Boston (card game)

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Boston is a historical card game named after the North American city of Boston , which is said to have been invented in the 18th century at the time of the American struggle for freedom , but the game is probably a bit older and of French origin. Boston contains elements of the whist , but also the quadrille, and was particularly popular in the 19th century.

Boston's popularity was relatively short-lived, but it was very influential in the development of card games as the second major game after the L'Hombre family to use the principle of bidding or bidding . In contrast to L'Hombre, the goal of the game was also changed when bidding (for example: not to take a trick), not just the conditions for achieving the goal of the game. This particularly had an impact on games in the Tarock family.

The rules

General

Boston is played with a pack of whist cards (i.e. , 52-hand French playing cards ) among four people; a second package is used to make color ( Couleur ). The exposed sheet indicates the best color. Is it z. For example, red, the other red color is the second best, and the two blacks are in the third row. The value of the cards is natural, and the four highest hands are paid as honors , as in whist.

Each is given thirteen leaves in two or three tosses.

The object of the game is to take as many tricks as possible or none at all , depending on the bid . The forehand has the right to be the first to bid.

The games

The bids are in ascending order

  • Boston : The player agrees to take at least five tricks.
  • Greater Boston : The player undertakes to take at least six tricks.
  • Petite misère :
  • Grande misère :
  • Indépendance : The player agrees to take at least seven tricks.
  • Grande Indépendence (eight stitches)
  • Philadelphia (nine stitches)

The highest games are called:

  • Souveraine (eleven stitches)
  • Grande Souveraine (twelve engravings) and
  • Concordia (every thirteen stitches)

But she only announces the color in which she wants to play when she is left with the game. The hindquarters can either outbid with the same number of stitches in a higher color or with a larger number of stitches.

If you play alone, as is usually the case, you have to report it immediately, otherwise you no longer have the right to reject someone who says " Whist ", that is, offers to assist. When five tricks ( Boston ) are announced, the assistant must take three tricks. If six tricks, seven tricks or eight tricks are announced, the assistant must win four tricks.

If nine tricks or more are announced, the announcer must play alone.

The suit played by whoever has called the most tricks is trump . You have to use color, but there is no pressure to stab.

Besides the games already mentioned, you can now also

  • Petite Misère (ouverte) ,
  • Grande Misère (ouverte) ,
  • Misère troquante ,
  • Misère à quatre as and
  • Revolution

to be announced.

All of these are games where the important thing is not to take a trick. In Petite Misère the player puts down a card, in Misère troquante he swaps one from his hand, in Misère à quatre as he shows the four aces and then only needs to follow the last three tricks ; in Révolution all four reveal the cards and three discuss how to teach the player a trick. It is clear that Misère à quatre as is the easiest to win.

In the event that all four have passed, Misère générale is still played, with the loser who gets the most tricks.

literature

  • Boston . In: Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg (Hrsg.): Extended game rule book from Altenburg , Verlag Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik, Leipzig 1983, p. 48ff
  • Detailed presentation of the Boston card game, for self-teaching, digitized
  • Latest playbook. Contains: L'Hombre, Whist, Boston, Piquet, Tarok, along with all other popular card games; Everything presented briefly and comprehensibly, based on experience, and described for young and old, p.95ff

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Dummett : The Game of Tarot , 1980, 498