The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (194 page)

Seconds

4 players, 52 cards

A game for those who never quite make it to the top. And may the

second-best man (or woman) win.

Preliminaries There are seven deals. Whoever deals to the first of

them is designated South for the whole game, but the turn to deal

and play passes always to the left (so North deals to the seventh).

Deal thirteen each from a 52-card pack ranking AKQJT98765432 in

each suit.

In deal 1, South and North are partners against East and West.

In deal 2, South and West are partners against North and East.

In deal 3, South and East are partners against North and West.

In deal 4, each player’s half-partner is their left-hand neighbour.

In deal 5, each player’s half-partner is their right-hand neighbour.

In deal 6, there are no partners, and the aim is to win tricks.

In deal 7, there are no partners, and the aim is to lose tricks.

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

leads to the next. Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

may play any card. There are no trumps.

A trick is taken by the second-highest card of the suit led.

If no one can fol ow suit, it is taken by the second-highest card

regardless of suit.

If this is tied, it is taken by the second played of the tying

cards.

Score. In deals 1 to 5, you individual y score the number of tricks

you won multiplied by the number won by your partner or half-

partner. (So if either of you wins none, both of you score zero.)

In deal 6 (positive solo), you score the square of the number of

tricks you won yourself (0, 1, 4, 9, etc.).

In deal 7 (negative solo), you score the total number of tricks won

by the other three players, or (same thing) 13 minus the number

you won yourself.

Game Logical y, the winner should be the player with the second-

highest final score, but you may prefer to ignore this. Note that,

although the last two deals are said to be played without partners,

they should, in fact, be played by a tacit partnership of three against

the player with the highest score at the end of the fifth and sixth

deals.

Concerto

4 players, 52 cards

This is for players who like co-operative partnership gamesand

ingenious signal ing systems, but don’t like trick-taking games such

as Bridge. I have modified it since it was first published. Original y,

you always scored15forastraightflush and12 for fourofakind. This

led excessively cautious players to aim for fours rather than straight

flushes. The scores are now variable, and designed to reward good

signal ing and partnership play.

Preliminaries Four players sit ing crosswise in partnerships receive

thirteen cards each from a 52-card pack ranking AKQJT98765432

in each suit. The turn to deal and play pass to the left. Each side’s

aim is to create and score for four five-card Poker hands from the

26 cards between them, and to avoid being left with any such

combination in the six cards remaining at end of play.

Poker hands Any five cards together form a Poker hand. Its scoring

value, if any, depends on the combination it contains, as fol ows:

One pair 1

Two pairs 2

Threes

3

Straight

5

Flush

6

Full house 8

Fours

8 if all 4 played from one hand

12 if 3 cards from one hand

16 if 2 cards from each hand

Straight flush 10 if 5 played from one hand

15 if 4 cards from either hand

20 if 3 cards from leader, 2 from partner

25 if 2 cards from leader, 3 from partner

Play Assuming West deals, the first hand is played by North-South.

Each in turn, starting with North, plays a card face up to the table

until five cards have been played. If it forms a Poker combination,

they score for it as specified above. North then spreads the

completed hand face up on the table before him and the turn

passes to East-West, with East leading and playing as described.

Note that only one partnership plays at a time: there is no card

interaction between the two sides.

Passing The leader to a hand must always play the first card and

may not pass. Thereafter, each player, on his turn to play, may

either play a card or pass. If he (North, say) passes, the previous

player (South) may either play the next card or pass. If, however,

South also responds by passing, North must then contribute the next

card, as there is a limit of two on the number of consecutive passes

that may be made by the two players. This does not, however,

prevent an individual player from passing on al his own

consecutive turns, leaving his partner to play out a ful combination

from his own hand.

Forcing Either player, if entitled to pass, may instead say ‘Play’. This

forces the other player to complete the hand alone, or, lacking

enough cards, to play al remaining in hand.

Continuation North having led to the first hand by North-South, and

East to the first by East-West, the turn to lead continues in rotation

East to the first by East-West, the turn to lead continues in rotation

to the left. This continues until eight hands have been played, each

player having led to two hands and stored them face up on the

table before him. Al completed hands remain visible throughout

play, as Concerto is not designed to be a memory game.

Round score Each side totals its scores for the four hands. The side

with the higher total is eligible for a bonus for ‘left-overs’ – that is,

any combination left in the opponents’ unplayed cards. The losers

now reveal their last six cards, and the winners score a bonus

equivalent to 10 times the value of the highest five-card

combination that can be made from them. For example, if the left-

overs are J-6 7-5 9 8, the winners add 50 for the straight.

If both sides tie for hand-scores, then both reveal their left-overs. In

this case the side leaving the higher combination loses, and the

other side scores 10 times its value. If both leave the same

combination, the losing side is the one whose combination contains

the highest card, or second-highest if equal, and so on. In the event

of complete equality, neither side scores for left-overs.

Game Each subsequent deal is made by the player to the left of the

previous dealer, after very thorough shuf ling, and each first lead by

the player at the new dealer’s left. Play continues until four deals

have been made and played, or until either side, after scoring for

hands and any left-overs that may accrue, has reached a score of

100 or more.

If one side finishes with 100+ points and the other does not,

the winning side adds a game bonus of 100.

If fewer than four deals were played, the winning side adds

100 for each deal unplayed – i.e. 100 for winning in three

deals, 200 in two, or 300 for winning in one (which is rare,

but possible).

Al scores are carried forward, and the eventual winners are the

Al scores are carried forward, and the eventual winners are the

first side to reach 1000 points, or any smal er target that may be

agreed.

Concerto signals The point of this game is to play or pass in such a

way as to convey information about the cards you hold. For

example, when your partner has led the first card, you are normal y

expected to pass. This enables the leader either to pass back,

showing a bad hand, or to show by the second card played whether

to aim for a straight flush or four of a kind. As leader, you can

convey fairly precise information about your hand not only by the

relationship between your first two cards, but also by the orderin

which you play them- whether high-then-low or low-then-high,

whether of the same or dif erent suits or colours, and so on.

At start of play it is advisable to go down the fol owing checklist

and signal the first one you come to that your hand al ows:

Three or more to a straight flush

Two sets of three

Four of a kind

Full house

Complete flush or straight

Two pairs

Four to a flush or straight

Three to a flush or straight

One pair

First-round or strong signals aim for a straight flush or four of a

kind. They are normal y played on the first two rounds, and

perhaps later, given a good distribution. Second-round or weak

signals aim for a straight or flush, possibly a ful house, and are

normal y played on the second two rounds, or on the first two,