When it is the turn of Mort to play, Vivant selects the card for him.
The Revoke. The rules governing this are the same as those already given for English Dummy. Mort is not liable to penalty under any circumstances. If any other player revokes, his opponents may take three points from the score of his side; or add three points to their score; or take three of his tricks. The penalty cannot be divided; but if two or more revokes are made by the same side, the penalty for each may be enforced in a different manner. For instance: If the score is 3 to 2 in favor of the adversaries, Vivant may take three points from their score for one revoke, and add three to his own score for the other. It is not permissible to reduce the revoking player’s tricks to nothing. At least one must be left in order to prevent slams being made through revoke penalties.
Cards Played in Error. Vivant is not liable to any penalty for dropping his cards face up on the table; but if he or Mort plays two cards at once to a trick, the adversaries may select which they will allow to be played. The adversaries are subject to the same penalties as in whist for all cards played in error.
Leading Out of Turn. If Vivant or Mort lead out of turn, the adversaries may let the lead stand, or demand it be taken back. If it was the turn of neither, no penalty can be enforced, and if all have played to the trick, the error cannot be corrected.
Taking Tricks. The methods of taking tricks, and placing them so that they can be easily counted, have been fully described in connection with whist.
OBJECT OF THE GAME. As in whist, the object is to take tricks; the highest card played of the suit led wins, and trumps win against all other suits. The first six tricks taken by one side, and forming a book, do not count; but all above that number count toward game. At the end of each hand, the side that has taken any tricks in excess of the book scores them, their opponents counting nothing. As soon as either side reaches five points, they win the game, but the concluding hand must be played out, and the winners are entitled to score all the points over five that they can make on that hand. For instance: The score is 4 to 3 in favor of Vivant and Mort. They win the first seven tricks, which makes them game; but they do not cease playing. If they succeed in gaining eleven tricks out of the thirteen, they win a game of 9 points, instead of 5.
As already observed, Vivant loses or gains double the value of the points in each hand. In the three-handed game this must be so; but in my opinion it would be a great improvement in the four-handed game to allow the player sitting out to share the fortunes of the Vivant, as in Bridge, and in many German games of cards, notably Skat.
SLAMS. The two great differences between French and English Dummy are that honours are not counted in Mort, and that a special value is attached to slams. A slam is made when one side takes the thirteen tricks. These must be actually won, and cannot be partly made up of tricks taken in penalty for revokes. Players cannot score a slam in a hand in which they have revoked.