Marjapussi
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Marjapussi is a traditional Finnish
trick taking 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 4 players playing in 2 partnerships and is one of the Mariage family, its key feature being that the
trump suit 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 ''trum ...
is determined in the middle of the play by declaring a marriage (a king and a queen of a same
suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...
). There are variants of Marjapussi for two and three players.


Origin

''Marjapussi'' is Finnish for 'bag of berries', but is derived from the French ''mariage'' which is the name of the game ancestral to it in which a 'marriage' is a king/queen combination held by one of the players. According to Kokko, the game was originally Spanish, although Mariage itself, despite its French name, appears to be a 17th-century German game. Later, Marjapussi evolved into Huutopussi ("Auction Bag"), which involves bidding and contracts. The exact winning condition was dropped, but the trump determining process remained. In fact, in Huutopussi the trump suit may even change in the middle of the play if players declare further marriages.


Rules

Marjapussi is a
trick taking 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 players in fixed partnerships with the partners sitting opposite one another.


Cards

Marjapussi is played with a pack of 36 French-suited Finnish pattern cards. This may be replicated by removing the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s from a
standard 52-card pack The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. In English-speaking countries it is the only traditional pack used for playing cards; in many countries of the world, however, it is used ...
. Cards rank in the usual Ace-Ten order: A > 10 > K > Q > J > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6. The aces and tens are called 'checkmaters' (''mateiksi'') and play a key role in scoring points.


Deal

The first dealer may be chosen by any method.''Marjapussi''
at
pagat.com Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been described ...
. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
After the first deal, the player who was
forehand The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racket across one's body with the hand moving palm-first. In tennis, except in the context of the phrase ''forehand volley ...
in the previous hand deals. The dealer gives an equal number of cards to each player.


Play

In the first deal, forehand, the player who leads to the first trick, is either the one who has the A ''Marjapussi'' at fi.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2 July 2022. or is the player to the left of the dealer. Forehand leads to the first trick and then, clockwise and in turn, each player plays a card to the table. A trick is formed when each player has played one card on the table. Players must follow suit if possible. Once a trump is determined, players who cannot follow, must play a trump if able. Players must always
head the trick The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge (card game), Bridge, Hearts ...
if possible, even if their partner has played the best card so far. The trick is taken by the person who played the highest trump or by the highest card of the
led suit The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge, Hearts, Poker or Rummy) ...
if no trumps are played and that person leads to the next trick. The tricks are collected face down in front of the player separately from the cards in the hand. The game continues until everyone runs out of cards and points are counted. After this, a new deal is started.


Marriages and trumps

A deal always starts as a no trump game, but a suit can be declared trumps during a hand. A player who has won a trick may declare trumps if a 'marriage', i.e. king and a
queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
of the same suit, is held. There are three options: * A player with a marriage in hand may declare that suit as trumps. * A player may ask if the partner has a 'whole' i.e. a marriage in hand by saying e.g. "do you have a whole marriage?" If yes, that suit becomes trumps. The asker may not nominate a suit when asking. * A player with a king or a queen in hand may ask if the partner has "a half" of that suit, that is the other card of the pair in his hand by saying e.g. "do you have a half-marriage in spades?" If yes, that suit becomes trumps. The asker specifies the suit, but not the denomination. After each trick, the winner of the trick is entitled to one of the actions mentioned above. Once trumps have been declared: * The trump suit may not be changed by further marriage declarations. * The declaring team may subsequently ask for half-marriages but not whole ones. * Players may declare 'little ones' or 'little trumps', i.e. other marriages in a similar fashion, but they only affect scoring and do not change the trump suit. Each suit can be declared only once during a hand.


Scoring

Game point Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...
s are scored as follows: * Trump (''Valtti''): 2 points for declaring trumps. * Litte Trump (''Pikkuvaltti'') 1 point for each 'little marriage' * Last (''Viimeinen''): 1 point for winning the last trick * Victory (''Voitto ''): 1 point for the team that has more
card point The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge (card game), Bridge, Hearts ...
s in tricks (see table) The card points are counted after all cards have been played. Game is 10 or 12
game point Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...
s. To win, a team must score exactly 12. If they get more, they go back down to 7 game points. If a team takes no tricks in a deal, they lose all their points so far. This is sometimes called 'going to Porvoo'.


Avomarjapussi

This two-handed variant of Marjapussi is known as Avomarjapussi ("Open Marjapussi"). Each player is dealt four hand cards, followed by a row of seven downcards on the table and a row of seven
upcard The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge (card game), Bridge, Hearts ...
s on the top of the downcards. To declare marriages and play cards to tricks, the players can use both their own upcards and hand cards. When a player plays an upcard to a trick and there is a downcard beneath it, the latter is turned face up. ''Avomarjapussi'' at fi.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 3 July 2022. Other rules are the same as the four-handed game, except that there are no partnerships, and consequently the rules on asking a partner for a whole or a half do not apply.


Related games

A very similar game evidently related to Sixty-six, but with a curious resonance of
All Fours All Fours is a traditional English card game, once popular in pubs and taverns as well as among the gentry, that flourished as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century. It is a trick-taking card game that was originally designed for two ...
is played in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
under the name Bondtolva ("Farmer's Dozen").Parlett (1996), p. 25.


References


Literature

* Kokko, Petri (1999). ''Pelien parhaat'', WSOY (rules of Avomarjapussi). * Kurki-Suonio, Ilmo (1962). ''MMM Korttipelikirja'', Otava. * Parlett, David (1996). ''Oxford Dictionary of Card Games'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Parlett, David (2008). ''Penguin Book of Card Games'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. (mention only) * Ranta, Pekka (1993). ''Marjapussissa Porvooseen''. Porvoo: WSOY. * Sandgren, Tore (2003). ''Pelataan korttia''. WS Bookwell OY.


External links

*
Huutopussi at lautapelaaja.net
(in Finnish) {{Trick-taking card games Finnish card games Year of introduction missing King-Queen games