The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (130 page)

A 35-point tie is cal ed Bürgermeister, and the soloist pays 5

Pfennig to each opponent.

Examples: (1) The soloist wins a Solo by 41-29. The difference from 35 is 6;

multiplying by 2 (the factor for a won Solo) gives 12; this is rounded up to 15, and the soloist wins 15 Pfennig from each defender.

(2) The soloist loses a Solo by 29-41. The difference is 6 and the

multiplication factor is 1 (for a lost Solo); 6 is rounded up to 10, and the soloist pays 10 Pfennig to each opponent.

(3) The soloist wins Two Blanks by 39-31. The difference is 4 and the

multiplying factor is 4; the product 16 is rounded up to 20 and the soloist wins 20 Pfennig from each opponent.

The special games have fixed scores as fol ows:

Ulti

80

Piccolo 30

Bettel 30

Räuber 30

In Ulti, PiccoloorBet el, each opponent pays the appropriate

amount to the soloist if the soloist wins; otherwise the soloist pays

each defender.

Hungarian Tarokks. Paper wrapper

from pack bought in Romania.

In Rauber, al players count the points in their own tricks. The

In Rauber, al players count the points in their own tricks. The

cego is not counted. The player who has most points loses. If

Forehand loses, the payment to the other players is doubled (60

instead of 30). If there is a tie for most, and Forehand is involved in

the tie, he loses; otherwise, al the tied players pay 30 to each other

player.

Game A player who wishes to end the session says ‘Der Gstieβ gibt

ab’ (‘The Gstieβ winds it up’). On the fol owing deal players note

who holds the Gstieβ. Play continues until that player’s fol owing

turn to deal, which is the last of the session.

Cego for three

Strip the pack to 51 cards by removing the two black Sevens and

4. Deal twelve cards to the cego and thirteen to each player. Play as

above, but omit bids of Piccolo, Bet el and Rauber.

Rauber is replaced by a dif erent way of penalizing a player who

fails to bid Solo with a strong hand. A strong hand is here defined

as one containing (a) nine or more trumps, or (b) eight trumps,

including two higher than the 17, and two void suits. Anyone who

passes such a hand in the first phase of bidding is said to ‘skin’ a

solo (soloschinden).

If everyone passes, the eventual highest soloist can, after looking

at the cego cards, claim that someone has skinned a Solo. Al then

expose their cards, and if one of them has indeed skinned, he loses

exactly as if he had played in the game of the final bid and lost

every trick. If, however, it transpires that no one has skinned, the

accuser loses as though having lost every trick.

If you become the soloist and find that your own hand plus the

cego contains fewer than five Trocke, you can safely claim that

someone has skinned.

Don’t forget…

Play to the left (clockwise) unless otherwise stated.

Eldest or Forehand means the player to the left of the dealer

in left-handed games, to the right in right-handed games.

T = Ten, p = players, pp = in fixed partnerships, c = cards,

† = trump,

= Joker.

14 Catch and col ect games

This section covers various card-catching and card-col ecting games.

With the notable exception of Gops, they are mostly either

gambling or children’s games.

Catching games are extremely old. The fact that they include

some classic children’s games doesn’t necessarily mean they require

no skil , only that the skil required is not that normal y associated

with ‘card sense’. For instance, Snap depends on speed of

recognition and reaction, Pelmanism on memory, and Gops on

something akin to extra-sensory perception.

The col ecting games may not go back so far, but are much

olderthan those of the Rummy type.

Card-catching games

2-6 players, 32 or 52 cards

Snap

Deal al the cards round as far as they wil go. Everyone either holds

their pack face down in one hand or lays it face down on the table

in front of them. Each in turn, as fast as possible, plays the top card

of their pile face up to the middle of the table. When the card

played matches the rank of the previous card (Ace on Ace, Jack on

Jack, etc.) whoever first cal s ‘Snap!’ wins the central pile and

Jack, etc.) whoever first cal s ‘Snap!’ wins the central pile and

places it face down beneath their own playing-pile. A player who

runs out of cards drops out of play.

If one player snaps mistakenly, or two or more snap

simultaneously, the central pile is placed face up to one side as a

pool (or on top of an existing pool) and a new pile is started.

Whenever a card played to the main pile matches the top card of

the pool, the pool is won by the first player to cal ‘Snap pool!’

Win by capturing al 52 cards.

Variant There is no central pile. Instead, each card in turn is turned

face up on to a pile in front of its owner. Whenever a card played

matches the rank of any other player’s face-up pile, the first to cal

‘Snap!’ wins his own and the other player’s pile and adds them to

his playing-pile. Whenever a player runs out of face-down cards, he

takes his face-up cards, turns them over, and continues playing from

them.

Bat le

Deal al the cards out face down. It doesn’t mat er if some have one

more than others. Everyone holds their cards face down in a stack,

without looking at them, and each in turn plays the top card of

their stack face up to the table. Whoever plays the highest card,

regardless of suit, wins al the cards played in that round, or trick,

and places them at the bot om of their pile. If there is a tie, the

cards stay down and are won by whoever wins the next untied

round. Win by capturing al the cards.

Beat Your Neighbour out of Doors (Beggar-My-Neighbour)

Deal al the cards out face down. It doesn’t mat er if some have one

more than others. Everyone holds their cards face down in a stack,

without looking at them, and each in turn plays the top card of

their stack face up to a central pile. When one of them plays a Jack,

Queen, King or Ace, the next in turn must play (respectively) one,

two, three or four cards immediately to the top of the pile. If they

are al numerals, the pile is won by the earlier player and added to

the bot om of the winner’s stack. If one of them is a pay-me card,

however, then the next in turn must pay the appropriate number of

cards. Win by capturing al 52 cards.

Slapjack

Deal al the cards round as far as they wil go. Everyone stacks their

cards face down in a neat pile on the table in front of them. Each in

turn, as fast as possible, takes the top card of his pile and plays it

face up to a pile in the middle of the table. Whenever a Jack

appears, whoever is first to slap it with their hand wins the central

pile, shuf les it in with their own pile to make a new one, then

leads any card to start a new central pile.

A player who slaps a card other than a Jack forfeits one card to

whoever played the card so slapped. A player who runs out of

cards has one opportunity to win a pile by correctly slapping a

Jack, but drops out if unsuccessful. Play continues until only one

player remains, or ut er boredom sets in, whichever is the sooner.

Egyptian Ratscrew (Bloodystump)

A cross between Beggar-My-Neighbour and Slapjack. Play as at

Beggar-My-Neighbour but with this addition: that whenever two

cards of the same rank are played in succession to the pile, the first

player to slap the top card wins the pile. (Hence ‘Bloodystump’. It

is advisable not to wear metal rings or knuckledusters.) The same

right may be at ached to any other agreed combination, such as a

sequence. Players who have run out of cards may get back in by

successful y slapping. One set of rules, published on the Internet by

‘Oxymoron’, adds: ‘Beware of slapping triple sixes – which results

in everyone losing, and mandates that the deck be completely

burned by midnight and that no one else can play Ratscrew until

the next day. This isn’t superstition, this is pyromania.’ (This rule

maybe regarded as optional.)

Memory (Pelmanism)

Shuf le the cards and deal them face down at random al over the

table. The aim is to col ect pairs of matching ranks (two Kings,

Fives, or whatever). Each in turn picks up two cards and looks at

them in secret. If they form a pair, he wins them; if not, he replaces

them face down in the same positions. The player with the best

memory, or concentration, or both, wil usual y win. A score or

pay-of can be devised based on the number of pairs col ected, their

ranks, or both. Some play that upon winning a pair you get another

go. Some insist that unmatched cards be shown to al before being

turned down.

Gops

2-3 players, 39 or 52 cards

Alex Randolph, the great games inventor, says this game derives

Alex Randolph, the great games inventor, says this game derives

from one popular with the 5th Indian Army during the Second

World War. Some say the name is an acronym for ‘Game of Pure

Strategy, but ‘Game of Psychological Strife’ would be more like it,

as the skil involved is more like extra-sensory perception than

calculation.

Preliminaries Divide the pack into suits. Shuf le the diamonds and

set them face down as a stock. Give one other suit to each player. If

two play, ignore the fourth suit.

Object To win the greatest valueof diamonds, counting Ace1,

numerals at face value, Jack 11, Queen 12, King 13.

Play At each turn the top diamond is turned face up. The players

then bid for it by choosing any card from their hand and laying it

face down on the table. When al are ready, the bid cards are turned

face up. Whoever plays the highest card (Ace low, King high) wins

the diamond. The bid cards are put aside, and the next turn played

in the same way.

If two play, and both bid the same amount, the bid cards are put

aside and the current diamond is held in abeyance, being won by

the winner of the next diamond. If the last card or cards are tied,

they belong to neither player, unless it is agreed to credit them to

the winner.

If three play, and two tie for best, the diamond is won by the

third player. A three-way tie is decided as in the two-player game.

Winning The winner is the player who wins the greatest face value

of diamonds (maximum 91).

Thirty-One

3-8 players, 52 or 32 cards

This game is played in various ways under various names. Basical y: