The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (127 page)

the Pagat provided that you subsequently announce Pagat ultimo);

and(b) a particular card which you invite the player with another

honour to cal should they become the declarer. This must be one

of the fol owing:

Tarokk XIX. This you indicate by jump-bidding to one level

higher than necessary. For example, as first to speak you

would bid Two instead of Three; or, fol owing a bid of Three,

you would bid One instead of Two. You then hope that

another player with an honour (preferably higher, but it could

be Pagat) wil bid higher stil (or at least hold your bid), take

the contract, and cal your card. None of which, however, is

he obliged to do, so you may wel find yourself left in the

declaring position.

declaring position.

The bidding sequence A ‘Three’, B ‘Two’, A ‘One’ also signals

the XIX, because A could have held B’s ‘Two’.

Tarokk XVI I. As above, but bid two levels higher than

necessary (if possible).

In either case, a player who bids higher is deemed to accept the

invitation, and, if he becomes declarer, is obliged to cal the card he

was invited to. If two players each hold one honour, they may both

accept the invitation, and must fight it out between them.

You are allowed to make either of these jump-bids without holding the card it

relates to, provided that it is obvious that no invitation was intended because no one could legally accept it. For example, if the first three pass, the fourth may bid anything, since those who passed are prohibited from bidding again. Or

again, if the bidding goes A ‘Three’, B ‘Two’, C ‘Pass’, D ‘One’, A ‘Solo’, then A can’t have been inviting to the XIX by bidding Solo instead of Hold, as no one is in a position to hold his solo bid.

Tarokk XX. Holding this card and a high honour, you can

invite it only in the fol owing circumstances. Being the first to

make a bid (as eldest, or fol owing nothing but passes), you

bid Three. Of the other players, two pass, and the other,

regardless of position, bids Two. If you then pass, the player

who bid Two is deemed to have accepted your invitation and

must then enlist your aid by cal ing the XX. But you are not

obliged to pass and thereby put him in this position. For one

thing, you may also hold XIX, and invite it to be cal ed by

jumping to a bid of One. For another, you might have bid

Three without intending the XX to be cal ed – or even without

actual y holding it – in which case you must cancel the

apparent invitation by ‘holding’ the bid of Two.

Unlike XIX or XVIII, you cannot cue bid the XX with the Pagat.

Drawing and discarding Declarer draws from the top of the talon as

many cards as he bid (if any), adds them to his hand, and discards

many cards as he bid (if any), adds them to his hand, and discards

the same number face down. Each other player in turn from his

right draws from the rest of the talon either the top two cards, so

long as this wil leave at least one for the last player to draw,

otherwise one card. If five play, these cards are not drawn by the

players themselves but dealt to them by the dealer.

No one may discard any five-point card (an honour or a King),

and some schools also prohibit the discard of trump XX.

Declarer places his discards, if any, face down (but tarokks up) on

his left. Any card-points they contain wil count to him at end of

play as if he had won them in tricks. The other three place theirs,

face down, on dealer’s right. Any card-points they contain – even

those of declarer’s partner, if any – wil count to the opposing side

as if they had won them in tricks.

Annul ing the hand A player holding an of icial y recognized ‘bad

hand’ after the draw may (but need not) show it and cal for a new

deal, provided that no announcements have yet been made. The

fol owing holdings justify an annulment:

al four Kings (because they can’t be discarded and are likely

to be trumped);

no tarokks; or XXI or Pagat alone; or XXI and Pagat but no

others. The cards are then gathered in, shuf led and cut, and

redealt by the same dealer. This automatical y doubles al

scores made in the next round of deals, exactly as if al four

had passed (see above).

Cal ing a card Declarer now names a card whose holder is to

become his partner. If he accepted an invitation, he is obliged to

cal the invited card. If not, he is obliged to cal tarokk XX unless

any of the fol owing applies:

1. He holds the XX himself. In this case he may either cal it and

play alone, or else secure a partner by cal ing the highest

tarokk below XX that he does not hold himself.

tarokk below XX that he does not hold himself.

2. Anyone other than the declarer discarded a tarokk. In this

case, he may cal any tarokk not in his own hand, other than

an honour. This makes the holder of that card his partner,

who must not reveal himself except by the play. If, however,

the cal ed tarokk was discarded, the player who discarded it

must double the game by saying

Kontra (as described below). This does not necessarily prove that

the declarer has no partner, as the discarder might have doubled the

game anyway.

Announcements After cal ing a card, the declarer may make one or

more of the fol owing announcements. There are three types of

announcement: tarokks, feats, and doubles. He finishes by saying

‘Pass’, whereupon each subsequent player in turn from his right

may also make any valid announcements before saying ‘Pass’. Play

does not begin until three players in succession have said nothing

but ‘Pass’. The possible announcements are:

1. Eight or nine Tarokks. This is an individual (non-partnership)

declaration. If you hold eight or nine tarokks, you may

immediately claim payment of (respectively) 1 or 2 units

from each opponent, and from your partner if any. If you hold

nine, you may not declare only eight. But, whether you hold

eight or nine, you are not obliged to declare them, unless you

are also bidding Pagat ultimo – or saying kontra to somebody

else’s bid thereof – in which case the declaration is

compulsory.

2. Feats. These are feats that you commit your partnership to

performing. Each of them earns a fixed payment even if

achieved unannounced, but, if announced, it scores double if

successful, or incurs a loss if not. They are:

announcement

meaning

score

double game

take at least 71 card-points

x2, or x4 if announced

volät

win all nine tricks

x3, or x6 if announced

tuletroä (or trull) win all three honours in tricks 1, or 2 if announced

four Kings

win all four kings in tricks

1, or 2 if announced

Pagät ultimo

win the last trick with Pagät 5, or 10 if announced

catch XXI

capture tarokk XXI with Skiz 21, or 42 if announced

The scores for double game and volät multiply the basic game score. For

example, a successful bid of One is worth a basic 3, and so pays 18 if made with an announced volät. The others are flat bonuses.

Kontra. Any feat announcement may be kontra’d (doubled) by an

opponent if he thinks his side wil beat it. This is done by saying

‘Kontra’ to the particular announcement – for example, ‘Kontra al

four’, ‘Kontra the double game’, and so on. It is also possible to

‘Kontra the game’, whether or not any announcements have been

made: it means that you are not the declarer’s partner and that you

think declarer’s side wil fail to take the requisite 48 card-points in

tricks. Note, in this connection, that if you have discarded the cal ed

card into the talon, you must announce ‘Kontra’ at your first turn to

speak in the round of announcements. An announcement that has

been kontra’d can subsequently be re-kontra’d by the player who

made it, and the doubling process can go up to five levels. The ful

range of terms is kontra (2), rekontra (4), szubkontra (8), hirskontra

(16), mordkontra (32).

Al bonuses and announcements are scored independently of each

other and of the game; you can win some and lose others. Although

most announcements wil be made by declarer’s side, it is possible

for the opponents to make them too. However, if you want to

announce a bonus against the declarer, you must make it clear

which side you are on, for example by saying kontra to the game.

(This restriction does not apply to declaring eight or nine tarokks,

as it is done on a purely individual basis.)

Example of call and announcements: A (declarer): ‘Call XX, pass.’ B: ‘Trull, four Kings, pass.’ C: ‘Pass.’ D: ‘Kontra the trull, pass.’ A: ‘Pagat ulti, pass.’ B: ‘Pass.’ C:

‘Pass.’ D: ‘Pass.’ B’s announcement of trull and Kings signals the XX and identifies him as A’s partner, and encourages A to bid the Pagat.

Play Eldest leads to the first trick. Players must fol ow suit if

possible, must play a tarokk if unable to fol ow a plain-suit lead,

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 tarokk if any are

played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

Set lement If two played against two, each member of the losing

team pays one of the members of the winning team the net score

for the game and any bonuses that may have been earned in the

play. If you played alone against three, you receive the net score

from each of them, or pay it to each of them if you lose, making the

value of such contracts three times as much. When five play, anyone

who received an honour from the talon is supposed to pay the

dealer for it at the end of the hand: 3 points for the Skiz, 2 for the

XXI, and 1 for Pagat.

In calculating the set lement, note the fol owing.

1. If neither double game nor volat was announced, and the

game was not kontra’d, then only the highest of game, double

game and volát is scored.

2. If a side wins the volát (every trick), they cannot score for

thereby winning the trul or four Kings unless they previously

announced their intention of doing so. (Consequently: when

the bid is three, and nothing has been announced, and you

have already won al the honours and kings, it is bet er to lose

one trick and make double game, trul and four kings for 4

points (2+1+1), than to win every trick and make the volát,