Asserufen: A Game of Strategy and Partnerships

Hey there! Let me introduce you to Asserufen, an exciting game that will challenge your strategic thinking and teamwork skills. In Asserufen, you play in a team of four, aiming to win tricks and score points. But here’s the catch: depending on whether you’re on the declarer’s team or the opponent’s team, the point target you’re trying to reach will be different.

Before the game starts, players will enter a bidding phase to determine who the declarer will be. The declarer is a crucial player as they get to choose the trump suit and set the conditions to win. Sometimes, they might even have a partner on their team if the bid allows for it. Exciting, right?

Getting Set Up

Now, let’s talk about setting up the game. First, you’ll need a deck of 52 cards. But don’t worry, we won’t be using all of them. To make things more interesting, we modify the deck to have only 32 cards. How, you ask? Well, we simply remove all the cards numbered 6 and below. This means we keep Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, and 7s.

Once the deck is ready, we randomly choose a dealer. This person shuffles the deck, and then the player to their left cuts it. After that, each player receives a hand of 8 cards, dealt in sets of 4. Now you’re ready to embark on your Asserufen adventure!

Hey there! So, at the beginning of every new round, the person to the left of the previous dealer becomes the new dealer. Pretty straightforward, right?

Card Rankings and Values

Now, when it comes to card rankings, we’ve got two different categories: trump suits and non-trump suits. Here’s how it goes:

• In the trump suit, the highest-ranked card is the Queen of clubs, followed by the Queen of spades, Queen of hearts, Queen of diamonds, Jack of clubs, Jack of spades, Jack of hearts, Jack of diamonds, Ace, 10, King, 9, 8, and 7.
• For all other suits, the ranking is as follows: Ace is the top dog, followed by 10, King, 9, 8, and 7.

But wait, there’s more! Cards also come with their own values. When you manage to win a trick with any of these cards, you’ll earn points equal to their value. Here’s the breakdown:

• Aces are worth a solid 11 points.
• Tens will get you 10 points.
• Kings are valued at 4 points.
• Queens are worth 3 points.
• Jacks will give you 2 points.
• And any other card? Well, they won’t earn you any points.

So, let’s do the math here. In a single round, there are a total of 120 points up for grabs. It’s your job to try and gather as many of those points as you can. Good luck!

BIDDING

Alright, so once the cards are all dealt, it’s time to start the bidding. It all begins with the player sitting to the left of the dealer, and then goes around the table in a clockwise direction. Each player gets a chance to bid on becoming the declarer by proposing different contracts, which are essentially different ways to play the game for that round.

When it’s your turn, you have two options: you can either bid a higher contract than the previous player, or you can pass and wait for your next chance. Keep in mind that the bidding always starts at a certain level, like one heart, and then goes up from there.

Now, if all players pass without making any bids, things get interesting. At this point, everyone has the opportunity to jump in and call “I hang on” if they want to be the declarer for an Asserufen contract with trump hearts. This is like a special kind of contract, and it’s a bit of a gamble. If no one else makes any other bids, then another player can make a bid by calling “May I”. But here’s the catch – the original player who called “I hang on” gets to either agree and let the second player become the declarer, or they can say no and remain as the declarer themselves. Talk about some strategic decision-making!

Now, if no one ends up calling “I hang on”, well, that’s when things get reset. The next dealer shuffles all the cards again, and a new game begins. So, bidding really adds an extra layer of excitement and unpredictability to the game of cards.

Can I Make a Phone Call?

If I want to make a phone call, there are certain things I need to do. I can only make a phone call if someone says they are waiting for me to do so. I can’t make the call if I have the most important card or all of the other important cards. To make the call, I need to have at least one type of card that isn’t important.

The Different Types of Agreements

There are 5 different agreements that I can choose from. I’ll list them from the least important to the most important.

The least important agreement is called “Hearts”. This means that hearts will be the most important type of card, and the person who makes the agreement will choose one important card to be their partner for that round.

The next agreement is called “Solo”. This agreement is more important than the first one. It means that the person who makes the agreement can choose any type of card to be the most important, and they will play the game alone without a partner.

Let’s talk about bidding in a card game called Hearts Solo. There are different types of bids, each with its own rules and strategies. Let me explain them to you.

The first bid is called “Heart Solo.” In this bid, the trump suit, which is the suit that beats all other suits, will be hearts. The player who makes this bid will play alone and will try to win all 8 tricks.

The next bid is called “Solo Du.” This is the second highest bid. Like in Heart Solo, the player will play alone, but they get to choose any suit as the trump suit.

The highest bid in Hearts Solo is called “Hearts Solo Du.” It’s similar to Solo Du, but in this bid, hearts must be the trump suit. This makes it even more challenging.

Now, let’s talk about calling an ace.

In a bid called “Asserufen,” the declarer, which is the player who made the bid, gets to call an ace. However, they can only call an ace that they don’t have in their hand. Ideally, this ace should be of a suit they already hold at least one card from. But if they don’t have any aces that meet these conditions, they can still call an ace. And if the declarer has all the aces, they must call a ten instead.

When you have this card, you become the partner of the person who is declaring. This information is not shared at the beginning but will eventually be revealed during the game.

How to Play

After the bidding is finished, the player to the left of the dealer can start the game. They can play any card from their hand to begin the first trick. The other players must follow the suit if they have a card of that suit. However, if they don’t have a card of the suit, they are allowed to play any card, including trumps. Keep in mind that queens and jacks are not considered part of the regular suits. They are all considered trumps.

The trick is won by the highest trump card. If there are no trumps, then the trick is won by the highest card of the original suit that was led.

Before I even start the game and play the first card, my opponent can call kontra. If they do, it means that the score at the end will be doubled. Then, me or my partner can call rekontra to double the score again. We can keep calling to double the score until we’re satisfied.

But wait, if someone made an Asserufen bid, there are a few rules we have to follow during the game.

The first rule is that if the dealer or one of the opponents plays the suit of the declared ace as the first card of a trick, then my partner must play the called ace. They don’t have a choice.

The second rule is that if my partner is the first one to play the declared ace as the first card of a trick, they have to play it, unless they have at least 4 other cards of that suit. So, if they don’t have enough cards, they can’t use the ace.

The third rule is that if my partner doesn’t have any cards of the suit that was led in a trick, they can’t play the declared ace to that trick. They have to follow suit.

When we’re playing this card game, there are some rules that we have to follow. One of those rules is that when the player declares a specific ace, their partner can lead a lower-ranking card from that same suit if they have four cards of that suit. This way, we’ll know that the leading player is actually the partner of the declarer and that they have at least three more cards from that suit. Once this happens, the player is free from any other restrictions.

Now, let’s talk about scoring.

Once all the tricks are done, we can start scoring. If we’re playing for stakes, then each team will earn points that will determine the amount of money they win. Usually, these stakes are quite low, like 5 cents per point.

When I play this game, points are awarded for completing contracts. It’s a bit puzzling, but let me explain. You earn a point when the game ends, whether you win or lose. You also get a point for completing Asserufen, solo, and heart solo. And if you manage to have the three highest trumps, you’ll earn another point. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Your score is doubled if you complete solo du or heart solo du. And when hearts are trumps, except for the Asserufen contract, you earn an extra point. But wait, there’s more! For each kontra or rekontra called, the score is doubled again.

END OF GAME

We keep playing this game until everyone’s had enough and doesn’t want to play anymore. It’s up to each player to decide when that time comes.

We keep playing this game until everyone’s had enough and doesn’t want to play anymore. It’s up to each player to decide when that time comes.