The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (43 page)

one with most penalties.

Conventions A player who has temporarily disappeared on an

errand of mercy or nature is dealt a hand in absentia, but is deemed

to fold at the first knock. A player who is currently buying a round

of drinks is exempt from al penalties while so engaged.

Cucumber

3-7 players, 52 cards

Cal ed Gurka in Swedish and Ogorek in Polish, both meaning

‘cucumber’, this delightful Baltic gambling game maybe played as

lightly or as seriously as you wish, either for money or for a simple

point-score.

Preliminaries From three to seven players contribute equal stakes to

a pot and receive six cards, each dealt singly from a 52-card pack,

ranking upwards 23456789TJQKA. The aim is to avoid winning the

last trick.

Play Eldest leads any card. Each in turn must then play a card that is

either equal to or higher than the previous card played, regardless

of suit.

(Variant: In some circles, it must be equal to or higher than the

highest card played by any preceding player.) Anyone who cannot

must instead play the lowest card they hold. Whoever plays the

highest card – or the last played if equal y high – leads to the next

trick.

Score Whoever wins the last trick records penalty points equal to its

face value, counting Ace 14, King 13, Queen 12, Jack 11, numerals

as marked. Anyone else who played a card of the same rank to the

last trick also records that number.

A player reaching 30 minus points is a ‘cucumber’ and drops out

of play. He may buy himself back into the game for a new stake,

but must restart with the same number of minus points as the

but must restart with the same number of minus points as the

player with the next highest total. No one may buy in more than

once.

When only three players are left, buying in is barred, and play

continues until one of them is sliced (or cucumbered). The pot then

goes to the player with the lowest total.

Truc

4 players (2 × 2), 40 cards

This is the Catalan version of a unique and highly entertaining

group of Spanish and Provençal games in which tricks are won by

bluf ing rather than by calculation.

Preliminaries Four players sit crosswise in partnerships and play to

the right.

Cards Use a 40-card pack, ranking 32AKQJ7654. This should be the

Spanish or Catalan pack with suits of cups, coins, swords, clubs, and

courts of King, Knight and Valet.

Object In each deal the aim is to win two tricks, or the first trick if

both sides win one. A deal is worth from 1 to 3 points, and game is

12 points.

Deal Deal three cards each in ones. (See later for notes on a one-

card deal.) In each deal, the dealer and the player at his left, who

play the last two cards to the first trick, are the captains of their

respective partnerships.

Play Eldest leads first. Any player in turn may play any desired card

without restriction. The trick is taken by the highest-ranking card

played, provided that it is not tied, and its winner leads to the next.

If two or more of the highest rank fal to the same trick, the trick is

tied and goes untaken. In this case the same leader leads to the

next.

Raising At start of play the deal is worth 1 point. Any player on his

turn to play, whether before or after playing his card, can raise it to

2 by cal ing ‘Truc’. The captain of the other side may then either

concede the game for 1 point orkeep playing for 2. Playing the next

card, whether or not intentional y, automatical y counts as an

acceptance. If one side trucs, either member of the other may

subsequently, on his turn to play, whether before or after playing

his card, raise it to 3 by cal ing ‘Retruc’, leaving the first side’s

captain to concede for 2 or play on for 3.

Score The game value (1, 2 or 3) goes to the side that wins two

tricks, or was the first to win a trick if the other side won one or

none. Three ties win for the non-dealing side.

One-card deal Provided neither side has yet reached 11 points, the

non-dealing side may propose the play of a one-card deal. This is

indicated by the player at dealer’s left knocking on the pack instead

of cut ing it after the shuf le. The dealer may then either deal three

as usual, or agree the proposal by dealing only one card. The 1-

point value, which may not be increased, goes to the side that wins

the trick, or to the non-dealing side if it is tied.

Score of eleven The play changes when either partnership stands at

11, needing only 1 point for game. That partnership may concede

the hand for 1 point before any card is played, in which case the

deal passes on.

If it plays, the hand is automatical y worth 3 points, and no one

may cal truc. If both have 11, the hand is played for 3, and neither

side may concede or cal truc.

Talking and signal ing The members of a partnership are al owed –

in fact encouraged – to discuss tactics, tel each other in general

terms what to play, and so on, either truthful y to give each other

information, or falsely, to bluf the opponents. They may not

verbal y identify any particular card they hold, yet they may do

even this by means of facial signals in accordance with a universal y

agreed code, the aim being to get such a signal across when neither

opponent is looking. For example, to signify the holding of:

Three wink

Two pout

Ace show tip of tongue

French Truc

This is played in the Roussil on (capital Perpignan), also in Poitou

under the name Tru, and in Pays Basque as Truka. It original y used

a 36-card pack, ranking 76AKQJT98, but, as this is no longer

available, players employ the 32-card Belote pack and substitute

Eight for Six, giving the curious ranking 78AKQJT9. It is usual y

played by four in partnerships, as assumed below, but works

equal y wel for two. Game is 12 points over as many deals as

necessary, and two games win the rubber. Deal three cards each in

ones. Eldest may propose a redeal, and, provided al players agree,

the hands are put aside face down and replaced from stock. Play as

described above, except for the stake-raising procedure. Any player

when about to play a card may raise the game value by any

amount, provided that the previous raise was made by the other

side. A raise is proposed by saying (for example), ‘Three if I play?’

thus of ering to raise the value to 4, or to 7 if it was already 4. A

sudden-death win can be bid by announcing, ‘Our [or my]

sudden-death win can be bid by announcing, ‘Our [or my]

remainder?’ which raises the current value to the ful dozen. As

before, the other side may play on for the new value, or concede

for the old.

Truquiflor

Varieties of Truc are played throughout South America. Al are

partnership games, involving three tricks at no trump and al owing

partners to signal with body-language conventions. The most

elaborate variety, Truc y Flor or Truquiflor, also includes a

preliminary period of vying as to who holds the best flor (three-

card flush, literal y ‘flower’) and envido (highest card-point value).

Space precludes description, as the bet ing procedures are

extremely elaborate, and in any case the game does not translate

wel from Spanish-suited to French-suited cards. But it would be

reprehensible not to explain that Truquiflor is known as the ‘jol y

singing game’ because it is traditional to announces one’s flor by

means of a rhyming quatrain which is supposed to be unique to the

occasion and made up on the spot. These verses often savour of the

limerick, but here is a relatively polite example:

Para pintar a mi chines no hay

To paint the pretty hand I’ve got you’ll neither

pinceles ni pintor, ni flores en las artist find, nor brush: nor blooms to grace your jardines comparadas a mi flor.

garden plot so lovely as my flow’ry flush.

Put

2-4 players, 52 cards

If you want to be robbed, my son, play Put in a tavern.

‘Captain Crawley’ (G. F. Pardon), The Card Player’s Manual

‘Captain Crawley’ (G. F. Pardon), The Card Player’s Manual

(1876)

The English equivalent of Truc was a disreputable old tavern game

first described in Cot on’s Compleat Gamester of 1674. It seems to

have died out in Victorian Britain, but remains surprisingly fun to

play. ‘Put’ is short for ‘I put it to you that my cards are bet er than

yours and that we therefore play for the whole stake instead of just

this point. But I could be bluf ing’.

Put for two

Use a 52-card pack ranking 32AKQJT987654. Each in turn deals

three cards each in ones. Non-dealer leads first. There is no rule of

fol owing: any card may be played to any trick, which is takenby

the higher-ranking of the two. If both are equal, the trickistied and

discarded. The winner of each trick, or the leader of a tied trick,

leads to the next. A player who wins two tricks, or one trick to two

ties, scores a point. If al three are tied, or both win a trick and the

third is tied (known as ‘trick and tie’), neither player scores. Game

is five points.

Either player, when about to play a card, may instead cal ‘Put’.

The other may then resign, in which case the put er scores the point

without further play. If the non-put er insists on playing it out, then

whoever wins the point jumps to five and wins the game outright.

No one scores if the point is put and the result is a tie.

Put for three

Old sources say Put was sometimes played by three, but give no

details. Presumably it is trick-and-tie if two or three players win