Manille

Last updated
Manille
Piquet deck.png
French piquet deck used for manille
Origin France
Type Trick-taking
Players4
Cards32
Deck Piquet deck
Rank (high→low)10 A K Q J 9 8 7
PlayCounter-clockwise
Playing time15 min.
Related games
Malilla   Manilla

Manille (French pronunciation: [manij] ; derived from the Spanish and Catalan manilla) is a Catalan French trick-taking card game which uses a 32 card deck. It spread to the rest of France in the early 20th century, but was subsequently checked and reversed by the expansion of belote. [1] It is still popular in France (primarily the north and south-west) and the western part of Belgium.

Contents

The game is played with a 32-card piquet deck. It is usually played by four players in two partnerships, but variants with two or three players also exist.

The game

Manille muette

Ranks and card-point values
Rank10AKQJ987
Value54321

The 32 cards are distributed equally between the four players, starting with the player to the left of the dealer, moving clockwise. There are various ways to do this, often players receive two cards at a time rather than just one, until all players have eight cards each. The dealer then announces the trump suit. There are five possibilities, same as bridge: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades and no-trump. No trump (known as en voiture in French) also means that the points are doubled at the end of the deal. The dealer can also announce "opposite" (en face) and let his partner choose the trump suit. If the opposing team believes they can beat the chosen trump (get more than 30 points) then they can 'tap' the table to double the points at the end of the deal.

The play

The player to the left of the dealer can play any card of his choice, and the three players after him are obligated to follow suit if they can. If they can't, they can win the hand by playing a trump card or if they can't follow suit or trump, they must discard a card and obligatorily lose the hand. The player who wins the trick starts off the next trick, and so on, until all eight tricks have been completed. Note that the cards follow the normal order of hierarchy used in bridge, except that the 10 is the highest possible card - the order is 10, ace, king, queen, jack, 9, 8, 7. Players are not allowed to talk about their cards during the playing phase of the game.

Scoring

Unlike bridge, it's not the numbers of tricks taken that decides the score. The cards are all assigned a special value:

  • 10 (manille) – 5 points
  • Ace (manillon) – 4 points
  • King – 3 points
  • Queen – 2 points
  • Jack – 1 point
  • 9, 8 and 7 – 0 points.

At the end of the deal, the two pairs count up the value of their cards and declare them. The total value of the pack is 60 points ([5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1] x 4), so to get the opponents' score the players simply subtract their total from 60. If there have been any doubles or redoubled, these are applied after counting the total. Points are scored relative to 30 as this is half of 60. For example, a team that wins the deal 36–24 gets six points (36 minus 30) and the opposition gets zero. If there has been a violation of the rules, for example one player trumping another player's trick when he could have followed suit, the other pair gets the maximum points for that deal (30 points).

The game typically ends in one of three ways

  • Players play until one pair has 101 points, the first to this total wins
  • Players play 50 deals and whichever pair has the most points wins.
  • Players play 12 deals and whichever pair has the most points wins. [2]

Alternate rules

  • In some regions it is possible to call out a 'blind trump' which means that the dealer chooses a trump -usually no trump- before seeing his cards. The dealer gets to lead the first trick and points are automatically doubled at the end of the deal. This means the points are quadrupled for 'no trump' at the end of the deal.
  • Some games allow 'double tapping' the table. If the opposing team 'tapped' the table and the trumping team believes the opposing team will not win the deal, they may 'double tap' the table, automatically quadrupling the points of the deal.
    • Some games allow 'infinite tapping' the table. This means that there is no limit on how many times the trumping and opposing team can tap.

Variants

Manille parlée

A more popular variety allowing spoken communication between partners, as the name implies but what may be said is subject to stringent rules. The leader to a trick, before leading, may give his partner a single piece of information about his own hand, or request information about his partner's, or may even (instead) invite his partner either to do the same or to give him some instruction as to the card or suit to be led. Such information may relate to the number of cards held of a specific suit or rank, or whether a particular card is held. Question and answer must be succinct, explicit, intelligible to the opponents, and not replaced or accompanied by any non-verbal conventions. Questions must be answered truthfully, and instructions followed if possible.

Auction manille (1)

From three to seven may play, each for himself. Deal out all cards but two or four, depending on the number of players, which constitute the widow. Eldest has the privilege of becoming the declarer. If he declines, it passes to the right until somebody exercises it. The declarer's objective is to take at least 21 points in tricks and cards, or at least 15 if more than four are playing. Before play, the declarer may keep drawing cards from the widow until he is satisfied with his hand. Each drawn card must be followed by a discard, which may be the card just drawn, before the next is taken. When satisfied, declarer announces trump and eldest hand leads. The amount won by the declarer from each opponent if successful, or paid to each if not, varies with the number of cards exchanged.

Auction manille (2)

Remove as many sevens as necessary to enable every player to receive the same number of cards. Each in turn, starting with Eldest, may pass or bid. A bid states the number of points the bidder undertakes to make in exchange for choosing trumps. Each bid must be higher than the last, and a player who has passed may not come in again. The highest bidder announces trump, or No Trumps, and Eldest leads to the first trick, unless the bid was to win every trick, in which case the declarer leads. The player scores the amount of his bid if successful, or loses it if not. The winner is the player with the highest score after any agreed number of deals, each having dealt the same number of times.

Auction manille (3)

A number of cards is dealt to each player in a particular manner, and the rest are laid some face up and some face down on the table.

The game is played as in the previous version previously, except that the highest bidder may exchange cards with the widow before naming trumps. In some circles, the score is doubled if the bidder undertakes to win every trick, or plays without exchanging. If both apply, the score is quadrupled.

Blind manille

This variety requires people to hold their dealt cards backwards so other players can see all the cards but not the player himself. The chosen trump is based on the cards the dealer sees. Players play cards by pulling them randomly from their hand. Whoever threw the highest of the initial suit or trumps the highest, wins the trick.

3-player manille

In 3-player manille the dealer deals out 10 cards to all players and puts the last 2 face down on the table. After choosing trump he/she may then choose to discard 0, 1 or 2 cards from his/her hand and replace them with the face down cards (without looking at them). The team that wins the first trick can add the 2 reserve cards to their winnings. The dealer always plays against the 2 other players effectively alternating your partner throughout the game.

World championship

On 7 October 2017 the first world championship [3] took place in Ostend, this world championship is for 4-player manille.

A version of the old Spanish game of manilla, from which manille descended, is still played in Spanish Catalonia as botifarra . [4] Meanwhile malilla is a popular Mexican derivative traditionally played with a 40-card Spanish-suited pack, but in the US with 40 cards from a 52-card French-suited pack. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarocchini</span> Tarot card games popular in northeast Italy

Tarocchini are point trick-taking tarot card games popular in Bologna, capital city of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and has been confined mostly to this area. They are the diminutive form of tarocchi, referring to the reduction of the Bolognese pack from 78 to 62 cards, which probably occurred in the early 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All fours (card game)</span> English card game

All fours is a traditional English card game, once popular in pubs and taverns as well as among the gentry, that flourished as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century. It is a trick-taking card game that was originally designed for two players, but developed variants for more players. According to Charles Cotton, the game originated in Kent, but spread to the whole of England and eventually abroad. It is the eponymous and earliest recorded game of a family that flourished most in 19th century North America and whose progeny include pitch, pedro and cinch, games that even competed with poker and euchre. Nowadays the original game is especially popular in Trinidad and Tobago, but regional variants have also survived in England. The game's "great mark of distinction" is that it gave the name 'jack' to the card previously known as the knave.

Ninety-nine is a card game for 2, 3, or 4 players. It is a trick-taking game that can use ordinary French-suited cards. Ninety-nine was created in 1967 by David Parlett; his goal was to have a good 3-player trick-taking game with simple rules yet great room for strategy.

Marjapussi is a traditional Finnish trick taking game for 4 players playing in 2 partnerships and is one of the Mariage family, its key feature being that the trump suit is determined in the middle of the play by declaring a marriage. There are variants of marjapussi for two and three players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belote</span> Card game

Belote is a 32-card, trick-taking, ace–ten game played primarily in France and certain European countries, namely Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and also in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. It is one of the most popular card games in those countries, and the national card game of France, both casually and in gambling. It appeared around 1900 in France, and is a close relative of both Klaberjass and klaverjas. Closely related games are played throughout the world. Definitive rules of the game were first published in French in 1921.

Pedro is an American trick-taking card game of the all fours family based on auction pitch. Its most popular variant is known as cinch, double Pedro or high five which was developed in Denver, Colorado, around 1885 and soon regarded as the most important American member of the all fours family. Although it went out of fashion with the rise of auction bridge, it is still widely played on the western coast of the United States and in its southern states, being the dominant game in some locations in Louisiana. Forms of the game have been reported from Nicaragua, the Azores, Niobe NY, Italy, and Finland. The game is primarily played by four players in fixed partnerships, but can also be played by 2–6 individual players.

Pitch is an American trick-taking game equivalent to the British blind all fours which, in turn, is derived from the classic all fours. Historically, pitch started as "blind all fours", a very simple all fours variant that is still played in England as a pub game. The modern game involving a bidding phase and setting back a party's score if the bid is not reached came up in the middle of the 19th century and is more precisely known as auction pitch or setback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jass</span> Card game

Jass is a family of trick taking, ace–ten card games and, in its key forms, a distinctive branch of the marriage family. It is popular in its native Switzerland as well as the rest of the Alemannic German-speaking area of Europe, Italian South Tyrol and in a few places in Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Oregon and Washington USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brisca</span> Spanish card game

Brisca is a popular Spanish card game played by two teams of two with a 40-card Spanish-suited pack or two teams of three using a 48-card pack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-eight (card game)</span> Indian card game

Twenty-eight is an Indian trick-taking card game for four players, in which the Jack and the nine are the highest cards in every suit, followed by ace and ten. It thought to be descended from the game 304, along with similar Indian games known as "29", "40" and "56".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Botifarra (card game)</span>

Botifarra is a point trick-taking card game for four players in fixed partnerships played in Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain, and parts of Aragon, the Balearic Islands and North of the Valencian Country. It is a historical game also played in many parts of Spain, not only in bars and coffee shops. The game is closely related to Manille from which it takes the mechanics, but its rules induce deduction and minimise the effects of luck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klaberjass</span> Card game

Klaberjass or Bela is a trick-taking ace–ten card game that is most popular in German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euchre variants</span> Card game variants

The card game of Euchre has many variants, including those for two, three, five or more players. The following is a selection of the Euchre variants found in reliable sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clag (card game)</span>

Clag is a trick-taking card game using a standard pack of 52 French-suited playing cards. It is similar to oh hell, and can be played by three to seven players. Clag originated in the Royal Air Force and started as an acronym for Clouds Low Aircraft Grounded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bauernschnapsen</span> Card game

The card game of Bauernschnapsen is an expanded form of the popular Austrian card game of Schnapsen, played by four players. This variant of Schnapsen is played throughout the whole of Austria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Droggn</span> Tarock card game for three players

Droggn, sometimes called French Tarock is an extinct card game of the Tarock family for three players that was played in the Stubai valley in Tyrol, Austria until the 1980s. Droggn is originally local dialect for "to play Tarock", but it has become the proper name of this specific Tarock variant. An unusual feature of the game compared with other Tarock games is the use of a 66-card deck and that, until recently, there was no record in the literature of a 66-card game and no current manufacturers of such a deck. The structure of the game strongly indicates that it is descended from the later version of Tarok l'Hombre, a 78-card Tarock game popular in 19th-century Austria and Germany, but with the subsequent addition of two higher bids.

Zwanzig ab, 20 ab or simply Zwanzig is card game for four players. It is a member of the Rams family in which the key feature is that players may choose to drop out of the game if they believe their hand is not strong enough to take a minimum number of tricks. It appears to be a recent, internet-propagated variant of Schnalzen or Bohemian Watten. However, the latter has a natural card ranking, is played with double German cards and a Weli, has no exchanging and has a different scoring system. It is suitable for children from 8 upwards. It may be related from Fünf dazu! which is a simpler game described by Gööck in 1967 that has neither trumps nor the option to drop out.

Call-ace whist or Danish whist is a card game for four players playing in variable partnerships. It is the most popular form of Whist in Denmark, where it is often just called "Whist". It has a well developed bidding system and has imported from the traditional Danish game of Skærvindsel the feature of determining the partnerships by 'calling an ace'. John McLeod records that there is also a version of Danish whist in which there are fixed partnerships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sjavs</span> Danish card game

Sjavs is a Danish card game of the Schafkopf family that is played in two main variants. In Denmark, it is a 3-player game, played with a shortened pack of 20 cards; in the Faroe Islands, where it is very popular, it is a four-hand, partnership game using a standard piquet pack of 32 cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1001 (card game)</span> German card game

1001 is a point-trick card game of German origin for two players that is similar to sixty-six. It is known in German as Tausendundeins and Tausendeins ("1001") or Kiautschou. The winner is the first to 1001 points, hence the name. Hülsemann describes the game as "one of the most stimulating for two players", one that must be played "fast and freely".

References

  1. Dictionary of Card Games, David Parlett, pg. 151 - Oxford University Press ISBN   0-19-869173-4
  2. "Wereldkampioenschap Manillen-Harelbeke". www.whistiwwa.com. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  3. "Het allereerste WK manillen in Oostende" . Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  4. Card Games: Manille Group at pagat.com. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  5. Malilla at pagat.com. Retrieved 20 August 2022.