The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (42 page)

he is said to be given a loaf, or just ‘loafed’. This entails adding five

to his score, or raising it to 10 if that would make it more. A player

who joins in, but who wins no trick, is also loafed. But this does not

apply to the first deal, when everyone may join in for nothing –

here, only a knocker can be loafed. Each time a player is loafed, he

adds one chip to the pot. The pot is won by (or divided between)

the first player(s) to reach zero points.

Femkort(Five-Cards)

2-10 players, 52 cards

A Swedish game, possibly related to Loo, but with an unusual

object.

Preliminaries From two to ten players chip an equal amount to the

pot and receivefive cards each (2+3or 3+2) from a 52-card pack

ranking AKQJT98765432.

Object To win the last trick.

Play Each in turn plays to a trick by laying his card face up in front

of himself and leaving it there for the rest of the game so everyone

can see who has played what. Eldest leads first. Players must fol ow

suit and win the trick if possible, but if unable to fol ow may play

any card. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led, and

the winner of each trick leads to the next. There are no trumps.

Pay-of The pot goes to the winner of the last trick, or to the first to

win an agreed number of deals.

Variant A common rule is that anyone in course of play may cal

for bet er cards’, i.e. for an annulment and a new deal. If anyone

else refuses, play continues with the cards stil held.

Three-card Loo

3-10 players, 52 cards

A disreputable old gambling game, harder to describe than to play,

and not to be confused with Five-card Loo. It is perhaps best seen

as a party game with chips or counters, since ‘Unlimited Loo’ with

real money can prove expensive. The rules of trick-taking are so

restrictive as to render the play virtual y mechanical. The only skil

lies in calculating the odds in favour of staying in.

Preliminaries Everyone starts with an equal number of chips or

counters. The dealer stakes three to the pool. A three-chip pool is a

‘single’. When it contains more, left over from the previous deal, it

is a ‘double’. Deal to each player, and to an imaginary extra player

cal ed ‘Miss’, three cards singly from a 52-card pack ranking

AKQJT98765432, and turn the next for trump.

Object To win at least one trick. A player who takes none is ‘looed’,

and increases the pool.

Announcements Each in turn announces whether they wil play or

throw their hand in. Anyone of ering to play may exchange their

hand for Miss, sight unseen, but may not then drop out or change it

back. Only the first player to claim this privilege may exercise it.

If al pass, dealer wins the pool.

If one exchanges and the others al pass, the exchanger wins the

pool.

If just one player before the dealer plays, and does so without

exchanging, the dealer may not pass but has a choice of play. He

may either play for himself, with or without exchanging, or elect to

‘defend Miss’. In this case he stil plays, but neither wins nor loses

anything. Only the other player wins from or loses to the pool,

according to the result.

Play Eldest leads, and must lead the trump Ace if held, or the King

if the Ace is the turn-up. If not, he must stil lead a trump if he has

more than one, and it must be his highest if he is playing against

more than one, and it must be his highest if he is playing against

only one opponent. Players must fol ow suit and head the trick if

possible; must trump and overtrump if unable to fol ow; and may

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. The winner of each trick leads to the next, and must lead a

trump if possible. Pay-of Each trick taken earns its winner one-

third of the pool. A player who is looed pays three to the pool,

which is then carried forward as a ‘double’.

Optional rules If the pool is a single, nobody may pass. In

Unlimited Loo, one who is looed (a loo-ee? a loony?) pays the

amount the pool contained at the start of that deal. This is where it

starts to mount up.

Irish Loo

In ef ect, Five-card Loo played with three cards. Play as above,

except that each active player may discard and receive

replacements for any number of cards up to three before the

opening lead. If clubs are trump, no one may drop. Dealer is

obliged to defend the pool against a single opponent.

Tomato

3-10 players, 40 cards

The equivalent of Loo widely popular in Spain gets its name from a

double metaphor. First, tomate also means a hole in a sock, from its

appearance when fil ed with a ruddy foot; second, a score of zero is

likened to a hole in a sock. Believe this if you wil .

Preliminaries Three to ten players use a Spanish 40-card pack,

ranking A3KQJ76542, and play to the right.

Deal Dealer antes three to the pot, deals three cards each in ones,

and, before looking at his cards, announces ‘Pass’ or ‘Play’. If he

plays, he turns and reveals the next card for trump, says, ‘It’s mine,’

and takes it to add to his hand after making a discard (sight

unseen). This commits him to winning two tricks, and only then

does he look at his hand. If he passes, each in turn has the same

option; if al pass, the hands are scrapped and the pot is carried

forward. With one player engaged to win two tricks, each in turn

who has not already passed looks at his cards and says either ‘Pass’,

in which case he throws his hand in, or ‘Play’, thereby undertaking

to win at least one trick.

Play The first active player to the right of the dealer leads. Players

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

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

do either.

Pay-of Each trick wins one-third of the pot. A player who takes no

trick is tomatoed, and doubles it. If the bidder wins one trick, he is

tomatoed, and doubles the pot that remains after first taking one-

third for the trick he has won. If the pot does not contain a multiple

of three, the odd one or two go to the winner of the first trick.

Defending the pack If al pass except the player who turned trump

and undertook two tricks, the lone player wins the pot – unless,

however, another player of ers to ‘defend the pack’ (compare

‘Defend Miss’ in Three-card Loo). Only one may defend, which he

does by drawing a new hand from the top of the stock and leading

to the first trick. Whatever the outcome, the defender neither pays

nor gets paid, but, if he wins at least one trick, the pot remains

untaken and is carried forward to the next deal.

Note To prevent the pot from growing excessively large, tomatoes

may be paid into separate side-pots, each of which is fed into the

main pot when it contains a multiple of three.

Zwicken (Zwikken, Dreiblatt)

3 players, 20 cards

The Germanic relative of Loo and Tomato, Zwicken is a gambling

game of il repute that was once banned throughout the Habsburg

Empire. Zwicken means ‘pinch’ or ‘nip’, and describes a player who

has to replenish the pot for failing to win any of the three tricks

played. The basic format is extremely simple, not to mention costly,

but gave rise to numerous variations and special features, as

thoroughly surveyed by Manfred Zol inger in The Playing-Card

(XXVI, 5). The game is probably now defunct, as suggested by the

lack of any reference to it in late twentieth-century literature, and

by the fact that the name has been taken over for an entirely

dif erent game related to Cassino. The fol owing description is of

Zwikken, the Dutch version.

Preliminaries Three players each chip one to the pot and receive

three cards (dealt 1+2 or 2+1) from a 20-card pack ranking

AKQJT, the next being turned for trump. Anyone holding the trump

Ten may eventual y exchange it for the turn-up, but not yet.

Object Each in turn has one opportunity to play for the whole pot,

or a portion of it – typical y a third or a half – or to pass. Whoever

of ers to play for the highest amount becomes the shooter. His aim

is either to have the best zwik (three of a kind), or to win two

is either to have the best zwik (three of a kind), or to win two

tricks, or to win one trick containing more card-points than the

other two combined (Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1).

If al pass, the dealer may (but need not) require everyone to add

a chip to the pool, and he then turns the next card for trump. If al

pass a second time, dealer has the same option. If he declines it, or

no one bids after three turns, the deal is annul ed and the pool

carried forward.

Play First, anyone holding the trump Ten may exchange it for the

turn-up. Next, anyone holding a zwik shows it and wins the pool.

Of two zwiks, the higher-ranking wins. If no one has a zwik, eldest

leads to the first trick. Players must fol ow suit if possible;

otherwise must trump and overtrump if possible; otherwise may

play anything. 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.

Winning The shooter wins with two or three tricks, or one trick if it

contains more card-points than the other two combined. Equality of

card-points wil not suf ice. If successful, he wins the amount he

played for; if not, he adds it to the pot.

Comment A wicked feature of the game is that exchanging the Ten

may give a player a zwik. Equal y crafty is the dealer’s ability to

pass the first round withagood handinthe hopeofshooting later after

increasing the pool. Sources vary as to the number of times the

dealer may turn another trump, and whether turning the same suit

as before counts as a separate turn. It should be added that the card-

points are virtual y academic, as a single trick wil rarely contain

enough to beat the other two.

Toepen

3-8 players, 32 cards

This description of a popular Dutch drinking, singing and whistling

game is based on one by Nick Wedd, with additional material from

Dan Glimne, both from first-hand informants. Details probably vary

not only from school to school, but also within the same school as

conviviality expands.

Preliminaries From three to eight players receive four cards each, in

batches of two, from a 32-card pack ranking from hightolow

T987AKQJ.

Object In each deal the aim is to win the last trick. The overal aim

is to avoid accumulating 10 penalty points, which obliges you to

buy the next round of drinks.

Exchange If you have nothing higher than an Ace, or an otherwise

poor hand, you may lay it face down and draw a new one from the

stock, so long as at least four cards remain. (You may not exchange

just one, two or three cards.) If chal enged, you turn the old hand

face up. If it contains any card higher than an Ace, you incur one

penalty; if not, the chal enger incurs one.

Warnings A player who holds four Tens must stand up, to warn

others of this fact, and one with four Jacks may stand up, by way of

bluf . Similarly, three Tens obliges, and three Jacks entitles, their

holder to whistle. A player who can’t whistle may sing loudly

instead. Failure to give the requisite warning, or giving a false

warning without entitlement, incurs one penalty.

Play Eldest leads. Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

may play any card. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit

may play any card. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit

led, and the winner of each trick leads to the next – or, if he then

folds, the next active player to his left leads. There are no trumps.

Everyone scores one penalty except the winner of the last trick,

who becomes the next dealer.

Raising the penalty The penalty value of each deal may be

increased as fol ows. Any active player may, at any point in the

play – in or out of turn – knock sharply on the table to notch the

value up by one point. Thus the first knock increases the penalty to

2, the next to 3, and so on. When a player knocks, any stil active

player (other than the knocker) may immediately drop out by

laying their cards face down, thereby incurring only the penalties

previously obtaining. If they fail to do so before the next card is

played, they must continue play at the new level. If someone

knocks during the course of the last trick and you have no cards left,

you can escape the new level by saying ‘Fold’, before the next card

is played.

A player may knock more than once in the same deal, but (a) not

twice in succession without the intervention of another knocker,

and (b) not if this would raise their own score above 10 in the

event of loss. A player with 9 penalties, therefore, may not knock at

al .

Pay-of The round ends when one player reaches 10 penalties and

staggers to the bar. If more than one do so, duty devolves upon the