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This group of games, though played with the international 52 card pack, often including a joker, originated in the Orient, probably in Japan. They are point trick games in which the aces, kings, queens, jacks and often also the tens are worth one point each, for a total of 16 or 20 card points in the pack.

Usually there is a trump suit, and often the ace of spades has the special power of beating all other cards, including the trumps, even though it is subject to the rules of following suit: it can be forced out by spade leads if the holder has no other spades, and it cannot be played when another suit (including trumps) is led, unles the holder has no card of the led suit. The ace of spades, when it has this special power, is known in Japan as the almighty or mighty (in Japanese a version of the English word is used: ohrumaiti or maiti); formerly it was called speculation (in Japanese: supekyureishon, some still call it supeki).

The earliest game of this group that we know of is the Japanese game Etori, which means capturing pictures. It is described in Sekai Yugihoh Taizen ("The World Encyclopedia of Games") by Matsuura Masayasu (1907), where it is said to be a variation of Whist. On this site you can find rules for:

• Napoleon is a game with bidding, currently popular in Japan.
• Mighty is a related game, played in Korea.

Other games of the group, to be added later, include

• Kan - a partnership game for five players - two against three - played in Aomori prefecture in Japan, especially at Goshogawara.
• Two-Ten-Jack, a game with extra scores (positive or negative) for twos, tens and the ace of spades, which is played in Japan and probably originated there, but also appears in several American card game books.