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Variations

Bidding (Sidi Barani)

This is still a 4 player game. Deal the cards normally. Instead of making trump, the player to the right of the dealer starts the bidding. Players bid on how many points they think they can make in that hand and specify what the trump would be for that bid. Bidding starts at 40 points and goes up, in increments of 10 to 'Sidi' (or all of the cards).

The lower bids (40 - 80 points) are used to impart information about a player's cards to their partner. If partners bid on the same thing, they can then bid higher. There are some rules of thumb for lower bids:

  1. An even suit trump bid indicates the player has the Jack and 2 other cards.
  2. An odd suit trump bid indicates the player has the 9 and 2 other cards.
  3. For a no-trump bid, each 10 point jump from the last bid is an Ace or 6 depending on whether the no-trump is reversed or not.
  4. Bidding over 80 points is no longer considered signalling.

A player can bid on a couple of Aces to see if their partner responds, then bid a trump later if their partner has that same trump or has some Aces too.

A player may pass the bid on to the next player without bidding. If 3 players do so, then the remaining player has won the bid and may start the game. This player may also change the bid at this point, but then bidding continues until 3 players pass.

If a player does not want to bid, but thinks that the opposite team won't make their bid, they can declare 'Bookel' (phonetic). This doubles the value (but not the required points) of the current bid. If all players pass, then the player that won the bid starts the game. After a Bookel declaration, any player may still bid, though, normally, the team that issued the Bookel will not do so. If any player bids again, the Bookel is voided and bidding continues until 3 players pass.

Here's some sample bidding sessions:

Bid 1

40: Unen-uffe player has one 6
50: Hearts player has the 9 of Hearts and 2 other Hearts
70: Oben-abe player has two Aces
120: Hearts player has the Jack of Hearts and is really raising the bid
Pass player stops bidding
Pass player lets partner win bid
Pass player stops bidding

Bid 2

60: Spades player has the Jack with 2 others and is very strong
80: Unen-uffe player has 2 6s
100: Oben-abe player has strong Oben-abe, but this is no longer indicating 2 Aces
120: Unen-uffe player has strong Unen-uffe, and wants to win the bid
130: Spades player has great suit trump, and will leverage partner's Oben-Abe to make the bid
Sidi: Unen-uffe player has only Unen-uffe and thinks, combined with partner, can make all the hands

This is the highest bid, so there is no need for everyone to pass.

Scoring

If a team makes their bid, they write their points from the hand plus the bid points. If a team does not make their bid, the other team writes the bid points.

All trumps are equally valued in this game. There are no double or triple valued trumps. Therefore, a red trump is just as good as Oben-abe. This also makes this version take much longer than an ordinary game.

Winning a match

A team does not declare a win in this version. The first team to 2500 points wins. If both teams reach 2500 points, then the one with the most points wins the match. For this reason, the last hand must be completed.

Jass for 3

There are two known variations:

3 teams

Each player is a team. Deal 12 cards to each player. The last card dealt designates the trump. This card still belongs to the third player and selects the trump as follows:

no-trump, reverse: 6, 7
no-trump, normal: Ace, King
suit trump: Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8

No one calls trump in this version. If you like, you can apply some of the options in Variations:Jass for 2.

2 versus 1

Deal the first hand as above, but don't choose a card for trump. Starting with the dealer, start bidding on how many points a player thinks they can make on their own before the team reaches 1000 points. Generally, if you have a great trump in the first hand, you can be more confident about bidding higher. The highest bidder gets to play alone. Play hands until the single player makes the bid or the team makes 1000 points. Trump passes to the single player every other time, and alternates on the team players. If the team makes 1000, they get 1 tourney point. If the single player makes his/her bid, he/she gets 2 tourney points.

Jass for 2

Each player is a team. Deal 12 cards to each player. Leave 12 cards in a pile, face down. Flip the top card. This card designates the trump for that hand and selects the trump as follows:

no-trump, reverse: 6, 7
no-trump, normal: Ace, King
suit trump: Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8

The rules for these modes of play aren't so hard and fast, so make up whatever you like, here's some other options:

  1. If the top card is a Red trump, put that card on the bottom of the deck and flip another card to choose another trump.
  2. If the card is a 6 or 7, indicating Unen-uffe, then if a player has the King or Ace, they may trade the King for the 7, and the Ace for the 6. If the card is an Ace or King, the reverse is true.