OBJECT OF CROATIAN LORA: The object of Croatian Lora is to have the most amount of points at the end of the game.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 players.
MATERIALS: A modified deck of 52 cards, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.
TYPE OF GAME: Compendium Card Game
AUDIENCE: Adult
OVERVIEW OF CROATIAN LORA
Croatian Lora is a compendium card game for 4 players. The goal of the game is to score the most points during the different rounds.
In Croatian Lora, the game consists of each player dealing for 8 rounds so there is a total of 32 rounds of play before the game ends. Each round a player deals uses a different contract to decide what scores players points.
SETUP
To modify the deck, you will need to remove any cards 6 and below. This leaves you with a deck of 32 cards.
The first dealer is chosen at random and passes to the right after a player completes their 8 rounds of dealing. Each round the dealer will shuffle the deck and have the player to their left cut the deck. Then each round the dealer will deal each player a hand of 8 cards.
Each dealer deals 8 rounds consecutively, after each round players will tally their score, before the next round is started.
Card Ranking
There are no trumps in Croatian Lora, but the cards still have a ranking order. Ace is high, followed by King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, and 7 which is low.
GAMEPLAY
While there are 8 different contracts that are played through there are rules that are used for most of the contracts.
The round always starts with the player to the right of the dealer. They may lead any card to the trick. The following players must follow suit if able, but if they cannot, may play any card they wish. The winner of the trick is the player who plays the highest card of the suit lead. The winner of a trick leads the next trick.
Contracts
There are 8 contracts that are played in this revolving order. Each dealer starts with contract 1 and once they finish contract 8 the next dealer starts back at contract 1.
One is called Sto vise. The goal is to win tricks. Each trick that is won scores that player 1 point.
Two is called Sto manje. The goal is to avoid winning tricks. Each trick is worth a negative 1 point.
Three is called Kralj herc-zadnji stih. The goal is to avoid winning either the king of hearts or the last trick or to win both. The player to win the king of hearts scores negative 4 points, and the player to win the last trick scores negative 4 points. if a player wins both, however, they score 8 points.
Four is called Babe. The goal is to either avoid winning any Queens or to win them all. Each Queen won scores that player negative 2 points. If a player wins all the Queens, however, that player scores 8 points.
Five is called Hercevi. The goal is to either avoid winning any hearts or to win them all. Each heart won scores that player negative 1 point. If a player wins all the hearts, however, that player scores 8 points.
Six is called Lora. The goal is different from the other rounds. Players are not playing a trick-taking game and instead play a round similar to Fan Tan. Players will be trying to play out cards from their hands in order. The first person to play will start the ranking order for all four suits. For example, if player A plays a 10 of clubs as the first card of the round the ranking cards must be played in for this round is 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, 7, 8, and 9.
Once the first player sets the ranking players will then either need to start another suit or play the next card in ranking order of one of the other suits. All cards are played into their respective piles and must follow the order set. If a player cannot play a card they will pass their turn and whistle. Once a player has emptied their hand the round is finished. That player scores 8 points, and all other players score negative 1 point for each card remaining in their hand, and negative 1 point for each time they whistled.
Seven is called Prognoza. Each player will claim how many tricks they will win this round. if a player was correct they score 4 points. if a player was incorrect and score too many or too few they lose 4 points.
Eight is called Sljepic. It is completely luck-based. Instead of looking at their hand, each player keeps their cards in a facedown pile. For each hand, the players all flip their top card at the same time. As described above the highest card of the suit lead (or the suit of the card flipped by the player who won the last trick or starts the round) wins the trick. They become the leader for the next trick. Each trick won gives the player a point.
SCORING
After each round is finished players will tally their scores and keep them cumulatively through each round of the game. After the end of the 32nd round, the game is over.
END OF GAME
The game ends after the 32nd round. The player with the highest score wins the game.
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