1. Whistling Diesel
2. Whistleblower
3. Whistle Diesel

Whist: 1 n a card game for four players who form two partnerships; a pack of 52 cards is dealt and each side scores one point for each trick it takes in excess of six Synonyms: long whist, short whist Types: dummy whist a form of whist with three players; four hands are dealt with the hand opposite the dealer being face up Black Maria.

Whisht definition is - hush —often used interjectionally to enjoin silence. Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Whist is played by four players. They play in two partnerships with the partners sitting opposite each other. Players cut or draw cards to determine partners, with the two highest playing against the two lowest.

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Whist, trick-taking card game developed in England. The English national card game has passed through many phases of development, being first recorded as trump (1529), then ruff, ruff and honours, whisk and swabbers, whisk, and finally whist in the 18th century. In the 19th century whist became the premier intellectual card game of the Western world, but bridge superseded it in this position by about 1900. Partnership whist, with four players in two partnerships, remains popular in Britain in the form of social and fund-raising events called whist drives.

Partnership whist

In the classic game each player received 13 cards from a 52-card deck ranking A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The last card dealt (to the dealer) was shown and established the trump suit. Eldest hand (player on dealer’s immediate left) led to the first trick, and the winner of each trick led to the next. Players followed suit if possible; otherwise, they could play any card. The trick was taken by the highest card of the suit led or by the highest trump if any were played. The side capturing the most tricks scored one point per “odd trick” (over and above six tricks). If either partnership held three or four of the “honours” (ace, king, queen, and jack in the trump suit), whether in one hand or between the two partners, they scored two or four points, respectively, unless this brought them to “game” (winning score), when honours were ignored. Game was five points (British) or seven points (American), and reaching it precluded the other side from scoring for honours. The winners counted a single stake or game point if the losers made three or four points, double if the losers made only one or two points, and triple for a whitewash (“shutout”). The first to win two games added two game points for the rubber.

As now played in Britain, honours are ignored, and no card is turned for trump. Instead, the trump suit cycles through hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs every four deals, or sometimes five deals with a no-trump turn. A predetermined number of deals are played, and the cumulative score determines the winner.

Solo whist

Solo whist, a nonpartnership game still popular in Britain, derives from whist de Gand (Ghent whist), a Belgian simplification of Boston whist.

Four players each receive 13 cards in batches of four-four-four-one; the last card dealt to the dealer is turned faceup to establish a preferred trump suit. Each player in turn, starting with eldest hand, may bid or pass. Each bid must be higher than the last, and passing prevents a player from bidding again.

The bidding rises as follows:

• 1. Proposal and acceptance (“prop and cop”). An offer to win at least eight tricks with the preferred suit as trump and in temporary alliance with whoever will accept the proposal. Bid by saying, “I propose,” or just “Prop.” Provided that no other bid has intervened, a subsequent player may accept the proposal by saying, “I accept,” or, traditionally, “Cop.”
• 2. Solo. An offer to win at least five tricks with the preferred suit as trump.
• 3. Misère. An offer to lose every trick, playing at no trump.
• 4. Abundance (“a bundle”). An offer to win at least nine tricks with any trump suit of the bidder’s choice, as yet unspecified.
• 5. Royal abundance. The same as abundance but with the preferred suit as trump.
• 6. Misère ouverte (or spread misère). The same as misère but with one’s hand of cards spread faceup on the table after the first trick has been played and gathered in.
• 7. Slam. An offer to win all 13 tricks at no trump but with the advantage of leading to the first trick.

If eldest proposes and no one accepts, eldest may (but need not) bid solo. If eldest passes and a subsequent player’s proposal is not overcalled, eldest may (but need not) accept the proposal. If all four players pass, the deal is annulled and passes to the left.

The last and highest bidder becomes the soloist in the stated contract. Dealer then takes the turned-up card into hand, and eldest leads to the first trick, or the soloist leads in the case of a slam. Play of tricks follows whist rules.

The soloist (or, in prop and cop, each partner) receives from or pays to each opponent in accordance with an agreed schedule, such as prop and cop 10, plus 2 per over- or undertrick; solo 10, plus 2 per over- or undertrick; misère 20; abundance 30, plus 3 per over- or undertrick; spread misère 40; and slam 60.

Some schools omit payments for over- or undertricks. Scores may be kept in writing. A game is any agreed number of deals divisible by four. There are many variations.

Bid whist

Bid whist is a lively partnership trick-taking game especially popular with African Americans. Four players each receive 12 cards from a 54-card pack that includes two jokers marked or otherwise differentiated as “big” and “little.” The remaining six cards go facedown as a “kitty.”

In high bids (“uptown”) cards rank A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2; in low bids (“downtown”) they rank A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K. In trump bids the top trumps are big joker, little joker, ace, and so on, downward to deuce (uptown) or king (downtown). In no-trump bids jokers are powerless and are normally discarded before play begins.

Each player in turn, starting with eldest, has one chance to bid. Each bid must be higher than the last. If the first three players pass, the dealer must bid. The lowest bid is three—a bid to take three “books” (tricks) more than six, or nine books total—with a trump suit not yet specified. A bare number represents an uptown bid. The next-lowest bid is three low, which is also a bid to capture nine books but with the downtown ranking of cards. This is beaten in turn by three no trump—whether high or low is not specified unless this bid wins. Thus, the bids from lowest to highest are three high, three low, three no trump, four high, four low, and so on. (Some variants rank high and low bids equal.)

If playing in a trump suit, the highest bidder announces trump, picks up the kitty (in most variants the declarer “sports,” or exposes, the kitty to all the players), and takes it into hand. If playing at no trump, the declarer announces high or low and takes the kitty into hand without showing it. In either case the declarer then makes any six discards facedown, and these count as the first of the partnership’s tricks. In some variants at no trump every player holding a joker must randomly swap it for a card from the facedown discards.

Declarer leads to the first of 12 tricks, played as in classic whist. At no trump a joker can never win a trick; it may be discarded only when its holder cannot follow suit, and, if one is led, the next card played establishes the suit to follow.

If successful, declarer’s side scores one point per book made above six. If not, the side loses one point per book contracted. (In some variations the opponents score one point for every book made above six.) All scores are doubled at no trump. The game ends when one side wins by reaching an agreed target (typically seven points) or loses by reaching minus the target score. Winning all 13 tricks is a “Boston” and scores 7 points (in some circles it is quadrupled, or 28 points), which is generally sufficient to win immediately.

With two jokers the lowest bid is sometimes four. Some play with only one joker and a five-card kitty. Some play without jokers and either a four-card kitty or none at all. In the latter case 13 tricks are played, and the lowest bid is one.

This page is partly based on a contribution from Alan Holdsworth.

Introduction

German Whist is an adaptation of classic Whist for two players. There is nothing German about it - as far as I know it is of British origin.

Whistling Diesel

Players and Cards

This is a game for two players only, using a standard pack of 52 cards ranked A(high) K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 (low) in each suit.

Deal

The players agree who should deal first, and the turn to deal alternates after each hand. The deal is 13 cards each, dealt one at a time. The stock of undealt cards is placed on the table, face-down except for the top card which is turned face-up and placed on top of the stock. The suit of this face-up card determines the trump suit for the hand.

Play

The play is in tricks and consists of two stages: in the first stage the players compete to win good cards from the stock to add to their hand; in the second stage, when the stock is empty, the object is to win the majority of the tricks. The non-dealer leads (plays the first card) to the first trick.

A trick consists of one card played by each player. The person who plays first to a trick may play any card, and the other player must play a card of the same suit if possible. Having no cards of the suit led, the second player may play any card. If both cards are of the same suit, the higher card wins the trick. If they are of different suits the first player wins unless the second player played a trump, in which case the trump wins.

When you win a trick you must take the face-up card from the top of the stock and add it to your hand. The loser then takes the next card of the stock, which is face-down, without showing it to the winner, so that both players again have 13 cards in their hands. The two cards played to the trick are turned face down and set aside, the top card of the remaining stock is turned face-up. This does not change the trump suit - the suit of the card turned up at the start of the play remains trump until all the cards have been played. The winner of the trick just played leads a card to the next one.

Play continues in this way until, after 13 tricks have been played, there are no cards left in the stock. The winner of the 13th trick leads, and the play continues without replenishment until after 13 more tricks both players run out of cards. In this second stage each player keeps the tricks they won in front of them, and whoever wins the majority of the 13 tricks of this second stage wins the hand.

Tactics

Notice that tricks won in the first stage do not count towards winning the game; the sole aim in the first stage is to collect cards that will enable you to win the majority of tricks in the second stage. Therefore you only try to win a trick if you judge that the exposed card on top of the stock is likely to be better than the card underneath it. For example if hearts are trumps and the exposed card is the 5 you would definitely try to lose the trick, as the next card is likely to be better. Even if the exposed card is average (say the J) you would not use a high card to win it, as all this would achieve would be to replace a high card in your hand by an average one.

Variations

In the game described above, the requirement to follow suit in the first stage of the game cannot be enforced in practice. In many cases, a player who later produces a card of the suit he previously claimed not to have could have drawn that card from the stock. Therefore the game is often played without the requirement to follow suit in stage 1 - in this stage the second player may play any card, though only a higher card of the same suit or a trump wins the trick.

Some count all the tricks towards winning, rather than just the tricks in stage 2. The player who wins the majority of the 26 tricks wins, and if each player takes 13 the game is drawn.

Whistleblower

Jonny Groves has developed a variant Honeymoon Whist that incorporates both the above variations and adds two jokers to the deck.

Software

Malcolm Bain's German Whist program for Windows is available from Card Games Galore.

A shareware program for playing German Whist against your computer or an online opponent can be downloaded from MeggieSoft Games.

Whistle Diesel

PyGermanWhist is a free German Whist game that can be played against the computer.