The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (38 page)

side has scored 500 or more as the result of winning a contract, or

has done so badly as to reach minus 500 or more. (The others are

then said to have won ‘by the back door’, or by some even more

graphic phrase.) If a player or side reaches 500 only by virtue of

scoring 10 per trick rather than by fulfil ing a contract, play

continues until a qualifying contract is won. Footnote Under the

original rules there was only one round of bidding, so each player

hadtobid his maximum immediately. The rules published with the

Australian pack now declare this to be optional, and it is probably

widely ignored. The published rules also state that if the soloist or

declarers win al ten tricks in a contract worth 240 or less, they

score a flat 250. As this benefit seems designed to compensate for

the original one round of bidding, it should be ignored if further

rounds are permit ed.

Five Hundred (three players). This hand easily bids 6 , as it

contains the top three trumps (the Joker and both red Jacks), a

good forcing suit (clubs) and a void (diamonds). The bid can be

raised to seven in the expectation that, even if the outstanding

hearts are not evenly divided (3-2), some benefit may be derived

from the kit y. If an opponent takes the game in spades, this hand

bids fair to beat it, as it then holds the Left Bower ( J) in addition

to Best.

American Five Hundred

(4pp, 45c) American varieties are widely played in Ohio and

Minnesota, al varying in detail. The fol owing game is as played at

St Paul, Minnesota (West Seventh Street rules).

Preliminaries Four play in fixed partnerships with a 45-card pack

(4 × AKQJT987654, plus Joker). Agree in advance whether or not

(4 × AKQJT987654, plus Joker). Agree in advance whether or not

to admit nul o (misere) bids. The first to draw a Jack deals first.

Deal ten each and a five-card hand cal ed the ‘middle’ as fol ows: 3-

(3)-2-(2)-3-2, the figures in brackets being those of the middle.

Ace – no face A player dealt exactly one Ace but no courts or Joker

may cal for the deal to be annul ed by claiming ‘Ace – no face’. If

partner agrees, the deal is annul ed without reference to the

opponents.

If not, play ensues, but the claimant’s partnership may not then bid

nul o.

Bidding Only one of the first two players may bid six (announced as

‘Inkle’ – e.g. ‘Inkle spades’). If both pass, the minimum bid is seven,

otherwise the deal is abandoned.

The first two players who make a bid may, if bidding no trump,

announce it in either of two ways in order to convey information to

their partner. The standard announcement is ‘Seven [or whatever]

no trump’. The special announcement ‘Seven, No’ means that the

bidder holds either the Joker or ‘split Bowers’ (two Jacks of

opposite colour). ‘Inkle no’ is an acceptable bid from the first or

second player.

Nul o bids If admit ed, a simple nul o counts 250 and a grand

nul o, or granola, 510. In a simple nul o the bidder’s partner lays

his hand face down and the bidder plays alone against two

opponents. Granola may be bid only by the partner of a player who

bid nul o. If established, this player takes the middle into hand and

makes any five discards face down. The original nul o bidder then

takes these into hand and does likewise. Both must play, and both

lose if either takes a trick.

Play and score As for Australian Five Hundred.

Ecarté

2 players, 32 cards

This elegant two-player derivative of Triomphe became al the rage

in early nineteenth-century Paris casinos, partly because it

encouraged kibitzers to place bets on the outcome. Though now

defunct, it is stil quite fun to play.

Preliminaries Use 32 cards, ranking KQJAT987 in each suit. (Note

the position of the Ace.) Game is five points.

Deal The deal alternates. Deal five cards each in batches of three

and two. Stack the rest face down, turn the top card for trump, and

lay it to one side. If it is a King, dealer scores a point; and if this

makes him five, he wins without play.

Discarding Non-dealer may either lead to the first trick, which

obligates him to win at least three, or else propose that both

players replace some of their cards. If he proposes, dealer may

either refuse, which obligates him to win at least three, or else

accept the proposal. If dealer accepts, each in turn, starting with

non-dealer, lays aside at least one card and draws the same number

of replacements from the top of the stock.

Again, non-dealer may lead or propose, and dealer may accept or

refuse. This continues until non-dealer decides to lead, or dealer

refuses a proposal, or the stock is exhausted. Neither may cal for

more cards than remain, and the card turned for trump may never

be taken. When either refuses to exchange, or no cards remain, non-

dealer must lead to the first trick.

Marking the King Before play, if either player holds the King of

trumps he may show it and score 1 point, provided that he has not

already played some other card to the first trick.

Play At each trick the second player must fol ow suit and win the

trick if possible. If unable to fol ow he must trump if possible, and

only otherwise may renounce. The trick is captured by the higher

card of the suit led, or by a trump to a non-trump lead, and the

winner of each trick leads to the next.

Score Normal y, the winner scores 1 point for taking three or four

tricks, or 2 for the vole (al five). But if either player insisted on

playing with the hands as original y dealt, so that no cards were

exchanged, and that player fails to win three tricks, the other scores

2 points regardless of how many he took. Further deals ensue until

one player reaches 5. He wins a double stake if the other gained

only 1 or 2 points, a treble if the other gained none.

Jeux de regle Certain hands are acknowledged to be at least twice

as likely to win as not, and should therefore be played without

proposing. These are cal ed jeux de regle, obligatory hands’,

because in a casino game the house player’s job was on the line if

he failed to play them as dealt. The ful gamut of jeux de regle may

be abbreviated as fol ows:

trumps

non-trumps include

3+

any

2

King and a void Queen and one of her suit any three of a suit

1

KQJ of a suit Q-x-x of a suit Q-x in each of two suits

0

any four court cards better than four Jacks

Bester Bube (‘Best Boy’)

(3-6p, 32c) Defunct but interesting; possibly transitional between

Ecarte and Euchre, and recorded only by Anton (1889). Dealer puts

five chips in the pot, deals five cards each in batches of three and

two from a 32-card pack, and turns the next for trump. The highest

two from a 32-card pack, and turns the next for trump. The highest

trump is the Jack (‘Bester Bube’), second highest the other Jack of

the same colour, fol owed by AKQT987. Each in turn may discard

any number of cards and draw replacements from the stock

(excluding the turn-up). Two rounds of discarding and drawing are

permit ed, so long as enough cards remain in stock. Before play,

dealer takes the turn-up in exchange for any discard. Tricks are

played without (apparently) any obligation to fol ow suit. Eldest

must lead the Best Boy if held, otherwise any trump. Lacking

trumps, he leads any card face down and announces lTrumps’(!).

Whoever holds the Best Boy must play it to the first trick – unless it

is the dealer, who may retain it – and no one else need fol ow suit.

The same rules apply at trick two, this time in respect of the

second-best Boy. Thereafter any card maybe led and played, stil

without obligation to fol ow suit. Each player wins one chip per

trick taken, but a player taking none pays into the pot the amount

it contained at the start of the deal.

Triomphe (French Ruff)

(2p/4pp/6pp, 36c) The ancestor of Ecarte appears in Cot on’s

Compleat Gamester under the title French Ruf . Partners sit next to

one another and may overlook one another’s hands, but may not

verbal y consult. Cards rank KQJAT9876 in each suit, though in

France the Ace sometimes ranked highest. Deal five cards each in

batches of three and two, and turn the next for trump. Anyone dealt

the trump Ace may exchange it for the turn-up, together with any

further trumps that may lie consecutively below it. Players must

fol ow suit and head the trick if possible, otherwise trump (and

overtrump) if possible, and only otherwise may renounce.

Homme d’Auvergne

(2–6p, 32c) An old French game probably ancestral to Euchre.

Cards rank KQJAT987, but omit the Sevens if only two or three

Cards rank KQJAT987, but omit the Sevens if only two or three

play. Deal five each and turn the next for trump. There is a round

of bidding to see who wil undertake to win three tricks in the

turned suit, or the first two straight of . If al pass, the turn-up is

turned down, there is another round in which players may name

any suit, and the first to do so becomes the soloist. Eldest leads.

Players must fol ow suit and head the trick if possible; must trump

and overtrump if unable to fol ow; and renounce only if unable to

do either. 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. The soloist wins 1 game point if successful, or

loses it if not. One game point is also scored by anyone holding the

trump King, and by anyone who wins a King by trumping. Game is

7 points.

Twenty-Five (45, Spoil Five)

3-10 players (5 best), 52 cards

They young lads So conceity-like and fly with al yon play Of

euchre and such foolish Yankee fads… Aru! Twenty-five’s not good

enough for them!

Dermot O’Byrne’ (Arnold Bax), An Old Man’s Chat er

Ireland’s national card game appeared in nineteenth-century books

under the name Spoil Five, your aim being to prevent anybody

from winning three of the five tricks played if you were unable to

do so yourself. Original y scored in single points up to a target of

five, it later came to be scored in fives instead of ones, thereby

acquiring the name Twenty-Five. Later stil , players adopted a

Joker into the game and raised the target to 45 points. Al these

titles emphasize the peculiar obsession it seems to exhibit for the

number five: five is the best number of players; five tricks are

played; the top trump is the Five (original y known as Five

Fingers), and even the Irish for ‘trick’, cuig, is the word for five.