Hungarian Tarokk

About the game

Hungarian Tarokk, also known as Húszashívásos tarokk (XX-calling tarokk), or Paskievics tarokk, is a four player, variable partnership, trick taking tarot game. As with most games in this genre, the base objective of each round is to capture a certain amount of card points (in this case, more than half) in tricks. However, each round of Hungarian Tarokk starts with a peculiar round of auctions and announcements that impart a lot of information about the players' hands, which make it a very skillful, challenging, yet surprisingly accessible game. It uses a shortened pack of 42 cards: the trump suit consists of 22 cards while the other four suits consist of only five cards each. The size of each player’s hand is only nine cards (with a talon of six cards). Each round starts with a short auction in which players bid for the right to choose a partner that holds a particular high ranking trump card, usually the XX. The bid itself determines the number of cards the winner of the auction may exchange (higher bids mean less cards exchanged) and the base value of game (to capture more than half of the card points in tricks) in points. Players have restrictions on how they may bid; in particular, a player may only bid only if he or she holds an honour (the lowest trump, the second-highest trump, or the highest trump). In addition, there are bidding conventions that, unlike Bridge, are part of the rules. These conventions, or "invitation bids," indicate if a player holds a particular high ranking trump. After players exchange cards with the talon, there is a round of announcements. Partnerships can pursue additional objectives other than game: - Winning three-fourths of the card points - Winning all the tricks - Winning all three honours - Winning all four kings - Winning the last trick with the lowest trump - XXI-catch: Capturing the opponent's second highest trump with the highest trump During the round of announcements, a partnership may announce that they will accomplish one or more of these objectives, which doubles their value. A partnership may also challenge or kontra an announcement, which also doubles its value. These objectives are scored independently; a team can fail at accomplishing game but still accomplish (and score for) other objectives. Often, the value of these objectives is greater than game. For example, the base value of game ranges from 1 to 4 points, while the value of XXI-catch is 21 points.