| CLASS A. | |
|---|---|
| King and Queen in any plain suit, Marriage | 20 |
| King and Queen of trumps, Royal Marriage | 40 |
| Five highest cards in a plain suit, Sequence | 150 |
| Five highest cards in trumps, Royal Sequence | 250 |
| CLASS B. | |
| Spade Queen and Diamond Jack, Single Bézique | 40 |
| Two spade Queens and diamond Jacks, Double Bézique | 500 |
| Three spade Queens and diamond Jacks, Triple Bézique | 1500 |
| Four spade Queens and diamond Jacks, Quadruple Bézique | 4500 |
| CLASS C. | |
| Any four Aces | 100 |
| Any four Kings | 80 |
| Any four Queens | 60 |
| Any four Jacks | 40 |
Besides the foregoing, there is the score of fifty points for carte blanche, which may be announced only before the first trick is played to, and the score of fifty points for the winner of the last trick of all.
In class A, the first marriage declared must of course count 40, as it is the trump suit for that deal. In class C, the four court cards may be of different suits, or any two or more of them may be of the same suit.
The rules governing declarations are as follows:—
The player making the declaration must have won the previous trick, and must make his announcement before drawing his card from the stock. When the stock is exhausted, so that no cards remain to be drawn, no announcements can be made.
Only one declaration can be scored at a time, so that a trick must be won for every announcement made, or the combination cannot be scored. This rule does not prevent a player from making two or more announcements at the same time; but he can score only one of them.
A player cannot make a lower declaration with cards which form part of a higher combination already shown in the same class. For instance:—Marriages and sequences belong to the same class. If a sequence has been declared, the player cannot take from it the King and Queen, and score for the marriage; neither can he add a new Queen to the King already used in the sequence, because the higher combination was scored first. The same rule applies to lower and higher béziques. But if the lower combination is first shown and scored—the marriage—the A 10 J may be added afterward, on winning another trick, and the sequence scored. This rule does not apply to cards belonging to combinations in different classes. A Queen used in class A may be used over again in both B and C classes.
Re-forming Combinations. The chief peculiarity in Rubicon Bézique is that combinations which have been laid on the table and scored may be broken up, re-formed, and scored again indefinitely. For instance: A player has declared royal sequence, and scored 250 points for it. He may play away the Ace, breaking up the sequence, and upon winning the trick lay down another Ace, re-forming the sequence, and scoring 250 points again. He might repeat the same process with the Ten, King, Queen and Jack, and in six successive tricks he would score this royal sequence six times, making 1500 points out of it. In actual play it is not necessary to go through the formality of playing away a card from the combination on the table, and then replacing it, for it amounts to the same thing if the new card in the hand is led or played, and the fresh combination claimed.
Marriages, béziques and fours may be broken up and re-formed in the same way. After declaring 100 Aces, the player may lead or play another Ace, and claim another 100 Aces, scoring them when he wins a trick. In this way, eight Aces actually held might score 500 points. In the bézique combinations, a new card simply re-forms the single bézique. In order to score double, triple, or quadruple bézique, all the cards forming the combination must be on the table at one time, but they may be played and scored one after the other, cumulatively. For instance: A player holding quadruple bézique and showing all eight cards at once would score 4500 only; the minor béziques would be lost. If he had time, and could win tricks enough, he might show the single first, scoring 40, then the double, scoring 500, then the triple, scoring 1500, and finally the quadruple, scoring 4500, which would yield him a grand total of 6540 points. He might declare marriage in hearts, and afterward play three more heart Queens, scoring each marriage, and then three heart Kings, scoring three more marriages. These would all be new combinations.