The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (75 page)

eight highest trumps, known col ectively as Wenz or Wenzel,

ranking downwards as fol ows:

Q Q Q Q J J J J

In suits, the order is A-T-K-9-8-7. If there is a trump suit, it

contains 14 cards, headed by the eight Wenzels and fol owed by the

other six of the specified suit – which, in a partnership bid, is

always hearts.

Note that Wenzels normal y belong not to the suits marked on

their faces but to the trump suit, whatever that may be.

Object One player undertakes to capture in tricks cards total ing at

least 61 of the 120 card-points available, and wil get a bonus for

taking 90 or more (schneider), or winning al eight tricks (schwarz).

In the simplest bid he at empts this with the aid of a temporary

partner. In higher bids, he plays solo against the other three, and is

then entitled to vary the trump suit.

Contracts From lowest to highest, the contracts that may be bid are

as fol ows.

1. Cal -Ace. Queens, Jacks and hearts are trumps, and the bidder

finds a partner by naming the Ace of a suit other than hearts.

Of that suit he must himself hold at least one card, other than

the Queen, Jack, or Ace. Whoever holds it becomes his

partner, but must not announce this fact until it is revealed by

the play.

This is the only partnership contract. It cannot be bid by a

player holding al three non-trump Aces, orno card ofthe

cal ed suit. However, some schools al ow a player to cal the

Ace of a void suit provided that he announces ‘Void’ when

doing so. The next higher bids are al solos.

2. Wenz. Only the four Jacks are trumps, ranking in their normal

order (

), and forming a fifth suit of their own. Queens

rank between the Kings and Nines of their nominal suits.

3. Suit Solo. The soloist nominates a trump suit, which, headed

3. Suit Solo. The soloist nominates a trump suit, which, headed

by al eight Wenzels, forms a series of 14 trumps. He himself,

however, may not hold any trumps apart from Wenzels

(otherwise it is too easy).

4. Wenz-Tout. Same as Wenz (only Jacks trump), but the soloist

must win al eight tricks.

5. Solo-Tout. As solo, with Queens, Jacks, and a specified trump

suit, but the soloist must win al eight tricks. (The bid is

usual y announced and known as Du, literal y ‘thou’, but

punning on the French words tout, meaning ‘al ’, or atout,

meaning ‘trump’.)

6. Sie. Same as Solo-Tout, but announced in the rare event of the

soloist’s having been dealt al eight Wenzels. (Sie is another

piece of word-play, being the ‘polite’ equivalent of Du.)

Bidding procedure Each in turn, starting with eldest, says ‘Pass’ or

‘Play’. If al pass, the deal is annul ed and passes on. If only one

player says ‘Play’, he either cal s an Ace or declares a higher

contract. If a second bidder says ‘Me too’, he is automatical y

making a solo bid on the assumption that the first to speak was

seeking a partner. The competing bidders must then state what

contract they wish to play, and whoever bids highest becomes the

soloist. If two or more wish to play the same solo contract, priority

goes to the eldest of them – that is, the player entitled to speak first

in each round of bidding. (In competing suit-solo bids, al suits are

equal. Priority is stil determined by position, not by suit.)

Doubling An opponent who thinks the contract can be beaten may

double (by announcing ‘Kontra’) at any time before the second card

is played to the first trick. This increases the game value, but

obliges his side to take at least 61 in order to beat the contract.

(The soloist would then need only 60 to win.) The soloist – or his

partner, if any – may in turn redouble; in which case they must

again make 61. Some circles impose no limit on doubles,

redoubles, etc., but whichever side doubled last must always make

61 or more to win.