Sixty-Six
◊ 17th century card game ◊
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Note: for further historic information on ancient card games, please visit our History of Playing Cards page.
• Requirements
• Rank of Cards A (high), 10, K, Q, J, 9.
• The Deal Each player cuts; the player drawing the highest card is the first dealer. The dealer shuffles, offers the pack for a cut, then deals 6 cards to each player in 2 alternating groups of 3 cards beginning with the non-dealer. The 13th card is turned up for trump and placed on the table, then the stock (the pack of undealt cards) is placed on top of it at a 90¾ angle so that it covers half of it.
• Object of the Game The goal is to score 66 points by winning tricks and announcing marriages. The point values are as follows:
Players must mentally keep track of their points as the game progresses, and they are not allowed to consult the discards once they are taken out of play. Once a player reaches 66 points, he must announce it and stop the game; and openly count his discards. If the player who first reaches 66 points (correctly), does so after the opponent accumulated 33 points, he scores 1 game point. If he reaches 66 before the opponent gets 33 (a "schneider"), he scores 2 game points. If he reaches 66 before the opponent wins a single trick (a "schwarz"), he scores 3 game points. If neither player scores 66, or each has scored 66 or more without announcing it, no one scores in that hand and 1 game point is added to the score of the winner of the next hand. If a player closing gets 66 or more, he scores the same as if the game had been played out. If the player fails, the opponent scores 2 points. If a player closes before his opponent has taken a trick, but fails to score 66, the opponent scores 3 points.
• The Play The non-dealer leads first. No one is obligated to follow suit. The higher card of the suit led, or a trump played to a plain-suit lead, wins the trick. The winner of the trick draws the top card of the stock; the opponent takes the next card. The winner leads for the next trick. Either player holding the nine of trumps may exchange it for a higher trump card at any time, provided he has previously won a trick, unless the nine is the last card in the stock. A "marriage" is announced by the player who previously won a trick, by showing the appropriate K and Q of the same suit and playing one of those two cards. Marriages may be announced only when one of the two cards is played - unless a player by showing a marriage makes his score 66 or more. The non-dealer may announce a marriage on his first lead and score it after he wins a trick. After the stock is exhausted or closed, the non-leader on each trick must follow suit if possible. Marriages may still be scored. • Closing Either player may close (end the game), when he has the lead, either before or after drawing, by turning down the trump card. Thereafter, no cards are drawn, and the last trick does not score 10 points. If either player announces during play that his score is 66 or more, the play immediately stops and the game is "closed."
• Game The winner is the player who first accumulates 7 game points.
Three-Handed Sixty-Six The dealer takes no cards and scores as many game points as are won on his deal by either of the other two players. If neither active player scores 66, or both score 66 or more but they fail to announce it, the dealer scores 1 game point, and active players do not score. The game is 7 game points. A dealer may not score enough to win the game; he must win his seventh point when he is an active player.
Four-Handed Sixty-Six A stripped 32-card pack, consisting of the A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7 of each suit is used; 8 cards are dealt clockwise to each player in packets of 3, then 2, then 3, beginning with the player on the dealer's left. The last card is turned for trump and belongs to dealer. The player on the dealer's left leads, and each succeeding player in turn not only must follow suit but must win the trick if possible. If the player cannot follow suit, he must trump or top the previous trump if he can. The scoring is the same as in the two-handed game, except that there are no marriages. A side counting 66 or more, but less than 100, scores 1 game point; a side with more than 100 but less than 130 scores 2 points; if it takes every trick (130), the side wins 3 points. If each side has 65, neither scores, and 1 game point is added to the score of the winners of the next hand. The game is 7 points. In some localities, the 10 of trumps counts 1 game point for the side winning it, in addition to its value as a scoring card. If one side has 6 game points and wins the 10 of trumps on a trick, that side scores game immediately. |