The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (152 page)

Deal The first dealer is chosen at random; thereafter, the loser of

each deal deals to the next. Deal thirteen each, in ones. Any excess

cards are turned down and not used. (Variant: Three players may be

dealt seventeen each and one card left out.)

Object To avoid being the last player with cards remaining in hand.

Play In the first deal, whoever holds 3 starts by playing it face up

to the table, unaccompanied by any other card. In each subsequent

round, and in every round of every subsequent deal, the leader to a

round may start by playing any of the fol owing:

1. A single card

2. A pair (two cards of the same rank)

3. A triplet (three of a rank)

4. A quartet (four of a rank)

5. A sequence (of three or more cards regardless of suit)

6. Three or more consecutive pairs (e.g. 33-44-55, QQ-KK-AA-22,

etc.)

Sequences may not turn the corner. Thus 2-3-4 is il egal because

Twos are high and Threes low, hence not consecutive.

The highest of two or more otherwise equal combinations is the

one with the highest-suited top card. For example, 7- 6-15 beats

7- 6- 5 because 7 beats 7. Similarly, the pair 7- 7 beats

the pair 7- 7.

Each in turn must then either pass or play. If they play, it must be

the same number of cards, forming the same type of combination,

and outranking the previous player’s contribution. A player who

has once passed must keep passing throughout that round of play.

Play continues round the table, omit ing those who have passed,

until someone plays and everyone else passes. Whoever played last

turns the played cards face down and leads to the next round.

Beating Twos There are four exceptions to the rule requiring the

play of similar combinations, and al involve beating the play of

one or more Deuces (but no other rank). Namely:

1. A single Deuce is beaten by four of a kind.

2. A single Deuce is beaten by a double sequence of three (e.g. 3-

3-4-4-5-5).

3. A pair of Deuces is beaten by a double sequence of four (e.g.

6-6-7-7-8-8-9-9).

4. Three Deuces are beatenbyadouble sequence of ive (e.g. T-T-J-

J-Q-Q-K-K-A-A).

These combinations apply regardless of whether the Deuce(s) were

led or played as the highest of a series. When one or more Deuces

are beaten by the play of an appropriate longer combination,

anyone who has not already passed may, if possible, play a higher

combination of the same length and type, as if it had been led.

Ending As players run out of cards, they drop out of play. If a

player who runs out did so by winning a round, the lead passes to

the next player in turn with cards remaining. The last player left in

loses, and pays a fixed stake to each of the others.

Viet Cong (VC)

Variants of Tieng Len are played in America under this title. A

version reportedbyKel yAman(viathePagatwebsite)has the fol owing

features:

1. Anyone dealt four Deuces automatical y wins.

2. Whoever holds S3 must include it in his opening combination.

3. Inasinglesequencethe highest permissiblecardisanAce.

Onlymultiple sequences may include Deuces.

4. The special combinations that beat Deuces are cal ed slams.

The slam rules are:

The slam rules are:

A single Deuce is beaten by three consecutive pairs.

A pair of Deucesis beaten by five consecutive pairs, or

by two consecutive fours of a kind.

Three Deuces are beaten by a sequence of seven

consecutive pairs, or by three consecutive fours of a

kind.

5. Some play the game with trading (in which case, four Deuces

do not automatical y win). Before the first lead, any two

players may trade a mutual y agreed number of cards between

themselves, provided that they can agree on which cards to

trade.

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, 7 = Joker.

18 Last in loses

Durak, that most popular of Russian pastimes, is the chief of a more

elaborate clan of going-out games than Newmarket and Crazy

Eights. While stil striving to get rid of your cards, you are primarily

aiming to avoid being the last one in, rather than to be the first one

out, and the method of play is more like trick-taking, which

demands a greater degree of skil . This character is wel reflected by

the fact that many such games are cal ed ‘Fool’, in the various

dif erent languages of the countries that play them – Russian durak,

Swedish tok, Finnish hörri, and so on. Some go further, and at ach

less salubrious and even positively scatological titles – such as

‘Shithead’ – to the humiliated loser.

The only member of this family regularly recorded by western