LAUGAVATNSMANNI

Welcome to the wonderful world of Laugavatnsmanni! It’s a super fun card game that can be played with just three players. The goal of the game is pretty simple: score the most points to emerge as the champion. Once a player reaches 10 or more points, the game comes to an end.

Ready, Set, Go!

Before we dive into the exciting world of Laugavatnsmanni, let’s set up the game. First, we need to remove all the twos from a standard 52-card deck. Then, we give the remaining deck a good shuffle. Oh, and don’t forget to keep those twos aside – they play a special role as the trump suite in the game.

Once the cards are all set, it’s time to deal. The dealer will distribute 16 cards to each player in sets of four. After everyone has their hand, four cards are placed face down in the center. These special cards are known as the “Manni” and will come into play later on.

Enter the Contracts

When the dealer deals the cards, we need to choose the trump suit. The player to the left of the dealer will be the one who picks the contract. It’s important that each player chooses all of the contracts at least once during the game. We’ll have a total of 18 rounds to play.

The contracts we can choose from are Nullo, Grand, Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds. In Nullo, our goal is to avoid winning tricks, and there won’t be any trump suit for that round. In Grand, we want to win tricks, but there is still no trump suit. If we pick Spades, the objective is to win tricks, and the trump suit will be spades. For Hearts, the trump suit will be hearts, and our aim is to win tricks. In Clubs, the trump suit will be clubs, and we’ll try to win tricks. Finally, for Diamonds, the trump suit will be diamonds, and our goal will be to win tricks as well.

When a player chooses a contract, they have the option to try to steal it by making a big call. This can only happen if the original declaration is for a Grande or one of the four suits. The player can only attempt a steal once throughout the entire game. If successful, they become the new declarer and have to win 14 tricks to earn any points.

If either player decides to go for the big contract, the original declarer can keep their declaration by also making a big contract and choosing a suit or Grand that they haven’t used yet.

If I don’t want to keep the contract as described above, the other player can still make a higher contract. They can do this by becoming the declarer and declaring a contract that is higher-ranked than the one that was already declared, and that they haven’t used yet. The contracts are ranked in the following order: Grand (highest), Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clubs (lowest).

HOW TO PLAY

Once the trump suit has been determined, I have to decide whether I want to keep my hand or exchange it with the Manni. If I choose to exchange, I can get rid of some cards from my hand and draw new ones from the Manni. None of the other players are allowed to exchange their cards.

After the cards have been exchanged, it’s now my turn to lead the first trick. I should try to follow suit if I can, but if not, I can play any card I want. The player who has the highest trump card wins the hand, unless there are no trumps, in which case the highest card of the suit led wins.

The winner of each hand gets to lead the next one, and this continues until all the cards have been played.

THE END OF THE GAME AND HOW WE SCORE

We keep score throughout the game and count it at the end of each round. Everyone starts with zero points, and we earn points based on how many tricks we win or avoid in each round.

When it comes to playing card contracts like Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, and Grand, the goal is simple: try to win at least 4 tricks, except if you are the one who made the contract, then you need to win 8 tricks. The interesting thing is that you can actually score points based on how many tricks you manage to win or lose.

Let’s break it down. If you manage to win more tricks than required, you score 1 point for each trick above the required amount. On the flip side, if you fall short and win fewer tricks than expected, you will lose 1 point for each trick below the requirement. So, it’s all about strategizing and executing your moves to maximize your score.

Now, let’s talk about Nullo. In this contract, things are a bit different. Each player has a limit of 6 tricks that they can win, and the player who made the contract has a limit of 4 tricks. The scoring system in Nullo works in reverse. If you manage to win fewer tricks than your limit, you will score 1 point for each trick below the limit. On the other hand, if you exceed your limit and win more tricks than expected, you will lose a point for each trick above the limit.

When it comes to great contracts, I need to win at least 14 tricks to score points, while everyone else only needs to score 1 trick. If I win 14 or fewer tricks, the scoring is done just like I explained earlier, where each trick over the requirement gives me one point, and each trick under takes away one point. But if I win 15 tricks, I get 4 points, and everyone else loses 2 points. And if I somehow manage to win all 16 tricks, I get a whopping 8 points, and everyone else loses 4 points.

So, the game keeps going until one or more players reach 10 points. And the player who has the most points at that time wins the game. It’s as simple as that!