Asszorti: A Trick-Taking Card Game for 3 Players

Welcome to Asszorti, a thrilling card game designed for three players. In this game, your objective is to bid on contracts and win tricks to earn points and ultimately emerge victorious. But beware, as you face opposition from the other two players, who will do everything in their power to foil your plans and reap rewards or penalties for their efforts.

Getting Set Up

To get started, you’ll need a standard deck of 52 cards. However, before you can begin playing Asszorti, some modifications are necessary. You’ll remove all the cards that are 5 or lower, leaving behind Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, 7s, and 6s.

I’m a dealer chosen randomly to shuffle the deck and pass it to the player on my right to cut. Then, each player will receive 11 cards. Initially, three cards will be dealt to each player, followed by three cards placed face down in the center of the table, forming the talon. The remaining cards will be distributed to the players in batches of two until everyone has a complete hand.

All playing and dealing will happen in a clockwise direction, starting with the dealer. In each new round, the role of the dealer will pass to the player on the left.

Now, let’s talk about the card rankings. The rankings are the same for all suits and follow the traditional order. Starting from the highest, we have the Ace, followed by the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 as the lowest-ranked card.

Moving on to the bidding process.

Once the cards have been dealt in a game, it’s time to start the bidding. The bidding process begins with the player sitting to the left of the dealer and moves in a clockwise direction. In this game, every player bids on winning 6 tricks, but what they’re really after is how many cards they can draw and exchange from the talon. The options for drawing cards are 3, 2, 1, or none at all (which is known as “hand”).

The bidding always starts at 3 and then goes down to 2, 1, and finally hand. It’s important to note that players cannot skip bids and must follow this specific order when outbidding each other. When it’s their turn, players have two choices: they can either bid higher than the previous player or they can hold their current bid. If a player decides to pass, they are out of the bidding round. Once two players have passed, the remaining player wins the bid.

In a bidding round, a player can either bid higher or choose to hold. If another player has bid higher than them, they must hold rather than bid even higher. For example, if Player A bids 3, Player B bids 2, and then Player C bids 1, Player A can either hold their bid or pass. It’s crucial to wait for a full round of bidding to pass before players can hold. Once a player holds, the next player in line must either bid or pass. For instance, because Player A held, Player B must then either bid hand or pass. If Player B decides to pass, it’s up to Player C to either pass or bid hand.

So, here’s the deal. When it comes to this card game, there are a few key things you need to know to get in on the action.

It all starts when two players pass, and then it’s your time to shine. You become the declarer, and you can make a contract that’s equal to or even higher than the final bid. Talk about power!

Now, things can get a little tricky. If the first two players pass, no worries — you automatically become the declarer. You’re in charge now, so go ahead and call a contract. Show ’em what you got!

The Talon

After you’ve made your bid and become the declarer, it’s time to get down to business. First, you’ll reach into the talon and grab the number of cards specified in your contract. And here’s the fun part – you can switch out as many cards as you want from your hand. Once you’re done, any remaining cards go back into the talon, face-down.

Trumps and Upping the Scores

Once I have exchanged the talon, I need to choose a trump suit. I can pick any suit or decide to play without trumps. Another option is to call arrivazs. This will increase my potential score, but I must win the final three tricks to achieve this goal. It’s important to note that arrivazs are scored separately from the game, so they have their own multiplier.

Now, I can start calling to multiply scores. If the opponent has called arrivazs, I can call kontra, which will double the score for the winner. This applies to the game, arrivazs, or both.

So here’s how it works. Once someone calls out a kontra, the talon and the cards that were exchanged are revealed. Now, if nobody has called kontra yet, the other player has a chance to do so. It’s a way to amp up the intensity of the game. Then, it’s the declarer’s turn. They can call rekontra on any or all of the kontras that have been called. This is where things really start to heat up because calling rekontra will double the score again, multiplying it by 4. But wait, there’s more! The other player, the opponent, now has an opportunity to call szubkontra. If they do, the score is doubled once again, this time multiplying it by 8. Are you still with me? Good, because we’re not done yet. The dealer also has a say in all of this. They can respond with hirskontra, which will multiply the score by 16. And just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier, either opponent can call mordkontra, and this will multiply the score by a whopping 32! Talk about a game-changer! It’s like a rollercoaster of emotions, am I right? It’s all about those strategic calls that can make all the difference in the end. So, remember to keep your wits about you and seize those opportunities when they come your way. Happy playing!

Let’s say I’m Player A. There are two other players on the opposite team, Player B and Player C. When I declare the trump suit, B and C can make special calls. B decides to call Kontra on both the game and Arrivazs. We reveal the talon and the cards we exchanged, so everyone knows which cards are out of play. I have the option to call rekontra on both the game and Arrivazs, and I choose to do so. C decides to call szubkontra on the game but not on Arrivazs. I have one more chance to call hirskontra on the game, but I decide not to. This means the final score for Arrivazs will be multiplied by 4, and the final score for the game will be multiplied by 8.

Now, let’s talk about the gameplay.

When bidding is finished, it’s your turn to play. You can choose any card from your hand to start the game. Everyone else must play a card of the same suit if they have one. If they don’t, they can play any card, including trump cards.

The player who has the highest trump card wins the trick. If there are no trump cards played, then the highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick. After the first trick, the talon is turned face down if necessary. The person who won the trick does this.

If I want to speed up the game, I can say that I will win all the remaining tricks or give up all the remaining tricks. If I claim to win, I have to show everyone my hand. If any of my opponents disagree, we have to finish playing with my hand revealed. If I lose a trick after making this claim, all the remaining tricks go to my opponents. If they already won some tricks, those tricks will also go to them. This might affect the scoring later on.

SCORING

The team that wins 6 or more tricks wins the round and gets points based on the contract and whether trumps were called.

If trumps were declared, a contract of three is worth 2 points, and a contract of two is worth 4 points. A contract of one gets 6 points and a contract of hand gets 8 points.

If nobody calls trumps, you get 4, 8, 12, or 16 points, depending on how many tricks you win.

If you win more than 6 tricks, each additional trick is worth half of the game score. So if the game is worth 4 points, each extra trick is worth 2 points.

After that, the kontra amount multiplies the points you earned.

But wait, there’s more!

Okay, here’s the deal. Most of the time, when you’re playing this card game, the points you score are pretty straightforward. But there’s a little twist when it comes to certain situations. Let me explain.

Usually, if you win the 6 tricks needed to win the game, you get the points assigned to that game. Simple enough, right? But there’s an exception. If you win those 6 tricks, but one of your opponents manages to win all 5 of the remaining tricks, things get a little tricky.

In this case, the points you would normally get for winning the game are actually subtracted from the total amount of points you’ve already won. Let’s say the game is worth 4 points, just to give an example. If you called “kontra” during the game, it would be worth double, so 8 points. But if the exception applies, you would subtract 4 points from that total, leaving you with 4 game points. Make sense so far?

Let’s Talk About Arrivazs

Now, let’s move on to “arrivazs.” This is a separate scoring system from the game points. If you called an arrivazs and managed to complete it, you score some extra points. It’s like a bonus round!

If the game was played with a trump suit, and you successfully completed the arrivazs, you get 8 points. Not bad, right? But if the game was played without a trump suit, the stakes are even higher. In that case, you actually get 16 points for completing the arrivazs. That’s a nice boost to your score!

But what if you tried to call an arrivazs and it didn’t work out? Well, in that case, your opponents get those extra points instead. So be careful and choose wisely!

Oh, and there’s one last thing. If you manage to win the last three tricks without using any trumps, you actually double the points you get for the arrivazs. So instead of 8 points, you would score a whopping 16 points. It’s like hitting the jackpot!

In the game of Kontras, all the kontras are multiplied together to determine the final arrivazs score.

Losing Scores

When the declarer wins 16 points, both opponents subtract 16 points from their total score. The declarer also deducts points equal to the opponents’ total score. So, if the opponents win 16 points, the declarer loses 32 points.

The game can also be played as a bidding game. In this case, the stakes are paid out as described above, with the declarer either receiving or paying both opponents.

END OF GAME

The game continues until players decide they no longer want to play or until a player reaches a predetermined score.