Card Games: Whist Group

Games of this group form a good introduction to trick taking, as the rules are very straightforward. You just deal out the cards and play tricks. The cards have their familar rank from ace (high) down to two (low). Despite their apparent simplicity, these cannot be the oldest trick taking games because:

1. in the earliest games the king was highest and the ace (or one) was in its logical position next to the two - promotion above the king came later;
2. whist has trumps, an idea probably introduced from tarot - the earliest trick taking games would almost certainly have been without trumps.

• Ruff and Honours (precursor of Whist)
• Whist (the classic game)
• Minnesota Whist (or Norwegian Whist, played without trumps, the players choosing whether the object will be to win or to lose tricks.)
• Hokm (a Whist-like game from Iran, in which one of the players chooses trumps)
• Arpaa Turup is a more distand relative, played in Somalia with 144 cards.

• Sergeant Major, 8-5-3, 9-5-2 - played in many countries
• Tribello - a North American game
• Manni - an Icelandic game
• Mizerka - a Polish game

• German Whist is a version of classic for two players.
• Knockout Whist is a children's game, playable by any number from two to seven.
• Another Two-Player Whist, based on Norwegian or Minnesaota Whist.

• Games in which the aim is to take at least as many tricks as you bid will be found in the Boston group
• Games in which the aim is to take the exact number of tricks that you bid the Exact Bidding group