The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (33 page)

Contract Whist is different from other versions of Whist in that it includes a bidding round in which players bid the number of tricks they believe they can win. In each successive hand, the number of cards dealt is decreased by one. You’ll need at least three to six players to play the game of Contract Whist. You’ll also need a standard pack of fifty-two cards. Aces are high, and twos are low. Your objective is to take as many tricks as you bid by strategically playing your cards and paying close attention to your partner.

A random dealer is selected and deals the maximum amount of cards so that each player has an equal value (thirteen cards for four players, ten cards for five players, and so on). Deal passes to the left, and the number of cards dealt in each successive hand decreases by one on each deal. The final hand will be played with only one card dealt to each player.

After the deal, there is one round of bidding. The player to the dealer’s left starts by bidding the number of tricks he believes he will be able to take with his cards. Each player in turn also bids the number of tricks she believes she can win. You do not need to beat the previous bid. The dealer also bids, but may not bid an amount that will allow the total of all bids to exactly equal the amount of tricks available.

Trumps are predetermined in Contract Whist, cycling through hands in the following order: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs, and no trumps. The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick by laying down any one card in his hand. Play continues clockwise around the table. When it’s your turn, you must follow suit if you can. Otherwise, you play any other card in your hand. The highest card in the suit led, or the highest trump, wins the trick. The winner of each trick leads to the next.

There are two variations of scoring. In one variation, you receive one point for each trick won and ten bonus points if you score your exact bid. In the other variation, you only receive points (one point for each trick won, plus ten bonus points) if you score your exact bid. If you do not score the exact bid, you receive zero points regardless of how many tricks you won. The player with the most points after ten deals wins the game.

This variation of whist is played with only two players using a standard pack of fifty-two cards. Aces are high, and twos are low. The game is split into two stages of play. The objective of the first stage is to set up your hand for the second stage. The object of the second stage is to take as many tricks as possible.

A random dealer is selected, and that player deals thirteen cards face down to both players. The remaining twenty-six cards make up the stockpile and are placed face down on the table. The top stock card is turned up, and this becomes the trump suit. The two stages are then played out.

In stage one, if you’re the dealer, your opponent lays down his first card. He may play any card in his hand. You must follow suit if you can, by playing a card of the same suit that was led. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card. The trick is won by whoever played the highest card of the suit led, unless a trump was played, in which case the highest trump wins. The winner of the trick takes the top card from the stockpile and the other player takes the second card. The next card in the stockpile is turned face up and another trick is played. The winner of that trick takes the top card from the stockpile and the other player takes the second card. The tricks won in this stage do not count toward winning the game. Play continues until the stockpile is gone.

In stage two, you’ll proceed to play out the remaining thirteen cards in your hand and try to win each trick. If you have a good memory and are able to count cards, you should now know exactly what cards are in your opponent’s hand. This allows you to play strategically and win multiple tricks. After all the cards have been played, the player with the most tricks won during stage two wins that game.

Knock-Out Whist is an exciting game in which the number of cards in each successive hand decreases by one, as in Contract Whist. The objective of Knock-Out Whist is to be the last person standing to win the game, or the person to win the last trick on the last hand. You’ll need two to seven players and a standard deck of fifty-two cards. Aces are high, and twos are low.

A random dealer is selected and deals out seven cards, face down, to each player. He then turns over the next card, and the suit of that card becomes the trump suit. There will be seven deals in total, and with each deal the number of cards will decrease by one. The second deal is six cards to each player, the third deal is five cards to each player, and so on until one player has won or until the deal has reached one card. The next game is dealt with seven cards again.

The player to the dealer’s left starts by leading the first trick. Play continues clockwise around the table. When it’s your turn you must follow suit, if able, or play any other one card from your hand. The player with the highest card in the suit led, or the highest trump, wins that trick and leads the next one. All seven cards are played, and the hand is over.

After the first hand, the second dealer deals out six cards, face down, to each player who is still in the game. The player who won the most tricks during the previous hand gets to call trump for this hand, after looking at his cards. The hand is played as above, and the next hand is dealt with one fewer card.

If you did not win any tricks in a hand, you are awarded the “dog’s life,” meaning that you are dealt only one card on the next hand while the remaining players are dealt the standard number of cards for that hand. You can choose to play that single card on whichever trick you want and if you win that trick, you are back in the game. If you lose that trick, you are out of the game. If two players are knocked out during the same round, they both get a “dog’s life.” Each player to be knocked out after any one or two players receive the “dog’s life” is out of the game for good. The winner is the last player standing or the player to win the trick of the last hand (when only one card is dealt to each player).

Minnesota Whist includes a bidding system in which the players choose whether they want to play offense, by attempting to win the game with seven or more tricks, or defense, by winning the game with six or fewer tricks. The objective of Minnesota Whist is to take as many tricks as possible in each hand if the game is played high or to take as few tricks as possible if the game is played low. To play this game you’ll need four players divided into two teams, with partners sitting opposite one another. A standard pack of fifty-two cards is used, with aces high and twos low. No trump is played in this game, so suits are of equal value.

A random dealer is selected and deals the cards one at a time, face down, to each player until all cards are dealt. Each player should now have thirteen cards.

A round of bidding begins to determine how the game will be played. If a hand is played high, the team must take seven or more tricks. If the hand is played low, the team must take six or fewer tricks. If you want to play high (or grand), signal this by laying down a low black card from your hand. If you want to play low, lay down a low red card from your hand. The player to the dealer’s left turns over his low card first. If it is red, the next player turns over his card. As soon as a player turns over a black card, all bidding stops and the hand is played high. If all bidding cards are red, the hand is played low. The first team to display a black card is “granded.”

The player to the right of the person who granded the bids starts the game by laying his first card. He may play any card in his hand. Play continues clockwise around the table. When it’s your turn you must follow suit, if you can, by playing a card of the same suit that was led. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card.

The trick is won by whoever played the highest card of the suit led. He then leads the next trick. The score is determined by giving the team that won more tricks, one point for each trick won over six tricks. The first team to reach thirteen points after multiple hands wins the game.

The player to the left of the dealer starts the game by laying his first trick. He may play any card in his hand. Play continues clockwise around the table. When it’s your turn you must follow suit, if you can, by playing a card of the same suit that was led. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card. The trick is won by whoever played the highest card of the suit led. He then leads the next trick. The score is determined by subtracting one point for each trick won over six tricks. The first team to reach thirteen points over multiple hands wins the game.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two or more

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

Wild Widow is dealt the same as Spit in the Ocean. After each player antes, the dealer deals four cards face down to each player. He then deals one card face up to the middle of the table. This card is not a community card, but if a player has a card of the same value in his hand, that card becomes wild. The dealer then deals one more card face down to each player.

The player to the dealer’s left starts the first betting round by checking, betting, or folding, and play continues around the table until each player has acted. You can then discard cards in your hand, to be replaced by the dealer from the deck. The player to the dealer’s left begins a final round of betting as above. This continues around the table, and any remaining players reveal their hands. The highest hand wins the pot.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
One

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards