PRUSSIAN WHIST. This is the ordinary 5, 7 or 10 point whist, with or without honours, except that instead of turning up the last card for trump, the player to the left of the dealer cuts a trump from the still pack, which is shuffled and presented to him by the dealer’s partner.

FAVOURITE WHIST. This is the regular 5, 7 or 10 point whist, with or without honours, except that whichever suit is cut for the trump on the first deal of the rubber is called the favourite. Whenever the suit turns up for trump, after the first deal, tricks and honours count double towards game. There must be a new favourite at the beginning of each rubber, unless the same suit happens to be cut again.

A variation is to attach a progressive value to the four suits; tricks being worth 1 point when Spades are trumps; when Clubs 2; when Diamonds 3; and when Hearts 4. Honours do not count, and the game is 10 points, made by tricks alone. The hands are played out; the winners score all tricks taken, and the winners of the rubber add 10 points for bonus. The value of the rubber is the difference between the scores of the winners and that of the losers. For instance: If the rubber is in A-B’s favour with the score shown in the margin A-B win a rubber of 8 points.

1st game;10to6
2nd game;4to16
3rd game;14to8
Rubber;10
Totals38to30

This is a good game for superstitious people, who believe that certain trump suits are favourable to them.

TEXT-BOOKS.

The following list of works on whist, alphabetically arranged, contains the principal standard text-books on the game. Those marked * are especially for the beginner. Those marked x are chiefly devoted to the Short-suit game.