Polskpas, Polsk Pas, or Polskt Pass is a Scandinavian 5-card

plain-trick game A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a '' hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such ...

for four individual players using 24 cards.

Eldest hand Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...

has the first right to accept or make trumps. As is typical for

Schafkopf Schafkopf (), also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German Trick-taking game, trick-taking card game of the Ace-Ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. It is still very popular i ...

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

s, which are normally

point-trick game A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...

s, the four Jacks are known as ''Wenzels'' and form permanent highest

trumps A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically, an entire suit is nominated as a ''trump suit''; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the terms ''tru ...

. Polskpas is similar to the historical German game of

Kontraspiel Kontraspiel, also called Contra, is a German 5-card plain-trick game for four individual players using 24 cards. Eldest hand has the first right to accept or make trumps. The Unters of Acorns and Leaves (the equivalent of the two black Jacks) ar ...

History and etymology

The game appears in a Danish game anthology in 1774 as ''Polsk Pas'', a Swedish game anthology from 1839, and in a Danish encyclopedia in 1924. An early literary reference to the game is a Swedish novel from 1753. Another early Danish literary reference to the game is from 1786. Although ''Polskpas'' (Danish) and ''Polskt Pass'' (Swedish) literally mean ''Polish passport'', it appears more likely that ''pas'' refers to the game feature which allows eldest hand to pass rather than being obliged to play with the turn-up suit under all circumstances. A somewhat later German game known as

or Contraspiel is similar to Polskpas, but there are only two ''Wenzels'' and the bidding system is more elaborate.

Rules

Tens are low. The Jacks or ''Wenzels'' are the highest members of the trump suit, ranking

Clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

Spades SPAdes (St. Petersburg genome assembler) is a genome assembly algorithm which was designed for single cell and multi-cells bacterial data sets. Therefore, it might not be suitable for large genomes projects. SPAdes works with Ion Torrent, PacBio ...

, Hearts and

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

in descending order. A Jack is not part of its natural suit unless this happens to be the trump suit.. Each of the four players receives 5 cards in batches of 2 and 3. The remaining 4 cards are not usually part of the game, except for the first of them, which is turned face-up to determine the preferred trump suit. Starting with eldest hand, each player gets the chance to become soloist with the preferred suit as trumps. A player who accepts takes the turn-up card and discards a different card instead. If everybody passes, there is a second round in which each player gets the chance to become soloist with a different suit (and without exchanging the turn-up card). In the second round, eldest hand is the only player who is allowed to do this with the preferred suit. If the second round fails as well, the game is not played and the next dealer deals. The standard rules of trick-play as in

Whist Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. History Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...

apply. Eldest hand leads to the first trick. Suit must be followed. The player who played the highest trump, or the highest card of the suit led, wins the trick and leads to the next. To win the game one must win 3 tricks. To make sure that there is always a winner, it is also enough to be the first player to win 2 tricks, so long as the other tricks do not all fall to the same player.

Scoring

The game is played for money and uses a pot for the stakes. The dealer pays one unit into the pot before the game starts. If the soloist wins, he or she wins the contents of the pot. If the soloist loses, he or she doubles the contents of the pot. Up to the third trick, a soloist can announce ''

vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of low-c ...

'', i.e. undertake to win all five tricks. If successful, the soloist wins the pot plus a fourth of its content in additional payments from each of the three opponents. If not (but the soloist still wins the game), the soloist receives nothing and the pot remains unchanged.

Variations

Three players can play following the same rules, provided that the Nines and one Ten are removed from the pack.

References

{{reflist 18th-century card games Danish card games Four-player card games Rams group