Barbu (card game)
Barbu, also known as Tafferan, is a trick-taking, compendium card game similar to hearts, in which four players take turns leading seven different sub-games (known as contracts) over the course of 28 deals. Barbu originated in France in the early 20th century where it was especially popular with university students, and became a prominent game among French bridge players in the 1960s. The French version of the game was originally played with a stripped deck of 32 cards ranked seven to ace in each suit. Modern forms are played with a full 52-card deck . Barbu may be descended from earlier compendium games popular with students and originating in the Austro-Hungarian Empire such as Lorum or Quodlibet. Barbu literally means 'the bearded [man]', a reference to the common depiction of the king of hearts, which is the only heart with a beard. This card is of special significance in one of the seven contracts featured in the game. Rules. Preliminaries. Four players (no partnerships) use a deck of 52 French suited cards (♠ ♣ ) ranking A (high) K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 (low). There are 28 deals  in a game and each player deals seven times in succession, the deal passing to the left. Players draw for high card to determine who will be the first dealer. The dealer is automatically also the declarer. He shuffles the cards, offers them to the right for cutting and then deals 13 cards to each player. He then names which contract all will play for that deal. The declarer names each contract once only. After having played all seven contracts, the roles of dealer and declarer pass to the left for the next seven hands, and so on, until all  have done their seven contracts. Contracts. There are five negative and two positive contracts and all are trick-taking games with the exception of domino. For trick-taking contracts, declarer leads a card to the opening trick and play passes clockwise with each player following suit if able, or otherwise playing a card in a different suit. All contracts are played at no trump, with the exception of trumps. The total scores for all seven contracts taken together add up to zero, although variations exist where this is not the case . The seven contracts are: Doubling. After declarer picks a  game but before the first trick is led, each of the other players may wager double against one or more of the other players. This operates like a side bet on the relative game score between the two players, who are said to have "business" with each other. The rules for doubling are: If there are no doubles in a negative game, the game is not played out, but the negative points are simply divided equally between the non-dealers, with the dealer scoring 0 or +1 as necessary. After the hand is played out and scores are tallied, modifications  are made for doubles as follows: Game. Once all 28 hands have been played, scores are tallied and the player with the greatest number of points wins. The scores of all players should add up to zero, though variations exist where this is not the case (see below). Ravage city is an eighth contract (resulting in a game of 32 deals) where the player who takes the most cards in any one suit scores −24. If two tie, each scores −12. If three tie, each scores −8, and all get −6 for a four-way tie. To maintain zero-sum  scoring, the values of the other contracts are modified as follows: Otherwise all is as in the seven contract version. Variations. Additional contracts. Some play ravage city at −36 instead of −24. This does not maintain the zero-sum scoring. Chinese poker (chipoker) is a ninth contract (making 36 deals) played and scored as a hand of Chinese poker. The scores are then multiplied by four, for 76 plus points. Played with ravage city and all other deals, chipoker adds 52 positive points into the game. All the negative games may be slightly adjusted to balance out the games and  make the total scores add up to 0. Salad or is an additional round played in a variant based on the negative rounds. In this game the five negative rounds are varied slightly as follows, and the salad is a sixth round. Games are multiples of six rounds, with strategy for salad being critical. This variant is strictly for fun – for example, players will gang up on the leader going into the salad, forgetting their own position. It allows other numbers of participants to play by adjusting the pack (e.g., five players can be accommodated by removing the black 2s  from the pack, leaving 50 cards). Quick rotation barbu. Some play with a new declarer and dealer each round instead of every seven rounds. This makes for more varied play, but requires precise recording of who has declared what and who has doubled whom. This is often more exciting, as you have a chance to get back into the running late in the game, even if you are the first to deal. Marketed variations. Many game manufacturers have published boxed games based on Barbu. These include Parker Brothers's 6-contract game "Coup d'Etat" (1966) using a 32-card deck  and scoreboard with tiny plastic swords, and Milton Bradley's fantasy-themed "Dragonmaster" (1981) that keeps score with colored plastic jewels,