OBJECTIVE OF MANNI: Players want to have the most points at the end of the game.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 players
MATERIALS: One standard 52 card deck (with all the 2s removed)
TYPE OF GAME: Trick-taking Game
INTRODUCTION TO MANNI
Manni is a trick-taking card game playable by three players. The object of the game is to have the most points at the end. The game is finished once a player reaches 10 or more points.
Points are earned by winning tricks, but a player must win 4 tricks in a round in order to get points at all. It differs in many ways from traditional trick-taking games but still shares many features. This makes Manni a fun and fresh take on a trick-taking game.
SETUP
To set up for Manni you must first remove all the twos from a standard 52 card deck. After this. The remaining deck is shuffled and dealt. The twos are kept to the side to signify what suite is trump for the game.
In order to deal hands, the dealer will hand each player 12 cards dealt in sections of 4 cards each. After each player receives their hand the remaining 12 cards are placed face down in the center of all players. These 12 cards are called the Manni and will be used later.
HOW TO PLAY
Once the hands have been dealt trump is rotated. In Manni, the trump suit follows this sequence hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs, and then back to hearts. This continues this way until the game is complete.
After trump is determined the player at the dealers left decides if they would prefer to keep their hand or exchange with the Manni. If they choose not to the choice falls to the player on their left, until a player has chosen to take the Manni or all three players have decided not to exchange cards. If a player exchanges the game begins immediately, but if no one exchanges for the Manni then the game is played with the players originally dealt hands.
Once the exchanging of cards is finished the player to the dealers left leads the first trick. Players must always try to follow suit if possible but if not may play any card they desire. Hands are won by the player with the highest trump, or if no trumps exist then the highest cards of the suite led with.
The winner of the hand will lead the next hand and that continues until all cards have been played out of hands.
ENDING THE GAME AND SCORING
Score is kept throughout the game and is counted at the end of each round. All players start the game with 0 points and score points based on how many tricks they win a round. If you win more than four rounds in a game you win one point for every trick you’ve won over four, so winning five tricks in a round, results in you earning 1 point.
For every point under four you lose a point, so for three won its -1 point, 2 won is -2 and so forth. If you win exactly four tricks you will neither earn nor lose any points.
The game ends once one or more players have reached 10 points, and the player with the highest number of points is the winner.
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