Ligurian:
# Mariagio: zeugo ligure pe 2 zugoei

O mariagio – zeugo da tradiçion ligure basou in sce l’antigo zeugo tedesco _mariage_ – a l’é unna variante ciù strategica da biscambiggia inta doî. Spantegou in antigo pe tutta a Liguria, a-a giornâ d’ancheu o l’é zugou pe-a ciù parte inta Liguria de levante.

# Contegnui

Noçioin de base

Masso

Moen

Distribuçion

Execuçion

Preise

Fâ preisa

Pescâ da-o muggio

Urtime preise

Maiezzi

Scangio do trionfo

Ponti

# Noçioin de base

## Masso

Pe zugâ s’addeuvia un masso zeneise da 40 carte, fæto de 1 (ò asso), 2, …, 7, sbiro (S), dònna (D), òmmo (Ò) inte quattro merse de coppe ♥, dinæ ♦, scioî ♣ e spoæ ♠.

E varsciue de carte, da-a ciù erta a-a ciù bassa, en:[^1]

## Moen

Unna partia à mariagio a l’é fæta de un numero de _moen_, che en e fase de zeugo tra unna distribuçion e l’atra. Se zeuga fin à quande un di zugoei o l’arriva a-o limite de ponti stabilio, ch’o l’é pe-o sòlito de 200 ponti.

## Distribuçion

Pe-a primma man, o massê o l’é çernuo à caxo. Dapeu, pe-e moen apreuvo, i zugoei s’alternan into ròllo. O massê o remescia e carte e o ê pòrze à l’avversäio ch’o ê coppa. Dapeu o massê o dà sette carte pe zugou, uña pe vòtta.[^2] Terminou sta distribuçion, o massê o mette unna carta descoverta in sciâ töa, e o ne creuve meitæ con mettighe o resto do masso (dito _muggio_) de d’ato, coverto.

A mersa da carta descoverta a l’é dita _mersa de trionfo_. E carte de sta mersa, dite _trionfi_, guägnan in sce tutte e atre carte pe tutta a man.

# Execuçion

Pe guägnâ unna man un zugou o l’à da fâ ciù tanti ponti che l’avversäio. I ponti de ciaschedun zugou en a somma de varsciue de carte ch’o l’à cattuou, segondo a töa de d’ato.

## Preise

E moen do zeugo en fæte de unna serie de preise. Unna preisa a l’é a fase de zeugo inta quæ ciaschedun zugou o calla unna carta. Inte ògni preisa, o zugou ch’o zeuga pe-o primmo, dito zugou in attacco , o calla unna carta (con mettila descoverta into mezo da töa) e l’avversäio o replica con callâne unn’atra. O zugou in attacco o l’é libero de callâ chesesegge carta, e l’avversäio ascì.

A-o comenso da man, pe-a primma preisa, o l’é in attacco l’avversäio do massê. Dapeu, o zugou ch’o l’à guägno a preisa o calla pe-o primmo inta preisa apreuvo, e o zeugo o va avanti à sta mainea fin à quande l’é finio tutte e carte.

## Fâ preisa

O fa preisa, ò sæ o cattua e doe carte in sciâ töa, o zugou ch’o l’à callou a carta da mersa de trionfo a ciù erta. Se no l’é stæto callou di trionfi, o fa preisa o zugou ch’o l’à callou a carta a ciù erta da mersa d’attacco. O zugou ch’o fa preisa o cattua e doe carte in sciâ töa e o ê poñe coverte into seu muggetto de preise da arente à lê.

## Pescâ da-o muggio

Dapeu, se l’arresta ancon de carte into muggio, ciaschedun zugou, à partî da quello ch’o l’à guägno a preisa, o piggia unna carta da-o muggio e o l’azzonze a-a seu man. A carta giâ sotta a-o muggio a l’é consciderâ comme parte do muggio, e a saià l’urtima carta à ëse pescâ.

## Urtime preise

O zeugo o va avanti à sta mainea (attaccâ-replicâ-cattuâ-pescâ) fin à quande o muggio o finisce, compreisa a carta giâ de sotta. À sto ponto, i zugoei zeugan ancon pe sette preise co-e carte che gh’arresta inte moen. Inte ste urtime moen, o zugou in attacco o l’é delongo libero de zugâ chesesegge carta de quelle inte seu moen, ma e regole pe replicâ cangian à sta mainea:

Se un zugou o l’à de carte da mersa d’attacco, aloa o l’à da callâne uña; in azzonta, se poscibile, a carta callâ a l’à da ëse ciù erta de quella d’attacco.

Se un zugou o no l’à de carte da mersa d’attacco, o l’à da callâ un trionfo; s’o no l’à manco di trionfi, aloa o peu callâ unna carta chesesegge.

O zugou ch’o fâ l’urtima de ste sette preise o guägna 20 ponti. Stæta fæta l’urtima preisa, a man a finisce e se conta i ponti.

## Maiezzi

Quande un zugou o l’é in attacco, s’o l’à inte moen unna cobbia òmmo-dònna da mæxima mersa (dita maiezzo), o peu deciarâla con mostrâla à l’avversäio avanti de callâ a seu carta. Un maiezzo o va 20 ponti, ò 40 ponti s’o l’é da mersa de trionfo.

Segondo unna variante, se peu ascì guägnâ i ponti de un maiezzo cattuou:[^3] se un zugou o cattua a dònna con l’òmmo da mæxima mersa, o guägna 20 ponti, ò 40 ponti s’en da mersa de trionfo.

## Scangio do trionfo

Se un zugou o l’à inte moen o doî de trionfo, quande o l’é in attacco o peu scangiâlo co-o trionfo giou sotta a-o muggio.

# Ponti

I ponti de un zugou en dæti da-a somma de carte into seu muggetto de preise (segondo e varsciue dæte inta töa de d’ato), ciù i eventuali ponti guägnæ pe-i maiezzi e pe l’urtima preisa.

# Nòtte

[^1]: Tanto o mariagio comme a biscambiggia e a briscola vëgnan da unna famiggia de zeughi franseixi estinti ch’a l’aiva tra i seu membri a _brisque_, a _brusquembille_ e o _briscan_. Inte sti zeughi, a segonda carta ciù fòrte dòppo l’asso o l’ea o dexe, o ciù erto di numeri into masso franseise. Quande sti zeughi en arrivæ inta penisoa italiaña, donde s’addeuviava di massi de 40 carte sensa o dexe, inte de zöne comme a Liguria e o Basso Piemonte e gente an adattou o zeugo con deuviâ o sette (a carta numerica a ciù erta di massi de 40 carte) incangio do dexe. Inte de atre zöne – squæxi tutto o resto da penisoa italiaña – fòscia pe infruensa do treisette l’é stæto incangio addeuviou o trei. A-a giornâ d’ancheu, in Liguria l’andio de addeuviâ o sette comme comme segonda carta ciù fòrte o l’é apreuvo à scentâ, e squæxi tutti addeuvian o trei.

[^2]: Gh’é ascì di zugoei che zeugan con çinque carte inte moen. A verscion à sette carte a l’é, mæ pai, ciù interessante.

[^3]: Sta regola a no l’é addeuviâ da tutti. Gh’é ben ben de zugoei che contan solo che i maiezzi inte moen, e no quelli cattuæ.

English translation:
# Mariagio: a Ligurian card game for 2 players

Mariagio – a traditional Ligurian game based on the ancient German game _mariage_ – is a more strategic variant of two-handed biscambiggia . Once widespread throughout Liguria, nowadays it is mainly played in the eastern part of the region.

# Contents

Basics

Deck

Hands

Deal

Gameplay

Prese

Far presa

Pescare dal pozzo

Ultime prese

Marriages

Exchanging the trump

Score

# Basics

## Deck

A 40-card Genoese deck is used to play, consisting of 1 (or ace), 2, …, 7, jack (J), queen (Q), king (K) in the four suits of hearts ♥, diamonds ♦, clubs ♣ and spades ♠.

The card values, from highest to lowest, are:[^1]

## Hands

A game of mariagio consists of a number of _hands_, which are the stages of play between one deal and the next. The game is played until one of the players reaches the set point limit, which is usually 200 points.

## Deal

For the first hand, the dealer is chosen at random. For subsequent hands, the players alternate as the dealer. The dealer shuffles the cards and hands them to the opponent to cut them. Then the dealer deals seven cards per player, one at a time.[^2] Once the deal is over, the dealer places a card face up on the table, and covers half of it by placing the rest of the deck (called the _talon_) on top of it, face down.

The suit of the half-exposed card is called the _trump suit_. The cards of this suit, called _trumps_, beat the other cards for the entire hand.

# Gameplay

To win a hand a player must score more points than the opponent. A player’s score is given by the sum of the values of the cards they have captured, according to the table above.

## Tricks

The hands of the game are made up of a number of tricks, which involve one player playing ( leading) a card face up to the middle of the table and the opponent responding with another card. Players are free to lead any card they wish, and opponents are similarly free to respond with whichever card.

At the start of a hand, the dealer’s opponent leads to the first trick. The winner of this trick then leads to the next trick, and the game continues in this way until all the cards are used up.

## Winning a trick

The winner of the trick, i.e. the player who gets to capture the two cards on the table, is the player who played the highest card in the trump suit. If no trumps were played, the winner is the player who played the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner of the trick captures the two cards on the table and places them face down in their capture pile .

## Drawing from the talon

Then, if there are still cards left in the talon, each player, starting with the one who won the trick, takes a card from the talon and adds it to their hand. The half-exposed trump is considered to be part of the talon, and will be the last card to be drawn.

## Last tricks

The game proceeds in this manner (attack-reply-capture-draw) until the talon is exhausted, including the half-exposed card. At this point, the players play for seven more tricks with the cards remaining in their hands. In these last tricks, the player on lead is still free to play any card they wish, but the rules for responding change in the following way:

If a player has cards of the suit that was led, then they must play one of them; additionally, if possible, the card they play must be higher than the card that was led.

If a player has no cards of the suit that was led, they must play a trump; if they don’t have trumps either, they may play any card.

The player who wins the last trick gets an extra 20 points. After the last trick is played, the hand ends and the score is tallied.

## Marriages

When a player is on lead, if they hold a king-queen pair of the same suit (known as marriage), they can announce it before playing their card by showing it to their opponent. A marriage is worth 20 points, or 40 if it’s in the trump suit.

One variant also allows to score for captured marriages:[^3] if a player captures a queen with the king of the same suit, they get 20 points, or 40 points if the marriage is in the trump suit.

## Exchanging the trump

If a player holds the two of trumps, when they are on lead they may exchange it with the half-exposed trump that’s under the talon.

# Score

A player’s score is given by the sum of the cards in their capture pile (according to the values in the table above) plus any additional points from marriages and the last trick bonus.

# Footnotes

[^1]: Mariagio, biscambiggia and briscola descend from an extinct French game family that counted among its members _brisque, _brusquembille_ and _briscan_. In these games, the second highest card after the ace was the ten, the highest of the pip cards in the French deck. When these games reached the Italian peninsula, where 40-card decks without the ten were in use, in some areas such as Liguria and Lower Piedmont the games were adapted by using the seven (the highest number card in 40-card decks) instead of the ten. In other areas – almost all the rest of the Italian peninsula – perhaps due to the influence of tressette the three was used instead. Nowadays, in Liguria the custom of using sevens as the second highest card is disappearing, and almost everyone uses threes.

[^2]: Some also play with five cards in the hand. I find the seven-card version to be more interesting.

[^3]: This rule isn’t widespread. Many players only count the hand marriages, and not the captured ones.