The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (134 page)

CommentConcentrate always on the objectives: to capture most

cards, most spades, Aces, the T, and the 2. Avoid trailing any of

the lat er, and work on builds rather than individual cards. Beware

of capturing a court if this leaves only numerals on the table, as

these may enable the next in turn to make a sweep. Do so only

when you have a good chance of making the sweep yourself.

Cassino. With this hand

you can sweep the board with a Seven. Bet er, though, is to play a

Seven to the Seven, announce ‘Building Sevens’, and sweep the

board on your next turn – provided your opponent does not hold a

Seven with which to sweep it first. You can’t increase the 2-5 or 4-

3, as they form a multiple build.

Diamond Cassino

(2-4p, 40c) A cross between Cassino and Scopa. Deal three each and

four to the table. Game is 11 up, counting 1 for cards (capturing 21

or more if two play), 1 for diamonds (capturing six or more of

them), 1 extra for 7, 2 for capturing al four Sevens or Sixes or

Aces, and 1 per sweep.

Draw Cassino

Any two-hand version of Cassino played in the fol owing way: after

playing a card, each completes his turn by drawing the top card of

stock to restore his original number of cards. There are no extra

deals. When the stock is exhausted the last cards are played out in

the usual way.

Royal Cassino

(2p, 52c) Basic Cassino but counting each Jack 11, Queen 12 and

King 13, so that court cards may be built or captured by combining

as wel as by pairing. As an optional extra, Ace may count 1 or 14

ad lib.

Spade Cassino

Cassino variant that replaces 1 for taking a majority of spades with

1 point for each spade captured, with an extra point each for J,

2 (Lit le Cassino) and A (by virtue of the score for Aces).

Royal Spade Cassino

A mixture of Royal Cassino and Spade Cassino.

Zwicker

2-4 players, 52 cards + 6 Jokers

A simpler and jol ier version of Cassino, Zwicker is described (by

Claus D. Grupp, in Schafkopf, Doppelkopf, Wiesbaden, 1976) as a

popular family game of Schleswig-Holstein.

PreliminariesFrom two to four players use a 52-card pack, to which

it is usual to add six Jokers of (preferably) the same back design

it is usual to add six Jokers of (preferably) the same back design

and colour as the main pack. Deal four cards each, and four face up

to the table. Stack the rest face down. When everyone has played

four cards, deal four more each so long as any remain in stock.

ObjectTo capture Aces, 7, 7, T, and to make sweeps.

PlayEach in turn, starting with eldest, plays a card face up to the

table, where it may capture either:

one table card by pairing; e.g. a Two captures a Two, a Jack a

Jack, etc.; or

two or more table cards by summing. For this purpose each

Ace counts 11, Jack 12, Queen 13, King 14; so a Queen might

capture 6-7, or 2-3-8, etc.

A played card may make as many captures as possible in one

turn. Capturing al the table cards is a sweep and is marked by

placing the capturing card face up instead of face down in the pile

of won cards. A sweep leaves the next player in turn no option but

to trail.

BuildingA player unable to capture must trail by adding a card to

the pool. He may, however, use it to form a ‘build’ by placing it

half over another card. In this case the build counts as if it were a

single card of their combined value, and may be captured but only

as a whole. For example, a Five played to a Seven makes a build of

12, which can later be captured by a Jack – or, if there is also a

Two on the table, by a King in conjunctionwith the Two, sincethe

Two and the 12-build are equal ed by the value of the King. More

discards may be added to a build, so long as it does not exceed 14

in total value.

Jokersmay be captured by matching. In addition, a Joker counts as

any desired value from 2 to 14, and may be played or captured

accordingly. Of course, it may only count as one value at a time: it