The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (20 page)

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.

2 Solo family

The fol owing games are for prima donnas and exhibitionists.

They’re plain-trick games like Whist and Bridge, but dif er in that

everyone plays for themselves instead of in fixed partnerships.

Typical y, in each deal the highest bidder names trumps and aims

to win a target number of tricks by playing alone against the

combined ef orts of the other two (in three-hand games) or three

(in four-handers). The basic bid is usual y cal ed a solo, and we may

refer to its player as the soloist. When four play, a soloist with a

dodgy hand may cal for assistance in return for a cut of the

rewards, so the game is played sometimes one against three and

sometimes two against two. A temporary partnership of this type is

perhaps bet er termed ‘al iance’, from an old game of that name.

Many nationshavetheir own versionofagamebasedonthis

principle, and many are simply cal ed Solo. The English variety,

actual y borrowed from Belgium in the late nineteenth century, is

known as Solo Whist, though ‘English Solo’ would be a bet er title.

The section concludes with two modern games which exploit the

historical y novel device of bidding to win an exact number of

tricks rather than just a minimum.

Solo Whist

4 players, 52 cards

English Solo became popular in Britain as a relaxation from the

rigours of partnership Whist in the 1890s, just as Bridge was

appearing on the scene. Were it not for this unfortunate

coincidence, Solo might have become more refined and occupied

coincidence, Solo might have become more refined and occupied

the social position now claimed by Contract. In the event, it became

a popular commuters’ game in the days of real railways, being

more suitable than ‘railway Bridge’ in that it al owed a single game

to go on as commuters got in and out at dif erent stations, cut ing in

and out of play at convenient points. It now remains an essential y

informal game of home and pub, where it is played for the direct

interest of smal stakes rather than for the more arcane pleasures of

ingenious coups and complex scores.

Preliminaries Four players, 52 cards ranking AKQJT98765432.

There is no game structure: each deal is set led immediately in

coins or counters, though scores can be kept in writing.

Deal Deal thirteen each in four batches of three and one of four.

Turn the last card face up to establish a suit of preference for

trump. (But see Variants, below.)

Bidding Eldest hand speaks first and the turn to bid passes to the

left. Each in turn may pass, make a higher bid than the last one, or

accept a proposal (see below). A player who passes may not bid

again (with one exception noted below), and when a bid has been

fol owed by three consecutive passes the last bidder becomes the

soloist and play begins. From lowest to highest, the possible bids

are:

1. Proposal and acceptance (Prop and Cop). An of er to win at

least eight tricks with the preferred suit as trump, provided

that another player is wil ing to accept the proposal and assist

in this enterprise. Bid by saying ‘l propose’, or just ‘Prop’.

Provided that no other bid has intervened a subsequent player

may accept he proposal by saying ‘I accept’, or, traditional y,

‘Cop’. If no one then bids higher, the arrangement becomes a

contract. But any of the fol owing non-partnership bids

automatical y annuls an at empted Prop and Cop.

2. Solo. To win at least five tricks with the preferred suit as

2. Solo. To win at least five tricks with the preferred suit as

trump.

3. Misére. To lose every trick, playing at no trump.

4. Abundance (‘a bundle’). To win at least nine tricks with any

trump suit of the bidder’s choice, which need not yet be

named.

5. Royal abundance. The same, but with the preferred suit as

trump.

6. Misére ouverte (or spread misére). To lose every trick, playing

at no trump and with one’s hand of cards spread face up on

the table after the first trick has been played.

7. Slam. To win al 13 tricks at no trump, but with the

advantage of leading to the first trick.

If eldest proposes and everyone else passes, eldest may (but need

not) raise the bid to a solo. If eldest starts by passing, and another

proposes without being overcal ed, eldest may (but need not)

accept the proposal.

If al four pass, the book-rule is that the hands are thrown in

without play and the deal passes to the left. (But see Variants.)

Play The contract established, dealer takes the turn-up into hand

and the first lead is made by eldest hand, or, in the case of a slam,

by the soloist. In a spread misére, the soloist’s hand must be faced

and spread at the end of the first trick and before the second is led.

Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise may play any card.

The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led, or by the

highest trump if any are played, and the winner of each trick leads

to the next. Set lement The soloist (or, in Prop and Cop, each

partner) receives from or pays to each opponent in accordance with

an agreed schedule, such as:

Prop and cop 10, plus 2 per over/under-trick

Solo

10 plus 2 per over/under-trick

Misére

20

Abundance

30, plus 3 per over/under-trick

Spread misére 40

Slam

60

Some schools omit payments for over– or under-tricks. If

preferred, the appropriate amounts can simply be entered on a

scoresheet as a plus score in the column or columns of those who

make them.

Variations

There are many procedural variations. Some schools shuf le cards at

start of play but not again until after the play of a royal abundance:

between deals they merely gather up the tricks in order around the

table and cut before dealing. Some schools deal first 4-3-3-3, then 3-

4-3-3, then 3-3-4-3, and final y 3-3-3-4, thereafter repeating the

sequence. Some, instead of turning the last card for preference,

fol ow a predetermined cycle of suits for each cycle of four deals,

typical y , , , . Thus each player is associated with a particular

dealing pat ern and suit of preference. Many aspects of this long-

popular game have been subject to local variations. The fol owing

are typical.

If al pass One of fol owing may be played in the event that

everyone passes.

General misére. No trumps. Whoever takes the last trick loses, at

the same rate as a solo.

Competitive misére. No trumps. Whoever takes the most tricks

loses, at the same rate as a solo.

Royal misére. The turned suit trumps. Solo value is lost by the

first player to win five tricks, or four if no one takes five.

Kimberley (Flying Colours). Re-open the auction and al ow a bid

of solo in a suit other than the one turned.