The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (128 page)

which counts only 3!)

3. If a team announces double game, they cannot score for the

basic game, but can score additional y for volát if they win

every trick. If they lose not only the announcement but the

game as wel , the opponents wil score for the ordinary game

game as wel , the opponents wil score for the ordinary game

as wel as the failed announced double game (5 times the

game in total). If the opponents managed to make their own

double game or even volát, they would score that instead of

the ordinary game, in addition to the failed announced double

game.

4. If a team announces both double game and volát, each of

these bonuses is scored separately, and it is possible to win

the double game but lose the volát. The basic game is not

scored unless the announcing team loses it, in which case the

opponents score for it. (They could even, albeit improbably,

make and score a double game or volát in place of the basic

game.)

5. If a side announces volát but not double game, only the volát

is scored (won or lost). The announcing side cannot score for

game or double game, but if the opponents beat it they can

score for game, double game, or volát, whichever they make.

6. If the game is kontra’d it is always scored. If either side makes

an unannounced double game or volát, that is scored in

addition to the kontra’d game (but not both the double game

and the volát).

7. If the game is kontra’d (or re-kontra’d), and either side

announces double game or volát (or both), the basic game is

scored as wel as the announcements. An unannounced volát

can be scored in addition to a kontra’d game and an

announced double game.

Pagát ultimó (announced) If you announced Pagát ultimó then you

must try to win the last trick with it, and must hold it back for as

long as possible, even if it becomes clear that you can’t win the last

trick. If you fail – whether by losing it to the opponents or to your

partner in the last trick, or by being forced to play it prematurely –

you and your partner each pay 10 points.

Pagat ultimo (not announced) If Pagat is played to the last trick,

and takes it, not having been announced, the winners of that trick

and takes it, not having been announced, the winners of that trick

earn 5 points. If it is played to last trick and is captured by a trump,

then the opponents of the Pagat-player earn 5 points. (Playing

Pagat to the last trick and having it taken by your partner is like

scoring an own goal.)

Catching the XXI This bonus can be won only if the Skiz and the

XXI were dealt to opposite sides, and you succeed in capturing the

XXI with the Skiz (the only card that outranks it). There is no bonus

or penalty if you and your partner play the Skiz and the XXI to the

same trick. If you lose the XXI to the Skiz played by an opponent,

both you and your partner must pay for it, but you are the one who

must don the sil y hat.

Eight or nine tarokks A player who held original y eight or nine

tarokks, but did not announce them, may nevertheless claim the

appropriate payment from his partner (not the opponents) at end

of play. Comments The fol owing notes are based on those of

Mat hew Mac-fadyen.

At any stage during the play of a hand there wil normal y be one

objective much more important than the others. The normal order

of priorities is:

Capture the XXI

Make Pagät ultimo

Make the game

Capture the Pagät so as to make trull

Capture four Kings.

The fact that one may bid only when holding an honour means

that there is often a lot of information about who holds the honours

before any cards have been played. By the time the argument about

the XXI has been resolved it should be clear what might happen

with the Pagat – either someone is keeping it for the end or it has

already been played.

The ideal hand for catching the XXI is the Skiz and a lot of smal

The ideal hand for catching the XXI is the Skiz and a lot of smal

trumps. The at empt depends mostly on the player with the Skiz

playing after the player with the XXI on every trick. This works best

if the Skiz holder is on the victim’s right. The Skiz holder wil try

not to take a trick before the XXI appears, so as not to have to lead.

The player with the XXI wil probably try leading side suits in order

to get the player with the Skiz to trump them. A conspicuous sign

of a player trying to catch the XXI is that they play high trumps

without heading the trick – for example, the XVI I when XIX is led.

This should be taken as a signal to partner to abandon al other

objectives in pursuit of the XXI. If you are partnering someone who

is apparently after the enemy XXI, and you actual y hold it yourself,

play it as soon as possible, so as to al ow normal play to resume.

Don’t bid double game in a solo unless you are almost strong

enough to announce volat. Even in a three bid the talon may

contribute 12 points, so a trick with King, Queen of a suit and two

smal cards would be enough. Normal y if the contract is three or

two you can af ord to lose one trick and stil make double.

As it is extremely dif icult to predict making four Kings, you may

make that announcement more as a general encouragement to your

partner to continue making more realistic announcements, and you

can kontra such an announcement fairly freely.

Cego

3-4 players, 54 Cego cards

Cego has been the national card game of Baden and Hohenzol ern

since the early nineteenth century, and remains extremely popular

in these south-western regions of Germany. It uses a distinctive 54-

card pack produced in two main designs, with animals depicted on

the trumps of one, and domestic scenes on those of the other. (But

the trumps of one, and domestic scenes on those of the other. (But

you can, ifnecessary, substitute a standard Austrian 54-card Tarock

pack, or French Tarots stripped of numerals 1-6 in black and 5-10

in red suits.) Besides the special pack, it dif ers from most Tarot

games in having an extra hand dealt to the centre of the table,

variously known as the Cego, the Tapp, or the Blind (Blinde). Many

bids involve playing with this extra hand, retaining only one or two

of one’s original cards and discarding the rest. This feature

originated in a version of Hombre, and survives in a few other

games, such as Vira. Cego is played with many local variations. The

fol owing description is based on John McLeod’s website account of

games played in Braunlingen in April 1997, at the Gasthaus zum

Lowen, and also with young members of the Braunlingen

Ministranten (the local church).

Players This version is for four, each playing alone. If five play,

each in turn deals and sits that deal out. A version for three is

appended. Play rotates to the right. The player at dealer’s right

(eldest) is cal ed Forehand (Vorhand), as in al German games.

Cards There are 54 cards: twenty-two trumps cal ed Trocke, and

eight cards in each of the four suits clubs (kreuz), spades (schippen,

schip), hearts (herz), diamonds (karo, eckstein, eck).

The highest Trock is cal ed der Gstieβ (or Geiger). It depicts a

musician and is unnumbered, though in ef ect it is No. 22. The

others rank downwards from 21 to 1, and are readily identifiable

by large Arabic numbers in the top centre. No. 1, the lowest, is

cal ed the Lit l’un (der kleine Mann).

Plain-suit cards rank downwards as fol ows:

in black suits , King, Queen, Rider, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7

in red suits ,

King, Queen, Rider, Jack, 1, 2, 3, 4

Object To win counters in tricks, namely

Gstieβ, Trock 21, Trock 1 5 each

Kings

5 each

Queens

4 each

Riders

3 each

Jacks

2 each

all other cards

1 each

These total 80, but the scoring system reduces this to 70, as

explained later.

Deal Highest cut deals first. The dealer shuf les and the player at his

left cuts. Deal the top ten cards face down to the middle to form the

cego, then a single batch of eleven cards to each player.

The contracts An auction establishes who the soloist is in what kind

of contract. Whoever bids highest plays alone against the other

three players in partnership (the defenders), except only in the

game cal ed Rauber (robbers), where al play for themselves.

There are two types of contract: counter games and special

games.

In counter games, the soloist aims to win at least 36 card-

points for counters won in tricks and contained in the cego.

The various counter games are:

1. Solo. Everyone plays with the cards as dealt. No one may look

at the cego til after the play.

2. Cego. The soloist keeps two cards (usual y high Trocke),

discards the other nine, picks up the ten cego cards, and

final y makes one discard to restore his hand to eleven. None

of these cards are exposed to the defenders.

3. One Card (Eine). The soloist keeps one card (usual y ahigh

Trock), discards the other ten, and replaces them with the

cego to restore his hand to eleven.

4. One Blank (Eine Leere). The soloist keeps one card, which