Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (34 page)

Once cards have been melded, they are not dead or out of play. Instead, they remain a part of your active hand and may be played again as part of a different meld. In the declaration phase, each player always has eight cards in hand, and it doesn’t matter if some of these cards are literally in your hand or are face up on the table as part of a scoring meld.

FOR EXAMPLE
Here’s the basic outline of a complete turn (assuming hearts are trump). Player one leads 7 of diamonds and player two wins the trick with J of diamonds. Player two melds a Royal Marriage by placing Q of hearts and K of hearts on the table, face up, and then takes one card from the stock. Player one takes a card from the stock. Player two then leads the next trick.

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MELDING
Bezique has a few melding quirks. The first oddity is the 7 of trump. If the card indicating trumps happens to be a 7, score the dealer 10 points immediately. If you are holding the 7 of trump, you may exchange it for the face-up trump card next to the stock (and don’t forget to score yourself 10 points). This counts as a declaration and, as a result, may happen only after you win a trick. The 7 of trump may be swapped this way only once.

In Bezique, it is also possible to use the same card more than once in a meld. For example, after winning a trick, you meld the queen and king of trump (Royal Marriage) for 40 points. Later in the game, you add 10, jack, and ace of trump to the existing queen and king on the table, thereby melding a Royal Sequence for 250 additional points.

Just remember that a card may be used only once to declare a different meld from the one already declared. In the example above, you may not use a card from your Royal Marriage to meld a second Royal Marriage unless you already have played a card from the Royal Marriage. In other words, with a marriage of Q of hearts-K of hearts on the table, you may not meld a subsequent Q of hearts for a second marriage. However, if you play the Q of hearts on the table as part of a trick, you may create a marriage if you meld a subsequent Q of hearts with the K of hearts already on the table.

Because you may score only one meld per turn, it’s also possible that the same card fits more than one of your existing melds. For example, assume that spades are trump and that you already have Q of spades and K of spades on the table (40 points for the Royal Marriage). Now you declare four jacks (40 points) and announce “Bezique to come.” This entitles you to score the Bezique (J of diamonds-Q of spades) the next time you win a trick.

PLAY-OFF PHASE
Once the stock is exhausted, the winner of the last trick takes the final stock card, and the loser takes the exposed trump card. Both players pick up all their cards (eight each). The goal of the play-off phase is simple: capture brisques and win the final trick. No further declarations (melds) are allowed.

The player who wins the last trick in the declaration phase leads the first trick. And from this point forward, you must follow suit if possible. If you cannot, you must play a trump. Only as a last resort may you play from your other suits.

FOR EXAMPLE
Assume spades are trump. Player one leads 8 of clubs. Player two must follow with a club, if possible, or a trump spade. If player two has neither clubs nor spades, she may play a diamond or heart. Either way, the trick is won by the highest card in the suit that led, or the highest trump.

The player who wins the final trick scores all of his brisques first; if this puts you over 1,000 points, then you win the game immediately. Otherwise, the cards are shuffled and dealt, a new trump is exposed, and the game continues until either player achieves 1,000 points.

HOW TO WIN
If you must choose between melding a marriage or a Bezique, always choose the Bezique so you can possibly reuse Q of spades or J of diamonds in a future meld. And pay attention to sequences, because even a basic sequence is still worth 150 points.

If you are holding the 7 of trump, play a trick-winning card immediately if the exposed trump card is higher than 9. In the play-off phase, start by leading aces and 10s, if you are certain (based on what you saw of your opponent’s face-up melded cards) that your opponent is holding lower cards in those suits. Then follow up with your trump (assuming you are long in trump), in order to draw out your opponent’s trump cards and any brisques.

Finally, if your opponent is blessed with a handful of aces (especially the ace of trump), play your 10s to over-trump suits for which you hold no other cards. In Bezique, there is nothing worse than losing your 10 to an opponent’s ace in the final trick, thereby losing 20 points (10 for the brisque, 10 for the last trick) and possibly the game!

VARIATION 1: THREE-HAND BEZIQUE

This game is specifically for three players, and follows the basic rules of Two-Hand Bezique. However, instead of two decks, Three-Hand Bezique uses three decks (removing all cards ranking 2 through 6) for a total of ninety-six cards in play.

Games typically last to 3,000 points. Three-Hand Bezique uses the standard scoring system; however, with the addition of more cards, it is now possible to score a “Triple Bezique,” which is a third J of diamonds-Q of spades set played on an existing set of two J of diamonds-Q of spades melds. This very rare meld is worth 1,500 points.

VARIATION 2: RUBICON BEZIQUE

Two-Hand is the simplest version of Bezique. Yet despite that advantage, the more complex Rubicon variation is the most commonly played, even today. Rubicon Bezique is a superb two-player game, requiring equal measures of luck, skill, and concentration. If you and your partner are starting to be bored by Cribbage, invest a little time learning Rubicon Bezique.

Add spice to your game of Rubicon Bezique with a small wager. Assign points a value (one-tenth of a penny per point is common), and agree to settle all accounts at the end of a predetermined time, say, after one player reaches 10,000 points or after a 90-minute clock has run out.

DEALING
Start with four packs of cards, removing all cards ranking 2 through 6, for a total of 128 cards in play. There is only one deal in Rubicon Bezique; simply deal each player nine cards, face down and one at a time. The first stock card is not exposed, and the 7 of trump has no additional value.

DECLARING TRUMP
Unlike in Two-Hand Bezique, the trump suit is established only when a marriage or sequence is melded; the suit of the first meld establishes trump. Until then, the game is played without a trump suit.

SCORING
The winner of a hand in Rubicon is the player with the highest score at the end of a single hand (there is no second deal). That player receives 500 points, plus the difference between the two players’ scores. For example, if you end the game with 1,150 points and your opponent ends with 1,100 points, you win the game with a final score of 500 points plus 50 points (your score minus your opponent’s score), for a total of 550 points.

One exception to this scoring is called
rubicon
. The losing player is said to be “rubiconed” when their final score is less than 1,000 points. In this case, the winning player receives 1,000 points (rather than 500 points) plus the
sum
(rather than the difference) of the two scores.

Tricks (plus any brisques) won during the declaration phase are set aside and have no scoring value whatsoever. The final scoring anomaly is that brisques are not counted and have no scoring value, unless there is a tie or in order to avoid a possible rubicon. In these cases, both players count the brisques only from the play-off phase.

DECLARATION PHASE
Melds are valued as in Two-Hand Bezique, with the following exceptions. First is a meld called
Carte Blanche
. If you are dealt only number cards and no face cards, you may declare Carte Blanche immediately without winning a trick, by exposing all eight of your cards and scoring yourself 50 points. On the next round, score yourself another 50 points if you draw a non-face card, and keep scoring yourself 50 points until you finally draw a face card.

Also note that melded cards may be reused (as often as possible!) to form further melds. For example, if you have already declared a meld of four queens, on the next trick you win, it is OK to use a fifth queen to declare a second “Four Queens” meld. Two marriages of the same suit may also be reused to form two additional marriages.

PLAY-OFF PHASE
Play is the same as for Two-Hand Bezique, except that winning the last trick counts as 50 points (rather than 10 points).

VARIATION 3: SIX-PACK BEZIQUE

Six-Pack Bezique is played according to the rules of Rubicon Bezique. What’s the main difference? Each player is dealt twelve cards, which places an emphasis on aggressive melding and re-melding of your cards.

Six-Pack Bezique is also more strategic, in that points are awarded exclusively for melds (brisques are neither counted nor scored). With so many combinations of cards to meld, it’s best to devise a plan early for how to extract the maximum point value from your hand.

Tip: Move as quickly as possible to declare the trump suit. Even if you sacrifice a future meld or establish trump in a slightly weaker suit, it’s always better for you to take that initiative rather than letting your opponent establish trump.

Winston Churchill’s preferred variation is Six-Pack Bezique, better known in traditional circles as Chinese Bezique.

DEALING
Start with six packs of cards, removing all cards ranking 2 through 6, for a total of 192 cards in play. As with Rubicon Bezique, there is only one deal; each player receives twelve cards, in batches of three.

DECLARING TRUMP
The trump suit is determined as in Rubicon Bezique (the suit of the first marriage or sequence determines trump). However, unlike in Rubicon Bezique, the same suit may not be trump on two successive deals (assuming you’re playing a multihand game). So if the first sequence or marriage in a subsequent deal would establish the same suit, simply score the standard points for the declaration, and wait for the next marriage or sequence to establish trump.

SCORING
The winner of a hand receives 1,000 points. A Rubicon is worth 3,000 points. Carte Blanche is worth 250 points. The last trick is worth 250 points. Brisques are never counted.

The composition of Beziques vary according to which suit is trump: diamonds (Q of diamonds, J of spades), clubs (Q of clubs, J of hearts), hearts (Q of hearts, J of clubs), spades (Q of spades, J of diamonds).