Re: IPCS ... The International Playing Card Society
Posted: 16 Oct 2019, 05:34
Tarot games with bidding typically have two or more bids. The highest bid is usually "solo" where the winning bidder (known as the declarer) plays against the other three. In many games "solo" does not allow the declarer to swap cards with the stock but the Mineo game allows for it. The lower bid(s) lets the declarer have a secret partner and swap cards with the stock. How one bids is based on confidence in the strength of one's hand vis-a-vis what one thinks the hands of the others are like. Winning "solo" awards doubled points but losing can be devastating. In most games, it is quite common for everyone to pass which could lead to everyone playing for themselves. In the Mineo game, if everyone passes the player with the highest trump is treated as having done the lower bid.mikeh wrote: 15 Oct 2019, 08:18 Thanks for explaining the difference between the two towns' versions. Perhaps you can say more about "calling for a trump". Not just any player can "call", I observed - most just "passed". I thought it had to be one of the "aire", too, that was called for. Perhaps you know more. I don't fully understand.
In most trump calling games such as those in former Austria-Hungary, the declarer is forbidden from calling a partner that holds the top two or three trumps. Naturally calling the highest trump you don't have is the best course of action. In Mineo, there is no restriction and you can call any of the top five trumps but not the lower trumps. In both the A-H and Mineo games, there is also a fake partnership gambit. The declarer can call a trump he already has. He is in effect playing against the other three but his opponents are left second-guessing each other until that trump is revealed during play.