And now a challenging three hander - skill plays its role but figuring out if you should bid to be Declarer…well, that can be a matter of luck! Still, this one is good fun and a viable alternative for ottecento addicts short one player. Remember that you will need to read The Tarocchino first.


Deal

First Dealer is chosen at random, usually by cutting the cards. Deal and play are, as usual, counter-clockwise, with deal passing to the right after each hand.

Each player receives three packets of 6 cards, with the remaining 8 cards forming a stock. Michael Dummett mentions an alternative version in which players are dealt 19 cards with 5 cards making the stock. This would remove a little of the chance, though just a little, but try them both and use the version that suits you best.


Bidding

Beginning with Eldest each player may call “I play” or “Solo”. If Eldest calls “I play” and the others pass, then Eldest is Declarer and takes the stock into his/her hand. Declarer must then discard 8 cards that may not include Honours or Kings. These will count to Declarer’s trick pile unless all the tricks are lost, then they go to the defenders.

If the Eldest passes, and another player calls “I play” without being overbid, then play is the same except that the stock must be shown to all players before being taken.

If a player calls “Solo”, they cannot be overbid and so becomes Declarer. The stock goes unseen and counts to the tricks of the player(s) who win the last trick of the hand.


Declarations

Individual players may now score points for their side by making declarations for any cricce or sequences in their hand (they may not include cards held by their partners).

There is no obligation to make any declarations and it is legal to declare for less than you can but you only score what you declare. To make the declaration, the cards required cards must be laid face up for all to see. The cards are then gathered up when Declarer plays to the first trick.


Play

Declarer leads to the first trick, playing any card in his/her hand to the middle of the table. Each player in turn must follow suit. If a player cannot follow suit, then they must play a trump. If they cannot play a trump, then they can play any card, though it will not win. If no trumps have been played, then the highest card of the suit led wins the trick, otherwise, the highest trump played wins the trick. The player that wins the trick, adds the cards to his/her trick pile.

The Fool may be played to any trick as an excuse for not playing a card you are otherwise obliged to play, though it beats nothing. If the Fool is led to a trick, then the next player’s card determines the suit to be followed. At the end of a trick to which the Fool has been played, the player takes the Fool back and adds it to his/her own trick pile and give the opponents an empty card from his/her trick pile in exchange. However, if the side that played the Fool loses every trick, then they must give the card to their opponents at the end of the hand.


Final Scores

Before anything else, both sides calculate their points in tricks, then, they move on to calculating their points from cricche and sequences.

Rather than both sides doing this, which could take a while, just one side will separate out their trumps, Honours, courts, and aces. They then lay out these cards in columns, first a column for trumps, and then columns for each of the suits. By leaving gaps where they are missing cards players can see any cricche or sequences immediately and infer from the gaps, those that will be scored by their opponents.

If Declarer has more points than the defenders, then the game is won. To calculate the game points won, Declarer’s score is rounded to a multiple of 50 - if it falls short of the nearest multiple by four points or less, then the points are rounded up, otherwise they are rounded down. Divide this result by 50 and you have your game points won against each of the defenders. If the game is lost then the defenders make the same calculation on their combined score and win the result between them from Declarer.

A slam, where all the tricks are won, is scored at fixed 40 points to whichever side wins it.