place them face up on the table in front

of one of them. Al other cards won by both sides go face down to a

single wastepile.

Score At end of play the declarer’s six discards are turned up, and

any counters they may contain count double (20, 20, 10) to the

opponents if they won the last trick. The outcomeisbasedonhow

many card-points were won by the opponents. This determines

who scores how many game points (column 2 in the Table below),

who wil be the declarers for the next hand (column 3), and who is

to be the Starter/Leader in the next hand, as fol ows:

opponents’ card-

declarers in next

opponents’ card-

score

declarers in next

next hand started by

points

hand

0

declarers 2 as before

previous leader’s partner

5-35

declarers 1 as before

previous leader’s partner

40-75

no score