LOO.
Loo is played in divers fashions, but there are two leading varieties, known as "three-card" and "five-card" Loo respectively. There is no limit in either case to the number of players, but six or seven make the better game.
Three-card Loo.
The full pack of fifty-two cards is used, the cards ranking as at Whist. The dealer, having been selected,[[27]] places an agreed number of counters (either three or some multiple of three) in the pool. Three cards are dealt, one by one, to each player, also an extra hand, known as "miss." The card next following is turned up, and fixes the trump suit. The dealer then asks each player, beginning with the elder hand, whether he will play or "take miss." The player looks at his cards. If he holds a good hand, he will elect to play; if otherwise, he has the option of either "taking miss," i.e. taking the extra
hand in place of his own, or of "passing," i.e. throwing up his hand altogether for that round. If miss be declined, the same offer is made to the next in rotation; but so soon as miss is taken, the remaining players have only two alternatives—viz. either to play the cards they hold, or to pass. A player who has taken miss is bound to play. The cards he has discarded, as also those of any players who pass, are thrown face downwards in the middle of the table, and no one has a right to look at them.
Should one player take miss, and all the rest throw up their cards, he is entitled to the pool. Should only one player have declared to play, and not have taken miss, the dealer may play either his own cards or take miss on his own account, but if he does not care to do either, he is bound to take miss and play for the pool, i.e. the proceeds of any tricks he may make remain in the pool, to abide the result of the next round. In the event of all save the dealer "passing," the dealer is entitled to the pool.
The elder hand (as among those who have declared to play) now leads a card. If he has two trumps he is bound to lead one of them. If he holds the ace of trumps he is bound to lead it, or if an ace be turned up, and he holds the king of the same suit, he is bound to lead the latter. If only two persons have declared to play, and the holder holds two or more trumps, he must lead the highest, unless his highest trumps are in sequence or of equal value,[[28]] when he may lead either of them. (With
more than three declared players the last rule does not apply.)
The other players play in rotation to the card led, subject also to certain fixed rules, viz. each player must follow suit, if possible, and he must "head the trick," i.e. play a higher card to it, if able to do so. If unable to follow suit, he is bound to trump, or if the trick be already trumped, to over-trump, if practicable.
The winner of each trick leads to the next. He is under the same obligations as the original leader, and is further bound to lead a trump, if he has one. This latter obligation is briefly stated as "trump after trick."