JASS.

This is popularly supposed to be the progenitor of the American game of pinochle, and is still very popular in Switzerland.

CARDS. Jass is played with the thirty-six card pack, the 5 4 3 2 of each suit being thrown out. The cards rank from the A K Q down to the 6, both in cutting and in play. The cards have a pip value in scoring, aces 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3 and jacks 2. In the trump suit, the jack is the highest card, and is worth 20 points instead of 2. The nine of trumps comes next, being worth 14 points, and is called “Nell.” The remaining trumps rank as in plain suits.

The jack of trumps has the special privilege of being allowed to renege, even when the holder of the jack can follow suit.

MARKERS. The score is usually kept on a slate.

PLAYERS. Any number from two to four can take part, but each is always for himself. The rules for two-hand differ slightly from those for three or four. (See Two-hand Jass.)

CUTTING. The first deal is cut for, high wins. The cards rank as in plain suit, and ties cut again, to decide the tie.

DEALING. When the pack is cut, at least four cards must be left in each packet. (In Switzerland they cut to the left and deal to the right; but in America this is not necessary.) The cards are dealt three at a time for three rounds, so that each player receives nine cards. When four play, the last card must be turned up for the trump. When three play, the twenty-eighth card is the trump.

OBJECT OF THE GAME. The play is to win tricks with cards of pip value in them, especially aces and tens, called game points, and also to meld certain combinations of cards that are found in the player’s hand.

When three play, the dealer may exchange his nine cards for the nine that are left on the table, but he must surrender the turned up trump among those nine cards to any player that holds the six. If the dealer does not wish to exchange, each player in turn to the left may do so. In making the exchange, no card of the nine originally dealt to the player may be kept, not even the six of trumps.

The pip value of the cards won in tricks count for the player at the end of the hand. The following values are for the melds:

Four jacks are worth200
Four aces, kings, queens, or tens100
Five cards of any suit in sequence100
Four cards of any suit in sequence50
Three cards of any suit in sequence20
King and queen of trumps20

The melds are made after the player has played his card to the first trick, whether he wins that trick or not, but the melds are not credited to him on the slate unless he wins at least one trick during the play of the hand.

METHOD OF PLAYING. When four play it is sometimes permissible for one to pass out, each in turn to the left having the right. The first thing is for the holder of the six of trumps to exchange it for the turned-up trump. The player to the left of the dealer then leads any card he pleases, and each player in turn must follow suit and must head the trick if he can; by trumping if he has none of the suit led. As soon as a card is played, the player makes his meld, announcing its pip value. The winner of the last trick scores five points for it.

SCORING. Sometimes 1,000 points is a game, as in pinochle, and the first player to call out wins if he is correct; if not he loses. Sometimes in three or four-hand, it is agreed to play some number of deals divisible by four, usually 12 or 16. These are indicated by cross marks on the slate, each arm representing a deal. The two players with the higher scores at the end of the hand each rub off a mark and the one who is first to rub off all his marks is the winner, or the last to wipe off is stuck, according to agreement. Any one failing to get as many as 21 points in meld and play is set back a mark.