ASSZORTI 

OBJECTIVE OF ASSZORTI: The objective of Asszorti is to win tricks to complete contracts and score points. 


NUMBER OF PLAYERS:  3 players


MATERIALS: One modified 52-card deck, and a flat surface.


TYPE OF GAME: Trick-Taking Card Game


AUDIENCE: Any

OVERVIEW OF ASSZORTI

Asszorti is a 3-player trick-taking card game. The goal of the game is to bid on contracts and then complete them by winning tricks. This scores you points and gets you closer to winning the game. The winner of the bid, also known as the declarer, is opposed by the two remaining players on a team. These players will try to prevent this player from reaching their goal and will be awarded or penalized for their success or failure. 

SETUP

To set up, a deck of 52 cards will need to be modified to be 36 cards. All cards 5 and below will be removed. This will leave Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, 7s, and 6s. 

A dealer will be chosen at random and will shuffle the deck, and the player to the right will cut the deck. Then each player will receive a hand of 11 cards. First, a batch of three cards will be dealt to each player. Then three cards will be dealt to the center of the table face down, this is called the talon. Then in batches of two cards, each player will be dealt to until players have their completed hands. 

All playing and dealing is done clockwise of the dealer. Each new round the dealer will also pass to the left. 

Card Rankings 

The ranking is the same for each suit and is traditional. The ranking is Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 (low).

BIDDING

After the cards have been dealt then the bidding will begin. It starts with the player to the left of the dealer and goes clockwise from there. Players always bid on winning 6 tricks, but the stakes come from how many cards from the talon they will get to draw and exchange from their hand. The options are 3, 2, 1, and hand. Hand meaning no cards are drawn and exchanged. 

The bidding starts always at 3 then goes to 2, then 1, then hand. Players cannot skip bids when bidding and must follow this order to outbid another player. Players have three options, they can bid/hold, or players can pass. A player who passes is out of the round of bidding and once two players have passed, the remaining player has won the bid. When bidding a player will either bid higher or hold. A player must hold in response to a bid higher than theirs. For example, if Player A bids 3, Player B bids 2, and then Player C bids 1, Player A will either hold or pass. A full round of bidding must pass before players will hold. Once a player holds the next player must bid or pass. For example, since Player A held, Player B must either bid hand or pass. Passing means Player C will either pass or bid hand. 

Once two players have passed the remaining player becomes declarer and may call a contract equal to or higher than the final bid. 

If the first two players pass the last player is automatically the declarer and will call a contract. 

Talon

After the bid, the declarer will pull from the talon the contracted number of cards and exchange any number of them from their hand. Then the remaining cards are placed facedown onto the talon.

TRUMPS AND UPPING THE SCORES

Once the talon has been exchanged, the declarer will need to call a trump suit. They may name any suit or call no trumps. They also have the option of calling arrivazs. This will increase their potential score but means they must win the final three tricks to complete this goal. Arrivazs are scored separately from the game meaning their scores are also multiplied separately. 

Players can now start calling to multiply scores. If an arrivazs has been called an opponent can call kontra, meaning the score will be doubled for the winner, for either the game, arrivazs or both. 

Once any kontra has been called, the talon and exchanged cards are revealed. There is a chance to call kontra on either the game or arrivazs if it has not been called already. This chance is given to the opponent. Then the declarer gets a chance to call rekontra on any or all kontras called. This will double the score again, multiplying it by 4. The other opponent player will now have a chance to call szubkontra and double the score again to be multiplied by 8. The dealer can again respond with hirskontra multiplying it by 16 and finally, either opponent may call mordkontra multiplying it by 32. 

For example, Player A is the declarer. Player B and Player C are on the opponent team. After trumps are declared by Player A, they call Arrivazs. Player B decides to call Kontra on both the game and Arrivazs. The talon and exchanged cards are revealed so all players see what cards are removed from the game. Player A now can call rekontra and does on both the game and Arrivazs. Player C decides to call szubkontra on the game but not the arrivazs. Player A now has the chance to call hirskontra on the game but declines. This means the final score for arrivazs will be multiplied by 4, and the final score for the game will be multiplied by 8. 

GAMEPLAY

Once bidding is over the player to the dealer’s left may start the game. They may play any card from hand to lead the first trick. All the following players must follow suit if able. If not able to follow suit players may play any card they wish, including trumps. 

The trick is won by the highest trump, but if not applicable, then by the highest card of the original suit led. After the first trick, the talon is flipped facedown if needed. This is done by the winner of the trick. 

To quicken the round the declarer may say that they will win all the rest of the tricks or forfeit all the rest of the tricks. If claiming to win the declarer must show their hand and if any opponent disagrees the remaining hands must be played out with the declarer’s hand revealed. If a trick is lost by the declarer after this claim all remaining tricks go to the opponents. These tricks will go to the opponent with previously won tricks if applicable. This may affect scoring later.

SCORING

The team that wins 6 or more tricks wins the round and scores points dependent on the contract and if trumps were called. 

If trumps were declared, a contract of three is worth 2 points, and 4 points for a contract of 2. A contract of 1 yield 6 points and 8 points for a contract of hand. 

If no trumps were called these points are doubled to 4 points, 8 points, 12 points, and 16 points respectively. 

If more than 6 tricks were won, then each additional trick is worth half of the game score. For example, for a game worth 4 points, each trick won after the first 6 tricks are worth 2 additional points. 

These points are then multiplied by the respective kontra amount. 

Exceptions

There is an exception to the above scoring. If the declarer wins the 6 tricks needed but one opponent wins all 5 of the remaining tricks, the game score is then subtracted from the total amount of game points won. For example, if a game is worth 4 points and one kontra was called the game would be worth 8 points. If, however, the above circumstances applied then 4 points would be subtracted from the total game points leaving the declarer with 4 game points. 

Arrivazs 

Arrivazs are scored separately from the game points. If an arrivazs was called and completed, then the declarer scores 8 points id the game was played with a trump suit and 16 points if not. If unsuccessful the opponents score these points. 

If the last three tricks were won without using trumps, then the 8 points are doubled to 16 points for arrivazs.

All kontras are then multiplied to the score to get the final arrivazs score.

Losing Scores

The losing side is deducted points based on the winners. If the declarer won 16 points, then both opponents deduct 16 points from their total score. This applies to the declarer too, who will deduct points equal to the opponents’ total score. So, if 16 points are won by the opponents’ the declarer loses 32 points. 

The game can also be played as a bidding game, in this circumstance stakes are paid out as above with the declarer receiving from both opponents or paying both opponents.

END OF GAME

The game is played until players are done bidding and wish not to play anymore, or a set score is reached by a player. 

Nakoa Davis
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