MOLOTOW JASS

Hey there! Welcome to Molotow Jass, a super cool card game you can play with 3 of your friends. The objective is simple: try to score as many points as possible over the course of 12 rounds.

During the game, you’ll be vying to collect sticks, which are like game points, while making sure to avoid those sneaky potatoes that come with penalties. Let the friendly competition begin!

SETUP

To start things off, we need to determine who the first dealer will be. You can do this by picking someone at random, and then the dealer role will move to the right for each new deal. The dealer’s job is to shuffle the deck and deal out the cards to everyone, going counterclockwise. Each player will receive a hand of 9 cards, given out in batches of three cards each.

Card Ranking and Point Values

Okay, let’s talk about the cards and how they’re ranked. At the top of the hierarchy, we have the Ace, which is the most valuable card. Following the Ace, we have the King, Ober, Under, Banner, 9, 8, and 7, with the 6 being the lowest-ranked card. Each of these cards also comes with its own point value. So, in terms of points, the Ace is worth 11, the King is worth 4, the Ober is worth 3, the Under is worth 2, and finally, the Banner is worth 10. The remaining cards, including the 9, 8, and 7, don’t have any point value attached to them.

When it comes to playing cards, the trump ranking is a tricky concept to understand. But don’t worry, I’m here to break it down for you. Let’s dive in!

The trump ranking is a hierarchy of card values, with the highest card being the Under, followed by 9, Ace, King, Ober, Banner, and so on. At the bottom of the ranking, we have 8, 7, and 6 as the lowest cards.

Each card has a corresponding point value. The Under holds the highest value, with 20 points. Next, we have 9 with 14 points, followed by Ace with 11 points, King with 4 points, Ober with 3 points, and Banner with 10 points. The bottom three cards, 8, 7, and 6, are worth 0 points each.

Now, here’s an interesting twist. If no trumps are established during the game, all 8s suddenly become valuable. Each 8 card is now worth 8 points! It’s like a secret power they hold.

But wait, there’s more! The player who wins the last trick is rewarded with 5 bonus points. So, even if you didn’t have the highest card value, you still have a chance to earn some extra points at the end.

GAMEPLAY

When we start the game, it’s my turn first. I can choose any card from my hand to play. Players after me have to play a card of the same suit if they have one. If they don’t have a card of the same suit, they can play any card they want. The first card that is played out of suit determines which suit is the trump suit for the rest of the game.

The player who plays the highest trump card, if there is one, wins the trick. If there is no trump card played, the player who plays the highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick. The winner of the trick adds it to their score pile and gets to start the next trick.

So, here’s the deal: once the trumps are set, we have a choice to make. Do we play it safe and follow suit, or do we go all-in and play a trump card? If the suit led is not a trump and someone decides to play a trump instead of following suit, the next player must follow suit or play an even higher trump. And if neither is possible, they have to play a lower-ranking trump. Kind of tricky, huh? But here’s the cool part: you get to decide when to play the under of trumps, and nobody can force your hand.

Now, Let’s Talk About Scoring

Once we’ve played all our tricks and come out victorious, it’s time for scoring.

Scoring is simple. We use sticks and potatoes, or lines and circles, to keep track of the score. Each stick represents a positive game point, while each potato represents a negative one.

If all four of us score less than 100 points, and there is one player with the highest score and another player with the lowest score, then this is what happens: The player with the highest score and the player with the lowest score each earn 1 stick. As for the two players in the middle, regardless of whether their scores are the same or different, they each earn 1 potato.

If all four of us have less than 100 points but there is a tie for the highest score or the lowest score, things play out differently. If there is a tie for the highest scores, the players who are tied don’t earn anything. The player with the lowest score gets a stick, and the remaining player earns a potato. On the other hand, if there is a tie for the lowest score, the player who had the highest score gets a stick, the players who are tied don’t earn anything, and the remaining player earns a potato.

If there’s a 3-way tie, someone who isn’t tied will get a stick. Everyone else draws a card and compares them. The person with the highest-ranked card gets a potato.

If a player scores between 100 and 156 points, they get 3 potatoes. Everyone else gets 3 sticks.

If a player scores exactly 157 points, they get 3 sticks. Everyone else gets 3 potatoes.

Each potato cancels out a stick for scoring purposes.

END OF THE GAME

The game ends after the 12th round is scored. The player with the most sticks wins.

The game ends after the 12th round is scored. The player with the most sticks wins.