RULES: 42 [Dominoes, Tricks]
John McLeod
com...@seanet.com "David Dailey" writes:
> Following are the rules to the domino trick-taking game Forty-
> Two.
Thanks for the post. I have a couple of questions.
> Winner of the trick is the player of the "heaviest" (highest-
> ranking) trump if the trick contains trump; otherwise, the
> heaviest domino of the suit led. Except for trump, the suit of a
> domino which leads a trick is the "heavy" end (with more pips) of
> the domino. (A domino containing trump, when led, establishes a
> trump lead regardless of which end is heavy.) Example: Fours are
> trump. Player A leads [5/3]. Player B plays a [5/6] (beating
> A's play in Fives) and Player C plays the [5/5] (beating B's
> play). Player D can win the trick by playing any Four, including
> the [5/4].
>
> Each player must follow the suit led if possible.
So presumably in the example, playing the [5/4] is only allowed because
player D has no fives. Right?
> Scoring:
> For bids of 84 or 168:
> If Declarer's team meets their bid (takes all 7 tricks),
> Declarer's team earns 42 points; opponents earn zero.
> If not, Declarers score zero; opponents score points taken plus
> 84 or 168.
So what is the significance of bidding 84 or 168? You would have to win
all 7 tricks to get 42, so it looks as though bidding 84 or 168 is just
a way of giving the opponents more points if you don't succeed. Have I
misunderstood something here?
--
John McLeod jo...@pagat.demon.co.uk 10011...@compuserve.com
Kit McCormick
: So presumably in the example, playing the [5/4] is only allowed because
: player D has no fives. Right?
Right.
: So what is the significance of bidding 84 or 168? You would have to win
: all 7 tricks to get 42, so it looks as though bidding 84 or 168 is just
: a way of giving the opponents more points if you don't succeed. Have I
: misunderstood something here?
You are very perceptive. But imagine holding the hand of a lifetime, only
to have the sap in front of you bid "42". What would you do? Luckily,
this rule lets you overbid the sap (at great risk, of course!)
Enjoy!
Kit McCormick
John Morrison
If you know your partner REALLY WELL and IF you had NO ETHICS, you
could bid 84 with the understanding that your partner will take the bid
again at 168!!
slimey - but it happens
The negative side is if your partner MIS_READS your bid and PASSES!!
Can get VERY ugly.
As for the game, it is an AWESOME game. My parents, sister, and I played
many many hours.
Reminds me of the time my then girlfriend (wife now) was humoring me
by playing. She and I had the bid. She had the lead and led the 6X4. It
was not trump and she did NOT have the double OR the 6X5. Guess what, NEITHER
DID I!!!
After I picked up my jaw from the floor, I asked her WHY she did this.
She looked at me and said, "I thought you would trump it!!". So the moral of
this story is that if your partner pulls a BONE-HEAD manuver, TRUMP IT no matter
what!!
John Morrison
PS: Has anyone ever had ALL 7 dealt to themself?? Makes a very impressive lay-down.
Even better is if you happen to pull all the DOUBLES!!!
John Benton Rhodes
: Whew! Didn't think I'd get these up here when I said I would!
: Following are the rules to the domino trick-taking game Forty-
: Two. These are the rules as I remember playing them. In helping
: to refresh my memory, I referred to _Ainslie's Complete Hoyle_ by
: Tom Ainslie, published by Simon & Schuster under the Fireside
: Book imprint. His description is moderately sketchy, and I used
: it as a memory aid only without intent to infringe.
I used to play at the 42 bars across the street from Texas A&M as well
as with my relatives. These are the differences that I am aware of.
: Eldest hand (player to dealer's left) opens the bidding. Each
: player has only one opportunity to bid or pass. Minimum bid is
: 30 points; subsequent players must bid a higher amount or pass.
: A bid of 42 points can be exceeded by a bid for 84 points; bid of
: 84 can be exceeded by bid of 168.
The highest opening bid is 2 marks or 84 (exception plunge). Once the
bid gets to 2 marks, then the bid can only be increased by 1 mark or 42.
We always bid marks, as to not give away nello.
: Highest bidder (for here on called Declarer) names one of the
: suits as trump and plays a domino of that suit.
We play that the domino led does not have to be a trump.
: Winner of the trick is the player of the "heaviest" (highest-
: ranking) trump if the trick contains trump; otherwise, the
: heaviest domino of the suit led. Except for trump, the suit of a
: domino which leads a trick is the "heavy" end (with more pips) of
: the domino. (A domino containing trump, when led, establishes a
: trump lead regardless of which end is heavy.) Example: Fours are
: trump. Player A leads [5/3]. Player B plays a [5/6] (beating
: A's play in Fives) and Player C plays the [5/5] (beating B's
: play). Player D can win the trick by playing any Four, including
: the [5/4].
: Each player must follow the suit led if possible. Dominoes
: containing the trump suit belong to that suit and not to the suit
: led. In the example above, if Player D has any other Four, that
: domino may be played to win the trick-- because Fours are trump,
: the [5/4] is not considered to be a Five.
: If a player cannot follow suit, any domino may be played.
: Players are *not* required to try to beat the trick on the table.
: Tricks are pulled from the table by one player from each team
: (generally, Declarer's partner pulls tricks won by Declarer's
: team). Captured tricks are displayed face-up at the corner of
: the table and may be viewed by all.
: Example: After two tricks, a captured pile might look like this:
: ----- ----- ----- -----
: |O O|O O|O O|O O| This trick worth 11 points (1 for
: |O O|O O|O O| | the trick and 10 for the [6/4]
: |O O|O O|O O|O O| counter)-- won by [6/6] which led.
: | --- | --- | --- | --- | {Sixes are trump in this hand.}
: |O O|O O| | O|
: |O O| | O | O |
: |O O|O O| |O |
: ----- ----- ----- -----
: ----- ----- ----- -----
: |O O|O O|O O|O O| This trick worth 16 points (1 for
: | O | O |O O| O | the trick, 10 for the [5/5] and 5
: |O O|O O|O O|O O| for the [5/0])-- won by third player
: | --- | --- | --- | --- | who, lacking Fives, chose to trump
: |O O| | O| O| with a Six.
: | O | | | O |
: |O O| |O |O |
: ----- ----- ----- -----
If playing 42 or higher the bidder may stack the tricks after the second
trick. Therefore the third trick goes on top of the 1st etc. Otherwise
you will end up with a 4X7 layout of tricks.
You have only mentioned pure 42. There is also
Variants:
Nello: Declarer calls game Nello for a bid of 42 or higher. Declarer
leads. There is no trump. Use same rules above for determining
who wins tricks, with doubles being a suit of their own. Declarer
must lose all tricks to win bid. I have also seen where doubles
are high in suit or low in suit.
Plunge: Worth 4 marks or 5 if bid is already at 4. Declarer must have at
least 4 doubles. Partner names trump. Declarer leads. Declarer`s
team must take all 7 tricks, just like 42 or 84. I have seen the
opening bidder bid 4 marks followed by 5, 6 and finally 7. With
the last player playing Nello with Doubles high in the suit.
Sevens: Play the dominoes in order closest to 7. Winner of trick goes to
player with closest dominoe to 7. Ties go to the first player to
play in that trick. Declarer's team must take all 7 tricks.
There is no strategy here. I don't like this variant.
: Scoring:
: If scoring by points:
: For a bid of anything up to 42:
: If Declarer's team meets their bid, both sides count points
: taken.
: If not, Declarer's team scores zero. Opponents score points
: taken plus amount of bid.
: For bids of 84 or 168:
: If Declarer's team meets their bid (takes all 7 tricks),
: Declarer's team earns 42 points; opponents earn zero.
: If not, Declarers score zero; opponents score points taken plus
: 84 or 168.
: Game played to a previously agreed point total, usually 250 or
: 500.
: If scoring by marks:
: If Declarers meet their bid, they score one mark for bids (not
: total points taken) less than 42, two marks for bids 42 or
: higher.
: If not, opponents score one mark.
Declarer gets one mark for a bid of 30-42. Two marks for 84, three for
126. That is why 84 is also called 2 marks etc.
If not, oppenent gets the same score that the declarer would have gotten
if declarer had made bid.
: First mark forms left side of letter "A", second forms right
: side, third is crossbar. Fourth mark forms vertical bar of
: letter "L" and fifth mark forms base of that letter. Sixth and
: seventh marks form a second "L." First team to "ALL" wins game.
: Again, comments & suggestions welcome.
: David
At the bars, players would play for so much a mark difference and so
much a set and so much a game.
John Rhodes