The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (104 page)

Melds Original y, each player upon playing to the first trick could

declare and score for any melds his hand contained, apart from

quartets of Sevens, Eights and Nines. Although this is outmoded,

some stil al ow the hand declarationof a stuk. One ef ect

ofabolishing hand declarations is the virtual elimination of the

quartet as a scoring feature, even though it has been extended to

include four of any rank. Some players compensate by scoring for

three of a kind taken in a trick.

Doubling Some schools al ow the opponents to double and the

makers to redouble. This game is known as Kraken.

Sample game North deals:

East

87

A

97 AKJ

South KQ

TQJ J8

7

West

AJ9 9

KQ T8

North T

K87 AT 9Q

East makes diamonds trump, preventing South from making hearts

and West spades. East, as eldest, leads. Winning tricks are

underlined. The trick score is marked (+) if won by the makers,

otherwise (-), and where there are two values the second is for a

meld made on the table, or for the last trick.

East South West North score

1 7 Q

A

T +24

2 J

7

T

9 +44, 20

3 K

8

8

Q +7, 20

4 8

K

9

K -8

5 A J

9

7 +13

6 9

J

Q

T -15,50

7 A

Q

K

8 +18

8 7 T

J

A -23, 10

East-West count 146 and North-South 106 towards game.

East’s lead of a low non-trump at trick 1 is conventional, asking

partner to lead his highest trump as soon as possible. At 2, West

obliges with the Ten. North’s Nel gives the bidders 20 for a

sequence of three after West plays the Jas. At 3, East leads the King

to marry the Queen, virtual y a foregone conclusion. At 4, East gets

of play with a worthless spade. North might reasonably have been

expected to stuf the trick with the Ace or Ten of clubs rather than

with a rather thin King. At 6, the makers carelessly yield a sequence

of four for 50: East should have led the Seven rather than the Nine,

as the Eight had already gone, and West should have played the

King instead of the Queen to restrict any possible sequence to only

three cards. At 7, West is legal y required to trump, otherwise he

might have preferred to throw the 7 and add a second worthless

card to the trick. At 8, North is lucky to have made his A as wel

as his earlier Ten, as there was a strong chance that either would

fal to the last trump or a lead in a ‘wrong’ suit.

Handjass (Sack-Jass, Poutze, Pomme)

2-5 players, 36 cards

Of the countless varieties of Jass played in Switzerland and western

Austria, the fol owing may be recommended as the simplest and

most basic non-partnership game. Four may prefer the partnership

game of Schieber, or the more elaborate solo game of Pandour. For

authenticity, al Swiss Jass games should be played with the

traditional 36-card Jass pack distinguished by suits of acorns,

shields, flowers and bel s, and ranks of Daus (Deuce), King, Over,

Under, Banner, 9-8-7-6. If international cards are used, the