The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-16

must be able to lay down at least one fresh
card from his hand for every meld that
he makes. II lie holds four kings and
queens he can meld only 220 on them, be-
cause after NEEDING 80 kings and marrying
three Of them he has only one card to lay
down. a queen. and this must be used to
meld 90 queens, losing one plain suit mar
riage.
Ia NEEDING the trump sequence the mar
rage is shown first, and then the A j 10 are
added. Good players know these combi-
nations by heart, of course, and ackIf6wl--
edge the score, even IL the cards are all laid
down at once, because they know that the
player could make the melds separately
and correctly if called upon to do so.
The points in the cards which are taken in
IN tricks are calculated by counting up the
face value Of theindividual cards. Each ace
is worth IL. each ten 10, each king 4, each
queen 8 and each jack 2. This gives us 240
points in the pack. to which are added, 10
for the player who wins the last trick Of all,
Many players think il is too much
trouble to keep count OF these little cards
and their values, so they make a lump
job Of it by calling the aces and tens both
worth FIVE. jacks nothing. This brings
the total to 240 for the entire pack, as before,
but it is simpler.
Other players again reckon only the
aces and tens, counting them as ten each,
and pay no attention TO the kings, queens
wv JdNhbs III W NliO NcAtNp VI
the pack to 100, the 10 added for the last
trick making 10 in all.
This method is very common when the
points are reckoned at one-tenth Of their
usual value, and the score is kept on q
by ten also, OF course.
The method of bidding and playing is
very simple. After the cards are dealt,
the eldest hand, sitting on the dealers
left, who is called Vorhand, makes a bid
-. g he hsIa NhA 4 VvA On hnn
left, called Mittelhand, must bid higher
or pass. AS soon as one or the other OF
these two passes. the third player, called
Hinterhand, bids to the survivor, or passes.
Goo players restrict each man to three
bids, 30 as not to waste time over trihing
advances OF ten points at a time. In some
places unlimited bidding is allowed, but
the three bid rule is the better.
If Vorhand bids, let us say. 200, Mittel-
hand bids 22O. Vorhand says gao, and
MitteIhand goes $50. 1t is now Vorhand's
last bid, and he must not only go as high
as he can to shut out Mittelhand but high
enough to prevent Hinterhand. who has
nothing to say as yet. from %outbidding
him
Suppose Vorhand says 800. II Mittel-
hand passes, Hinterhand must get better
han 800 and take the game, or he must
pass. If Mittelhand goes over 800 it is
his last bid. and Hinterhand has to. go over
TO get the play.
The successful bidder turns the cards
in the widow face up so that the other
players may gee what they were. This
idea is apparently derived from calabra-
sella, hut in that game the discards are
made before the widow is seen. In bid
Dinochie the cards are turned up, ap-
parently for nc other reason than to allow
the other players an opportunity to curse
their luck in not bidding higher IN their
hands when they see what they would
have found.
Having snownt the widow the successful
bidder takes the cards into his hand and
lays out any three cards he pleases, 30 as
TO reduce his hand TO the same number
of cards as held by the others. The cards
laid out belong 70 the bidder, and the points
in them will count for him at the end of
the hand. II is usual to lay away . suit
which il is desirable to trump. or counting
cards. such as tens, which might be caught
by the adversarIes.
After having discarded the player an
nounces the trump suit ana makes his
melds accordingly. The moment the
players melds anything he has and all
the melds are put down on the slate, but no
meld is permanently credited to the player
unless he wine a trick during the play of
the hand. II he fails to get a single trick
his meld for that deal is wiped off the slate.
When the melds are all made the cards
are taken into the hand again. and the
successful bidder leads for the first trick.
In many places Vorhand leads, no matter
who is the bidder:
Players must follow suit il they can, but
they are not obliged to head the trick
in plain suits. In trumps, however. the
second player must play a higher trump
il he has one, and the third player must
win the trick il he can.
II a plain suit is led and a player has
hone of il he must play a trump II he has
one. He can suit himself about how high
a trump he puts on, but he must trump.
II the trick is already trumped he must
play a higher trump II he has one. just as
IL trumps had been led, unless he can follow
suit. II he cannot follow suit and cannot
overtrump he must still play a trump il
he has one. This. forcing out the trumps by
leading plain suits is one Of the fine points
of the game.
Failure TO follow suit when able to do
or to play a trump when unable to
follow suit, but holding trumps, or to win
q trump with a better trump when able to
do 80, is a revoke. The penalty for a re-
woke is that the player in error loses his
entire score for cards. but IL he win a trick
he can keep his melds. When an adversary