Playing. The general rules of play are the same as in the three-handed game; players being obliged to follow suit and to win the trick if able to do so. The fourth player must win his partner’s trick if he can, and any player who cannot follow suit to a trick that is already trumped must under-trump if he is unable to over-trump.
Scoring. There are three ways to score: In the first, each player must individually win a trick in order to score his melds. In the second, when either partner wins a trick, the melds in both hands may be scored. In both these the melds are kept separate. In the third, when a player wins a trick he may combine his melds with those of his partner to form fresh combinations, and the scores are made as if the melds of the two partners were in one hand; but cards previously played to the tricks cannot be used in these fresh combinations. The cards must still be on the table, unplayed. For this reason, in this style of game the melds are not taken up until one of the partners wins a trick.
AUCTION BINOCLE.
In this variation, each of three or four players is for himself. The forty-eight cards are dealt out, four at a time, but no trump is turned. Beginning on the dealer’s left, each player in turn bids a certain number of points for the privilege of naming the trump suit and of having the lead for the first trick. There are no second bids. If all pass, the dealer must bid twenty.
As soon as the trump is named, every player at the table makes his own melds, which will be good if he wins a trick. The rules for play are the same as in the ordinary three and four hand.
If four play as partners, two against two, the eldest hand always leads for the first trick, no matter who the successful bidder may be.
The bidder always has the first count at the end of the hand, and it is usual to play this game so many deals, instead of so many points. At the end of six deals, for instance, the highest score is the winner.
Sometimes this game is played with a widow, three cards when three play, four when four play. Each player is allowed three bids, and the successful bidder turns the widow face up, so that all may see what it contained. He then takes the widow into his hand and discards what he pleases, face down, to reduce his hand to the same number of cards as the other players. The trump is not named until after this discard. The bidder has the first lead and also the first count. Six deals is a game.
SIXTY-SIX.
Sixty-six is one of the simplest forms of Bézique, and is an extremely good game for two persons with one pack of cards.