Mariáš

How to play

In short

• Three players, 32 Central European cards. One declares, the other two defend together.
• The declarer announces a contract: Game (more points than the defenders), Seven (win the last trick with the Seven of trumps), Hundred (at least 100 points), Betl (take no trick at all) or Durch (take every trick).
• Each player plays one card to a trick. You must follow suit and beat the trick if you can. If you cannot follow suit, you must play a trump. The highest trump wins the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led.
• Cards rank from lowest: VII, VIII, IX, Unter, Ober, King, X, Ace. The Ten is just below the Ace, so it beats the King.
• Aces and Tens are worth 10 points, the last trick 10, and a marriage (King and Ober of one suit) 20, or 40 in trumps.

Cards

The suits are Hearts, Leaves, Acorns and Bells. With trumps the cards rank from lowest: VII, VIII, IX, Unter, Ober, King, X, Ace, so the Ten is just below the Ace. Betl and Durch have no trumps and the Ten sits between the Nine and the Unter. The corner shows VII to X or a letter: J (Unter), Q (Ober), K (King) and A (Ace).

Basic version (volený)

1. Forehand (the player after the dealer) first gets 7 cards and picks trumps from them by setting one card aside. Forehand can also pick blind from the next five cards; then nobody, not even forehand, knows the trump suit yet.
2. Forehand then gets the rest, 12 cards in all, the others get 10 each. Forehand discards 2 cards to the talon. With trumps, Aces and Tens may not be discarded.
3. Forehand announces a trump game, Betl or Durch. The others in turn say Good, or pick up the talon, discard two cards and announce Betl or Durch. Betl can still be overtaken by Durch.
4. When the suit is good, the trump card is shown and the declarer announces Game, Seven, Hundred or Hundred and Seven. In this version Hundred needs a marriage in hand.
5. Then come doubling and play. Forehand leads to the first trick; in Betl and Durch the declarer leads.

Bidding version (licitovaný)

1. Everyone gets 10 cards and 2 stay in the middle as the talon.
2. Bids go up in steps: Seven, Seven in Hearts, Hundred, Hundred and Seven, Hundred in Hearts, Hundred and Seven in Hearts, Betl, Durch. The dealer bids first against forehand, who only needs to say Hold. Whoever passes is out and the third player joins in. On equal bids forehand comes first, then the player after forehand.
3. The winner picks up the talon, discards 2 cards and announces a contract at least as high as the bid, plus trumps. Seven can only be announced with the Seven of trumps in hand. A player who won with plain Seven may give up (a mistake) and pays 6 to each player.
4. If nobody bids, forehand may play alone. Otherwise the cards are dealt again without payment.
5. Forehand leads to the first trick; in Betl and Durch the declarer leads.

Contracts

• Game: the declarer needs more points than the defenders.
• Seven: Game plus winning the last trick with the Seven of trumps. The announced Seven must be kept for the last trick whenever the rules allow. Game and Seven are scored separately.
• Hundred: at least 100 points, counting only one marriage. With the trump marriage 60 points from tricks are enough, with another marriage 80.
• Betl: no trumps, the declarer must not take a single trick.
• Durch: no trumps, the declarer must take every trick.

Tricks and marriages

You must follow suit. If the highest card in the trick so far is of the suit led, you must beat it if you can. If you cannot follow suit, you must play a trump, and if there is already a trump in the trick, beat it if you can. With neither, play any card. The highest trump wins the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led.

A marriage is the King and Ober of the same suit in one hand. It is declared automatically when you play one of the two while still holding the other.

Doubling

After the announcement the defenders may double (flek, value ×2), the declarer may redouble (re, ×4), the defenders tutti (×8) and the declarer boty (×16). Game and Seven are doubled separately. Saying Good means no double.

Scoring

You play for points, not money. If the declarer makes the contract, each defender pays its value to the declarer; otherwise the declarer pays each defender.

• Game 1, Seven 2, Hundred 4, Betl 15, Durch 30. With Hearts as trumps, Game, Seven and Hundred count double.
• Hundred: the Hundred value once more for every 10 points over 100 (further marriages count too), so 4, or 8 in Hearts, more with doubles. When it fails, the declarer pays the Hundred value for every 10 points short and for every 10 points of the defenders' marriages.
• Silent hundred: if either side reaches 100 points in a plain Game, the Game counts double.
• Silent Seven: winning the last trick with the unannounced Seven of trumps earns half the Seven value from each player on the other side, so 1, or 2 in Hearts. Losing it in the last trick pays the same, even when a partner beats it.
• Doubles multiply the value. A single deal pays at most 500 from each player (the limit). The score adds up over the deals.

Compared with tournament rules

The game follows the rules of the Czech Mariáš Association (Český svaz mariáše) with these simplifications: the cards are shuffled before every deal, marriages are declared automatically, illegal cards cannot be played (so there are no revoke penalties), and Two Sevens, Seven or Hundred against, and laid-down hands are left out. Doubling stops after four steps. The declarer redoubles only by choice (the basic version's rule that a doubled game is always redoubled is not used). A deal is played out even when, in a Seven, the defenders double only the Game and the declarer does not redouble, although the association's rules skip such a deal. A silent hundred only doubles the Game, with nothing extra for points over 100.

Controls

Tap or click a card to play it. Playable cards are raised. If you tap a card that cannot be played, the line above your cards tells you why. For the talon, tap two cards and then choose the contract. On a keyboard, move between cards with the arrow keys and choose with Enter. Reach the buttons above your cards with Tab (back with Shift and Tab). The line above your cards also says what the others did and what you should do. A game in progress is saved.

Playing with friends

Three people play by code. The host can fill an empty seat with Add computer. Before the first deal the first player at the table picks the version and the match length: 3, 6 or 9 deals. A deal in which nobody bids does not count towards the match length. The highest score wins.