The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (129 page)

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

must be a plain-suit numeral. He places it face up on the

table, discards the other ten, and takes up the cego cards as his

new hand, without showing them. He must then lead to the

first trick either the exposed ‘blank’ card, or another card of

the same suit.

A soloist holding no blank card may nevertheless play One

Blank. In this case he may keep a court card instead, and

nominate it as blank. It thereby counts as the lowest in its suit,

and cannot win a trick in any circumstance.

5. Two blanks (Zwei Leere). The soloist places two numerals of

the same plain suit face up on the table, and discards the

other nine, face down. He then takes the cego, and from it

must discard the lowest Trock, showing it to his opponents

before addingit to the other discards. He must then either lead

the two exposed cards to the first two tricks, or replace one or

both of them by cards of the same suit from hand and lead

those. As in One Blank, neither of the exposed ‘empty cards’

can ever win a trick. A player who hasn’t got two numeral

cards of the same suit may designate any two cards of the

same suit as ‘empty’ and expose them. As in One Blank, these

become low cards and can never win tricks.

6. Two dif erent (Zwei Verschiedene). The soloist places two

numeral cards of dif erent suits face up on the table, discards

the other nine face down, picks up the cego, and from it must

discard the highest Trock, showing it to the defenders before

adding it to his discards. He must then lead the two exposed

cards to the first two tricks (not other cards of the same

suits).A player who hasn’t got two numeral cardsof dif erent

suits may substitute a court card for either, or both if

necessary. As before, these then become the lowest cards of

their suits.

7. The Lit l’un (Der kleine Mann). This can be bid only by a

player who holds the Lit l’un (Trock 1). He places it face up

on the table, discards the other ten, replaces them with the

on the table, discards the other ten, replaces them with the

cego, and must lead the exposed card to the first trick, which

(of course) it wil lose.

The special games have dif erent objectives from that of

counter games, and from each other. In al four, the cego is set

aside and everyone plays with the hand they were dealt. They

are:

1. Ulti. The soloist’s only object is to win the last trick with

Trock 1 (the Lit l’un). He wil lose if forced to play it before

the last trick, or if it fails to win the last trick.

2. Piccolo. The soloist’s object is to win exactly one trick, neither

more nor fewer.

3. Bet el. The soloist’s object is to lose every single trick.

4. Rauber. There is no soloist. Whoever captures the highest

number of card-points loses.

Bidding procedure There are two phases of bidding. The first is to

see if anyone wants to play Solo or Ulti. If not, there is a second

phase in which anything else may be bid.

Each in turn, starting with Forehand, may pass or bid Solo or

Ulti. If someone bids Ulti, the auction ends, as it cannot be

overcal ed. If there was a bid of Solo but not Ulti, skip down to (b)

below.

(a) If everyone passed, Forehand must start phase two by bidding

either Cego or Piccolo or Bet el. He may not pass. If he bids Cego,

anyone else wishing to play Piccolo or Bet el can say so now, or at

any time up to and including their normal turn to bid. A bid of

Piccolo or Bet el ends the auction and establishes the contract. In

the unlikely event that two wish to play Piccolo or Bet el, priority

goes to the elder of them (the earlier in turn to bid).

If no one interrupts with Piccolo or Bet el when Forehand bids

Cego, players may now bid any of the normal counter games. In

ascending order, these rank: One Card, One Blank, Two Blanks,

Two Dif erent, the Lit l’un. If two players wish to play the same

Two Dif erent, the Lit l’un. If two players wish to play the same

game, the younger of them has priority, which he asserts by saying

‘Hold’ (actual y Selbst, meaning ‘Myself’). Jump bids are not

al owed, and each player enters the bidding only after the bidding

between the previous players has been resolved.

If Forehand bids Cego and everyone else passes, Forehand can

choose whether to play Cego or Räuber. This is the only way

Räuber gets to be played. (Its purpose is to punish a player who

failed to bid Solo despite having a good hand, which wil probably

lose the Räuber.) Examples A is Forehand, D is dealer:

A

B

C

D

Outcome

Pass Pass

Pass

Pass

Cego Pass

One Card -

Hold -

One Blank -

Pass -

-

Two Blanks

-

-

Hold

Pass

C plays Two Blanks

Pass Pass

Pass

Pass

Cego One Card -

-

Pass -

Pass

Pass

B plays One Card

Pass Pass

Pass

Pass

Cego One Card -

Piccolo

D plays Piccolo

Pass Pass

Pass

Pass

Cego Pass

Pass

Pass

A plays Cego or Räuber

(b) If there was a Solo bid in phase one, phase two proceeds more

or less as described in section (a), above, but with these dif erences:

The Solo bidder has highest priority, then Forehand, and then

the other players in anticlockwise rotation.

The next bid above Solo is Gegensolo (identical with Cego),

then One Card, One Blank, etc., as usual.

No special games (Piccolo, Bet el) can be bid over a Solo.

Examples (A is Forehand; B, C and D are the other players in

anticlockwise order; D is dealer.)

A

B

C

D

Result

Pass

Pass Solo

-

Pass

Pass -

Pass

C plays Solo

Pass

Solo -

-

Pass

-

Gegensolo -

-

Pass -

Pass

C plays Gegensolo (Cego)

Pass

Pass Solo

-

Gegensolo -

Selbst

-

Pass

Pass -

One Card (A rather unlikely sequence)

-

-

Selbst

Pass

C plays One Card

Play The soloist leads to the first trick. Players must fol ow suit if

possible; must play a Trock if unable to fol ow a plain-suit lead;

and may renounce only if unable to do either. The trick is taken by

the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest Trock if any are

played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

If the soloist played a discard game, he may refer to his discards

(the Legage) up to the completion of the first trick, but not

thereafter. In Solo, Ulti, Piccolo, Bet el and Rauber, no one may

look at the cards of the cego before play ends.

In Two Blanks and Two Dif erent, the soloist leads to the first

two tricks. The two cards kept from the soloist’s original hand

(which in the case of Two Blanks may be replaced by other cards of

the same suit found in the cego) are placed face up on the table to

begin the tricks, and each opponent in turn plays to both tricks. If

the first two tricks are won by dif erent players, whichever of them

won with the higher card leads to the third trick. In Two Dif erent,

they could conceivably have won with equal y high cards. If so, the

leader is the one who played the higher suit, counting clubs highest,

then spades, hearts, and diamonds (lowest).

then spades, hearts, and diamonds (lowest).

In One or Two Blanks, the exposed blank(s) can never win a

trick. If the soloist chooses to lead a dif erent card of the same suit,

the original y exposed card automatical y loses any trick to which it

is played later.

Example: The soloist keeps 8, but, finding K in the cego, prefers to lead the

King, which wins. He subsequently manages to draw all the opponents’ trumps

and clubs. If he now leads 8, it is not allowed to win. Instead, the second

player may play any card, and this determines the suit to be followed for the rest of the trick.

Score The cards are counted in groups of three, each group scoring

2 less than its total face value. If one or two odd cards remain, they

score 1 less than their combined face value. The total is always 70,

regardless of how they are grouped.

In a counter game, the soloist counts the card-points he won in

tricks plus those contained in the cego (provided that he won at

least one trick), and wins if he makes at least 36 of the 70

available. If he loses every trick, the cego counts for the opponents,

so they win by 70 to 0 points.

The amount the soloist wins or loses is the dif erence between 35

and the number of card-points taken, multiplied by a factor which

depends on the game which was played. The result is rounded up

to the next multiple of 5, and this is the amount (in Pfennig) which

the soloist receives from or pays to each opponent.

The factor for a Solo is 2 if the soloist wins, but 1 if he loses. The

factors for the other counter games are as fol ows:

Cego

1 or 2 if played as a Gegensolo

One Card

2 … 3 if bid against a solo

One Blank

3 …4…

Two Blanks 4 …5…

Two Different 5 …6…

The Littl’un 6 … 7…