Be a Whiz by Playing Whist
Thirteen cards are dealt to each of four players, but the dealer temporarily faces his last card in the center of the table. Such card determines the set and is left on the table until after the first trick has been played; then the dealer takes it into his hand.
Since there is no bidding, the player on the dealer's left leads immediately to the first trick. The maximum card that leads wins each trick. In scoring, each trick is worth one point, but players may count only the tricks that their partnership takes in excess of six. Game score is seven.
In Bid Whist, the trump is determined by the players and not by the turning of a card. Thirteen cards are dealt to each of the four players, and the bidding is opened by the player on the dealer's left. No suits are mentioned, but each player bids the number of tricks that he estimates his side can take in excess of six, or he passes. Each bid must be higher than the preceding one.
The player who makes the highest bid names the trump suit, and the play for tricks proceeds as in Whist. If the bidding partnership successfully makes its bid, it scores one point for each trick taken above six. When a bid is not made, the opponents score the bid plus one point for each trick by which the bid is defeated.
Contract Whist is a natural combination of two games--- Whist and Contract Bridge. The bidding and scoring are identical with that of Contract Bridge, and the pay for tricks is exactly like the play in Whist.
Norwegian Whist, on the other hand, is a form of Whist in which play is always in no-trump. Like the other Whist games, it is a partnership game, and hands of 13 cards are dealt to each of the four players. Beginning with the player on the dealer's left; each player has an opportunity to bid either a grand or a nullo, or to pass. A grand bid is a contract to take a majority of the 13 tricks; a nullo, to lose the majority.
If the first three players pass, the dealer is obliged to bid, but as soon as a bid is made by any player, that is where the play begins. When the bid is a grand, the player on the bidder's right makes the first lead; when it is a nullo, the player on the dealer's left leads first.
Now, when a grand is bid and made, the bidding partnership scores four points for each trick above six. But if the bidders are unsuccessful, the opponents score eight points for every trick they take above six. In a nullo contract, there is no penalty for a bidder's failure; either partnership may score four points for each trick that its opponents take above six. Of course, the pair who gets 50 points at first wins the game.