The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (87 page)

the name Mariage, in Denmark as Deliriumseksogtres, and in the

Ukraine as a three-hander cal ed Tysiacha (q.v.). Deal six each from

a 32-card pack ranking ATKQJ987, and stack the rest face down.

Play as at Schnapsen, but at no trump until a marriage is declared.

This is done by leading a King or Queen to a trick and showing its

partner. The first marriage establishesatrump suit, and each

subsequent marriage changes it tothat of the marriage suit. The

score for amarriage is 40 in diamonds, 60 in hearts, 80 in spades,

100 in clubs. Marriages may not be made in the last six tricks, and

there is no score for winning the last. The winner is the first to

reach 1001 over as many deals as it takes, and play ceases the

moment either player claims to have done so.

Mariage

(2p, 24c) As Schnapsen, but deal five each from a 24-card pack.

The first marriage declared scores 20, regardless of suit, the second

40, the third 60, and the fourth 80. There is a bonus of 100 for

winning the last five tricks. Actual scores are divided by ten,

remainders are ignored, and the winner is the first to reach 100.

Mariage also denotes several similar but slightly varying games.

One, the ancestor of Sixty-Six, is virtual y identical, but is played

with 32 cards, and recognizes, in addition to the marriage, a

combination cal ed amour. It consists of the Ace and Ten of a suit,

and scores 30 points, or 60 in trumps.

Chouine

(2p, 32c) A variety of Sixty-Six or Mariage played in championships

at Lavardin, in Loir-et-Cher–‘le plus français des vil ages de France’

(Daynes, Le Livre de la Belote, Paris 1996). Deal five each from a

32-card pack. Game is 101 points. A marriage scores 20, or 40 in

trumps. A tierce (K-Q-J of a suit) scores 30, or 60 in trumps; a

quarteron (A-K-Q-J) scores 40, or 80 in trumps; a cinquante (five

quarteron (A-K-Q-J) scores 40, or 80 in trumps; a cinquante (five

10-point cards) scores 50; and a chouine (A-K-Q-J-T in any suit)

wins the deal outright. A game is the best of five deals, a rubber the

best of three games.

Briscan (Brisque)

(2p, 32c) An extraordinary elaboration of Mariage from late

eighteenth-century France, Briscan is an ancestor of Bezique, lacking

only that game’s distinctive Queen-Jack combination. But there are

plenty of others to be get ing on with.

Deal five each from a 32-card pack ranking ATKQJ987. Dealer

scores 30 if the turn-up is an Ace, or 10 if any other card higher

than Nine. Play as at Sixty-Six/Schnapsen/Bezique. Game is 600

points, scoring as fol ows:

Sequences Ten ranks between Jack and Nine for sequential

purposes. The scores for sequences are al doubled in trumps.

top card of sequence A K Q J T 9

sequence of five

300 150 100 50

sequence of four

100 80 60 40 30

sequence of three

60 50 40 30 20 10

You cannot score a particular sequence twice. For example, if you

declare JT9 for 30, you can’t then add the Queen for 40 or the Eight

for 30; nor, having scored 40 for QJT9, may you play the Queen or

Nine and then rescore JQT.

Quartets Aces 150, Tens 100, Kings 80, Queens 60, Jacks 40.

Marriages 40 in trumps, 20 otherwise. Declarable from the hand or

as won in a trick by taking a Queen with the King of the same suit

(mariage de rencontre).

Carte rouge (a hand composed entirely of courts) 20.

Carte blanche (a hand composed entirely of numerals) 10.

Each of these two is repeated every time the hand is re-formed by

the draw of another matching card.

You may exchange the †7 for the turn-up at any time before the

stock is exhausted, but score nothing for it. For taking the last card

of stock, score 10. For a hand composed entirely of trumps when

the last card has been taken, 30. For winning the last five tricks, 30.

For winning nine or more in al , 10. Taking al sixteen wins the

game outright.

Final y, score for each Ace taken in tricks 11, each Ten 10, King

4, Queen 3, Jack 2.

Bondtolva (‘Farmer’s Dozen’)

2-4 players, 24 cards

The Swedish equivalent of Sixty-Six, Bondtolva (pronounced

boontolva) has peculiarities of its own. The simplest version is for

two.

Preliminaries Two players, each dealing in turn. Deal six each in

threes from a 24-card pack ranking ATKQJ9, and stack the rest face

down.

Object To be the first to reach 12 points over as many deals as

necessary. Points accrue for declaring marriages, for winning the

most ‘matadors’ (Aces and Tens), and for winning the last trick.

Play Elder leads first. Suit need not be fol owed. A trick is taken by

the higher card of the suit led, or, when trumps have been made, by

the higher trump. The trick-winner draws the top card of stock,

waits for the other to draw, and leads to the next.

Marriages Upon leading to a trick you may declare a marriage by

showing a King and Queen of the same suit and leading one of

them. The first marriage, cal ed ‘trump’, scores 2 points and

establishes trumps for the rest of the deal. Subsequent marriages

score 1 each, but don’t change the trump.

End-game When the stock is empty, no more marriages may be

declared. Second to a trick must then fol ow suit if possible, head

the trick if possible, and trump if unable to fol ow.

Score The last trick winner scores 1 point, as does the player who

took a majority of Aces and Tens. If equal, that point goes to the

player who took most card-points, reckoning each Ace 4, King 3,

Queen 2, and Jack 1. If stil equal, neither scores it.

Variant You must at ain exactly 12 points to win. If the amount you

win would take you over 12, you must instead deduct it from your

current total.

Comment The first marriage is cal ed a ‘trump’ for obvious reasons,

and each subsequent marriage a ‘score’ (tjog). The lat er reflects its

original score of 20 points, as in Sixty-Six, Bezique and related

games.

Bondtolva for 3-4 players

The cards are al dealt out, and the rules of trick-play are those

applying to the two-hander when the stock is empty, except that

applying to the two-hander when the stock is empty, except that

marriages are declarable throughout.

The four-hander is played in partnerships. Before trumps are

established, the leader to a trick may do one of the fol owing:

(a) If holding a marriage, show and lead from it. This scores 2 and

fixes the trump suit.

(b) If not, ask if partner holds a marriage. If so, partner shows it for

2 and this establishes trumps. Any card may then be led.

(c) Holding one card of a marriage, ask if partner can pair it, by

saying (for example) ‘Hearts?’ If partner says ‘Yes’, the trump is

established for 2 points and the qualifying King or Queen must be

led. If ‘No’, any card may be led of that suit, but no other.

Note that only one marriage query may be made on the same

turn. Given a negative to (b) or (c), the asker must win a trick and

be on lead before asking again. Subsequent marriages score only 1

each and do not change the trump.

Upon leading, once trumps have been established, you may:

(a) declare a marriage yourself by showing and leading from it; or

(b) ask if your partner has one. If so, you must lead the stated suit

in order to score the point; or

(c) lead a King or Queen and ask if your partner can wed it. If so,

the marriage partner must be shown, but need only be played to

the trick in order to comply with the rules of fol owing – i.e. head

the trick if possible, and trump if unable to fol ow suit.

Marjapussi

The Finnish equivalent of Bondtolva. (See Kurki-Suonio, Kort ipelit

The Finnish equivalent of Bondtolva. (See Kurki-Suonio, Kort ipelit

ja Pasianssit, Otava Publications Inc., 1992, Pekka Ranta,

Marjapussissa Porvooseen, WSOY, Porvoo, 1993, and

).

Tute

2 players, 40 cards

Tute (pronounce both syl ables) has replaced Tresil o in the playing

af ections of Spain and Latin America. The name is from Italian

tut i, ‘everyone’, but the game itself is obviously a Hispanicized

version of Sixty-Six. It is played in many forms by two, three or

four. The fol owing two-hander, of which no two native accounts

appear to be identical, is cal ed Tute Habanero.

Preliminaries Two players, each dealing in turn. Deal eight each in

ones from a 40-card pack, ranking and counting as under, and stack

the rest, face down. Turn the next for trump and half cover it with

the stock.

A 3 K Q J 7 6 5 4 2

11 10 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0

Object To be the first to correctly claim to have reached 101 points

for cards and combinations. These must be total ed and

remembered as play proceeds.

Play Eldest leads first, and the winner of each trick leads to the

next. Second to a trick must fol ow suit if a trump is led, but

otherwise may play any card. If unable to fol ow to trumps, you

must lay your cards face up on the table and keep them there until

must lay your cards face up on the table and keep them there until

you draw a trump, when you may take them up again. The trick is

taken by the higher card of the suit led, or by the higher trump if

any are played. The winner of a trick draws the top card of stock

and waits for the other to do likewise.

Turn-up exchange If the turn-up is a Jack or higher, you may take it

in exchange for the Seven, but not before you have wonatrick.

Similarly, if it is a Seven – whether initial y dealt or subsequently

substituted for a Jack – you may take it in exchange for the Two.

Exchanging is optional.

Combinations Before leading, the previous trick-winner may show

and score for a marriage or a tute. A marriage is a King and Queen

of the same suit and scores 20, or 40 in trumps. A tute is al four

Kings or al four Queens, and wins the game outright. A

combination may be declared only upon winning a trick, and only

one may be declared per trick.

Last eight When the stock is exhausted and the turn-up taken in

hand, you may, before the last eight are played, declare capote,

thereby undertaking to win al eight. If successful, you win the

game outright; if not, you lose. The last eight tricks are played to

dif erent rules. Combinations may no longer be declared. Second to

play must fol ow suit if possible and win the trick if possible, and,

if unable to fol ow suit, must play a trump if possible. Count 10 for

winning the last trick.

Winning Play ceases with a tute or capote, or when one player

claims to have reached or exceeded 101 points, or when either

player is found to have reached 101 without claiming it. A correct

claim of 101 wins the game, a false claim loses. If neither has

claimed 101 by the end of play, but it transpires that both have

made it without declaring, the winner of the last trick wins. If no

one wins in the first deal, the winner of the last trick deals to the

one wins in the first deal, the winner of the last trick deals to the

next.

Variant Some accounts give the target score as 121.

Gaigel

3-4 players, 48 cards (2 × 24)

A multi-player extension of Sixty-Six, much played in Wurt emberg,

sometimes by three but mainly by four in partnerships. There is no

universal y accepted standard version and the game is subject to

many local variations and extras. The fol owing is based on Claus D.

Grupp, Schafkopf, Doppelkopf (Wiesbaden, 1976).

Preliminaries Four players sit ing crosswise in partnerships play to

the right. The winning side is the first to correctly claim to have

reached 101 points, which usual y happens before al cards have

been played out. Points are scored for capturing counters in tricks

and for declaring marriages. Players must remember their points as

they accrue, and may not announce or write them down.

Cards Deal five cards each (3+2 or 2+3) from a 48-card pack

containing two in each suit of the fol owing ranks:

A T K Q J 7

11 10 4 3 2 0

(Eights and Nines were dropped to speed the game up, and Sevens

retained because they play a significant part.) Turn the top card for