Mariáš♠

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Czech and Slovak marriage traditions

Mariáš is a Czech and Slovak marriage-family game, its name related to French mariage. German-suited Bohemian and William Tell patterns are traditional. This guide covers the basic three-person form, in which the lone player changes between deals, not auction Mariáš or the sitting-out four-person game. No single founding date is asserted. We use a unit ledger rather than money and the traditional payment scale below; competition scales and local shortcuts may differ.

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Choose trump before seeing everything

Use 32 cards, A K Q J 10 9 8 7 per suit. French Q replaces Ober, J Unter; clubs mean acorns, spades leaves, diamonds bells, hearts red. Play clockwise, random first dealer, right cuts, dealer rotates left. Shuffle initially, normally only gather and cut between hands. Deal forehand on dealer’s left 7, then each other player 5; next give 5 to everyone: 12, 10, 10. Forehand sees only the first 7, chooses a trump card face down from them or blindly from the other 5, then picks up the rest. Others may see all their cards.

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Five contracts, a changing lone player

Ascending order: Suit, Betl, Durch, Open Betl, Open Durch. Suit is only for forehand with chosen trumps: beat defenders’ combined points. Betl has no trumps and must lose all tricks; Durch must win all. Forehand cannot pass. For Suit keep selected trump aside and discard 2 other cards, never A or 10. For no trump return it to hand and discard any 2. Ask the other players clockwise: “good” accepts, “bad” takes talon, discards 2 and names a strictly higher contract. Repeat until both accept. Reveal Suit trump and return it to the playing hand: everyone has 10, talon 2 stays unused. New lone player leads.

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Follow, head and trump compulsorily

Suit ranks A 10 K Q J 9 8 7; no-trump ranks A K Q J 10 9 8 7. Follow suit and beat the current winner if possible, even your partner. Void in suit, trump if possible and overtrump if able; unable to overtrump you must still play a lower trump. Only void in both may you discard freely. Highest trump, otherwise highest led suit wins and leads next. In Suit only, holding K and Q together, play Q before K and announce 20, or 40 in trumps. It counts even if Q loses; leave it visible as a reminder, not an extra card. A and 10 score 10 each; last trick 10: 90 before marriages.

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Open contracts require extreme cards

In Open Betl or Open Durch, expose the remaining 9 cards after the first trick. Betl must already have lost that trick and all exposed cards must be lower than every outstanding opposing card of their suit. Durch must have won and all exposed cards must be higher than every outstanding opposing card of their suit. A single counterexample loses immediately, even if ordinary Betl or Durch could be won by clever timing. These are not merely ordinary contracts with visible hands. No marriage points or trump-seven bonus apply in any no-trump contract.

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Seven and hundred, announced or quiet

Before Suit play lone player may announce Seven, Hundred or both; defenders may announce against. Announced Seven must be kept whenever another legal play exists. Winning last trick with trump seven pays 1 quietly, 2 announced; losing it to a higher trump on the last trick pays the corresponding penalty, even if partner beats it. An announced Seven also fails if forced earlier. Hundred qualifies using trick points plus only one marriage: at least 60 + 40 or 80 + 20. Only after qualifying may other marriages increase its value. Quiet Hundred pays 2 at 100, 4 at 110, 8 at 120, doubling per further 10; announced pays 4, 8, 16. Failed announced Hundred counts only one marriage: 90 loses 4, 80 loses 8, 70 loses 16, doubling per further 10 short.

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Doubles and payments to both defenders

Base units: Suit 1, Betl 5, Durch 10, Open Betl 10, Open Durch 20. Hundred replaces the game payment; Seven is separate. Hearts trump doubles all Suit payments. After accepting Suit, defenders may flek game/hundred and Seven separately; lone player may re, then defenders tutti: factors 2, 4, 8 and so on. In no trump flek can accompany acceptance. A single defender’s call binds both. Sum signed components per opponent: value V gives lone player +2V and each defender −V, with signs reversed on failure. Play complete dealer rotations; highest net total wins. Traditional unplayed shortcuts: plain unfleked Suit is paid as won; with only announced Seven and only game flek, assume game lost and Seven won, net 0. Confirm these before play; a confirmed revoke pays both innocent players the greater of 10 units or full affected payment.

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A lost queen still declares forty

Hearts trump; game was fleked, no Seven announced. Lone player holds Q♥ K♥ and leads Q♥ announcing 40. First defender plays A♥, next 10♥: both follow; ace wins. Defenders take 20 card points, lone player keeps the 40 marriage and K♥ in hand. At deal end lone player has 60 trick points plus that marriage: 60 + 40 = 100 qualifies for quiet Hundred. Replace game with 2 units, multiply flek × 2 and hearts × 2: 8 per defender. Ledger: lone +16, defenders −8 each. No extra game point, no second copy of the queen, no need to have won its trick.

← On a small screen, scroll the diagram horizontally. →

Common questions