Rules
General All Fours Rules in Trinidad:
Courtesy of www.pagat.com/allfours
Players, cards and objective
Normally there are four players, in two fixed partnerships, partners
sitting opposite each other. It is also possible, but less usual,
for two people to play.
A standard 52 card pack is used. In each suit, the cards rank from
high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
The object of the game is to score points by winning tricks with
valuable cards in them. The player or team that takes more valuable
cards in tricks will score one point for "game". In addition, there are
points for taking the jack of trumps in a trick, and for the holders of
the highest and lowest trumps dealt. It is also possible for the
dealer's team to score points for the card turned up for trumps during
the deal. All Fours is a fitting activity for individuals who are
looking for fancy games other than fortune based games on Cheeky
Bingo and other similar websites. Learning the ropes of the
game is of course the first step into enjoying this mind boggling
pastime.
Deal
Players cut for the deal, and whoever cuts the highest card becomes
the first dealer. Deal and play are anticlockwise, and the turn
to deal passes to the right after each hand. Each player is dealt
six cards. The dealer can choose whether to deal the cards one at
a time or in batches of three, but having chosen must stick to the
same method for the whole game.
When everyone has six cards, the dealer turns the next card face
up to indicate the trump suit. If this turned up card is an ace,
six or jack, the dealer's team immediately scores for it as follows:
Ace turned up . . . 1 point
Six turned up . . . 2 points
Jack turned up . . . 3 points
If the player on the dealer's right is happy with the trump suit
that is shown by the turn up, he says "Stand"
and play begins. If the player on the dealer's right would prefer
a different trump suit, he says, "I beg".
The dealer then has the option to change trumps or to keep the suit
of the turned up card as trumps.
If the dealer decides to keep the trumps as turned up, he says,
"Take one"; the opponents of the dealer receive
one point and play begins.
If the dealer agrees to change the trump suit, he sets aside the
turned up card, deals three more cards to each player, and then
turns up the next card to determine the trump suit, scoring for
it as above if it is an ace, jack or six.
- If this new turn up is of a different suit than the first
turn up, play begins with this new suit as trumps.
- If the new turn up is the same suit as before, the dealer
gives another three cards to each player and turns up another card,
scoring again if it is an ace, jack or six. This procedure is repeated
until the turn up produces a new trump suit.
- If the deck is exhausted before a new trump suit is found,
the entire deck is reshuffled and redealt. The dealer's team nevertheless
keeps any points they have scored for turned up cards.
Play
The player on the dealer's right has the first lead, and the winner
of the trick leads to the next trick. Any card can be led, but the
other players are subject to the following rules:
- If a trump is led, the other players must play a trump
if they can; anyone who has no trumps left can play any card.
- If a card of a non-trump suit is led, then any player who
has a card of that suit must either follow suit,
by playing a card of the suit led, or play a trump. A player who
has no card of the suit led can play any card (there is no obligation
to play a trump in this case).
The trick is won by the highest trump card played to it; if no trumps
are played it is won by the highest card of the suit led.
Note that the effect of these rules is that is is always legal to
play a trump. The only play that is prohibited is to throw a non-trump
card of a different suit from the lead when you could have followed
suit. That would be a revoke or renege,
and is penalised as explained below.
Play continues until all players have played all their cards. If
the original trump suit was accepted there will be six tricks, but
if a change of trump suit was begged for and allowed, the players
will have larger hands and there will be 9 or 12 tricks, or possibly
even more in a two-player game.
Scoring
At the end of the play, points are scored for the cards that were
dealt or taken in tricks. The points are as follows:
| High
|
1 point |
This point is won by the team of the player who
had the highest trump |
| Low |
1 point |
This point is won by the team of the player who held the lowest
trump that was dealt. It does not matter who wins the trick
containing this trump - the point is for the original holders. |
| Jack |
1 or 3 points |
If the jack of trumps wins a trick, or is won in a trick by
the partner of the holder, the team with the jacks scores 1
point. If the jack is captured in a trick won by the opponents
of the holder, the team capturing the jack scores 3 points for
hang jack. If the jack of trumps was not dealt, then of course
neither team scores for it. |
| Game |
1 point |
This point goes to the team that wins the more valuable cards
in tricks. For this purpose only, the top five cards in each
suit have the following values: ace = 4, king = 3, queen = 2,
jack = 1, ten = 10; other cards (2-9) have no value. Each team
adds up the total value of the cards in their tricks, and whichever
team has more scores the game point. If both teams have the
same value of cards, no one gets the game point. |
Each team keeps a cumulative total of points they have won, and
the first team to reach a total of 14 or more points over however
many hands it takes wins the overall game. When nearing the end
of a game, the points are counted strictly in the order high, low,
jack, game to determine who has reached 14 first, so a tie is impossible.
For example, suppose that at the start of a hand both teams have
13 points, that no points are scored for the turned up trump, and
the trump suit is accepted. If team A has the highest trump, but
team B win low, jack and game, then team A will win, because their
point for high takes them to 14 before the other team can score.
Irregularities
Misdeal
If the dealer gives the wrong number of cards to the players, the
opponents score one point for a misdeal, and the cards must be thrown
in and shuffled and dealt again.
Reneging - also called Reneeding(Revoking)
This is playing a card of a non-trump card of different suit from
card that was led when you could have followed suit. There is no
penalty provided that the error is corrected by the player of the
incorrect card before the end of the trick. An opposing player who
notices the error may call the revoke at any time up to the end
of the hand, and in that case the penalty is as follows.
· If the player failed to follow a trump lead with trumps
when they held one or more of the top five trumps, that player's
team loses the whole of the game (14 points) currently in progress
and a new game is started.
· In other cases - a revoke on a non-trump lead or a failure
to play a small trump on a trump lead - the opponents of the revoking
player are awarded one point as a penalty, and the revoking team
cannot win the point for game.
Calling
If a player exposes a card other than in normal play, it must be
left face up on the table. The opponents can then "call"
for this card to be played on any subsequent trick, provided that
playing it will not cause a revoke.
Additional details:
A trick is defined as a play sequence in which each player plays
1 card from his hand. Whoever wins the play get these cards in the
board and adds it to his pile of cards won. These tricks continue
until all the cards have been played and then points can be assigned
to each team according to which cards were played and won. This
whole process may be defined as a round.
Multiple rounds occur as "mini games", and the point score
increases cumulatively until one team has 14 points.
There will not be any misdeals in the computer game as the computer
handles this. Maximum number of cards that could be placed in a
player's hand is 12.
The All Fours Computer Game will allow new players to easily learn
the mechanics of all fours and with practice, players will learn
many strategies essential to being smart All Fours players
Version 1.0 of the All Fours Computer Game uses the following rule settings:
Force follow suit for all suits
No reneed/Renege (follow suit is already forced)
Regular kicking
Normal scoring for game point
No undertrump penalty
You can beg whenever you want
3 points for hang jack
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