Double Declarations. These are carried forward in the manner already described for the ordinary game. Suppose a player has two spade Kings on the table, and shows double bézique. He of course marks the more valuable score, 500, and simply claims the marriages by saying: “With twenty and twenty to score.” On winning another trick he is not compelled to score the previous announcement if he has any other or better to make. He might have two more Queens, and would announce: “Sixty Queens, with twenty and twenty to score.” If he scores one of the announcements held over, he still carries on the other.
When announcements are carried forward in this manner, it must be remembered that the cards must still be on the table when the time comes to score them. If one of them has been led or played, or the stock is exhausted before the player wins another trick, the score held over is lost.
Time. On account of the great number of combinations possible at Rubicon Bézique, it is very seldom that a player succeeds in scoring everything he holds. He is allowed to count the cards remaining in the talon, provided he does not disturb their order. This count is often important toward the end of the hand. For instance: You know from the cards you hold, and those played, that your adversary must have in his hand the cards that will make a double bézique on the table into a triple bézique, which would give him 1500 points. If, on counting the stock, you find only six cards remain, and you have three certain winning trumps to lead, you can shut out his 1500 by exhausting the stock before he can win a trick.
Irregular Announcements. If a player announces a combination which he does not show; such as fours, when he has only three, which he may easily do by mistaking a Jack for a King, his adversary can compel him not only to take down the score erroneously marked, but to lead or play one of the three Kings. A player may be called upon to lead or play cards from other erroneous declarations in the same manner; but if he has the right card or cards in his hand, he is permitted to amend his error, provided he has not drawn a card from the stock in the meantime.
The Last Nine Tricks. When the stock is exhausted, all announcements are at an end, and the players take back into their hands all the cards upon the table which may remain from the combinations declared in the course of play. The winner of the previous trick then leads any card he pleases, but for the last nine tricks the second player in each must not only follow suit, but must win the trick if he can, either with a superior card or with a trump. Any player failing to follow suit or to win a trick, when able to do so, may be compelled to take back his cards to the point where the error occurred, and to replay the hand from that point. In France he is penalised by counting nothing from that point on, either for brisques or for the last trick.
The winner of the last trick scores fifty points for it immediately.
SCORING. Each deal is a complete game in itself, and the winner is the player who has scored the most points for carte blanche, combinations, and the last trick. The brisques are not counted, unless they are necessary to decide a tie, or save a rubicon.
The value of the game is determined by deducting the lesser score from the higher, and then adding 500 points to the remainder. In this deduction all fractions of a hundred are disregarded. For instance: A’s score is 1830; while B’s is 1260. A wins 1800, less the 1200 scored by B, which leaves 600; to this must be added the 500 points for game, making the total value of A’s game 1100 points.
If the scores are very nearly equal, being within one or two hundred points of each other, the tricks taken in by each player are turned over, and the brisques are counted, each player adding to his score ten points for every brisque he has won. Suppose that after the last trick had been played and scored, A’s total was 1260, and B’s 1140. This is close enough to justify B in demanding a count of the brisques. It is found that A has seven only, while B has twenty-five. This shows B to be the winner of the game, with a total score of 1390 to A’s 1330.
If the difference between the final scores is less than 100 points, after adding the brisques and throwing off the fractions, the player with the higher score adds 100 points for bonus. In the case just given, B’s final score is equal to A’s, after dropping the fractions from both; so he would add 100 for bonus to the 500 for game, and win 600 points altogether.