Auction Calypso

Auction Calypso is a card game for four players, playing in fixed partnerships. It is a variant of the 1950's Trinidadian card game Calypso.

Overview

The core features of the game are as in ordinary Calypso — a trick-taking game, with each player having their own personal trump suit, and the aim being to collect Calypsoes (runs of thirteen cards in these suits). The key difference in Auction Calypso is that players' trump suits are not fixed throughout the game, but an auction determines the set of trump suits for each deal.

How to Play

Players

In Auction Calypso, as in Standard Calypso, four players play two against two, with partners sitting opposite. If not pre-determined, choose partners by any method agreed by all parties, and choose an initial dealer.

If you really need some guidance in determining this, then you can refer to the procedure used in Calypso.

Equipment

The game is played with a 'standard' double-pack of 104 cards — half the amount of an ordinary Calypso game. This can be made by shuffling together two 52-card packs (ideally with identical backs), or by removing the jokers from a Canasta double-pack. Before the game, ensure the full pack is thoroughly shuffled together.

You will need a means of keeping score (and related details). A blank sheet of paper is fine.

It is also useful to have a set of suit indicators and renounce indicators. Suit indicators are a set of markers, one for each suit. These are placed in front of each player at the beginning of a hand, as a reminder what their trump suit is (as unlike standard Calypso this will change from hand to hand). The renounce indicators are an additional set of suit markers per player, which are used as in standard Calypso to flag when a player fails to follow suit, as the nature of the game means previous tricks cannot be inspected, and with the cards in play varying from one hand to the next it is a bit harder to track.

Calypsoes

Each partnership will have up to four Calypsoes in-progress on the table, one for each suit. Two will be laid in front of each player of the partnership, although it does not matter which. Each of these should comprise face-up cards of the same suit, running from 2 (on the left of the player in whom they are in front of) to the Ace (on their right). Any cards not present should have an approximate gap left where it should fit in to the sequence. Each partnership's Calypsoes should be laid oriented with respect to their partnership, so that opposition Calypsoes appear with individual cards sideways-on, and the Calypsoes running vertically (see image below).

The layout of a game of Auction Calypso, on the right. North/South have their cards at the top and bottom. East/West have cards on the left and right. Both sides have partial Calypsoes in all suits. On the left is the newly dealt set of cards for the new hand.

Setup

The game consists of a pre-determined number of thirteen-trick hands, which should ideally be a multiple of four. Four is a short game, whilst sixteen is a fairly decent session (towards a couple of hours). Twelve is probably ideal.

Depending on the length of the game, and player preference, there are two possible ways to set the game up. The first, which is probably less suitable for a shorter game, is to simply do nothing. The setup is done!

Drafting

The second option is to begin with a draft. The initial dealer deals out eight cards from the top of the deck, face-up to the table. Each player then in turn, beginning with the player to dealer's left and going clockwise, takes one of these cards, and adds it to one of the four Calypsoes of their partnership. A player may not take a card already present (suit and rank) in their own Calypsoes. If a player (for this reason of duplicates) is unable to take any card, they instead turn a card face-down, so that it may not be taken by either side.

Once all eight have been taken by players of each side (or turned face-down), dealer lays another eight face-up, and the process repeats, this time with the player opposite dealer choosing first. After this, there are two further rounds of eight cards dealt followed by players choosing, each time with the first player moving round, so that each player gets the first pick once. After the fourth round, the setup is complete. Any cards left face-down from the four rounds are added to the remaining pack, and these cards are all once again thoroughly shuffled. There will be up to (and usually fairly close to) thirty-two cards on the table.

The Deal

At the start of each hand, dealer deals thirteen cards, in ones, to each player moving round clockwise starting with the player to their left. Any cards leftover (which their often will be) are set face-down in a pile next to dealer, taking no further part in the hand. Player may then pick up their hand of thirteen cards and inspect them.

The Auction

Before the play of the cards, there is an auction to determine the contract. On a players turn to speak they may either:

Make a higher bid than any previous bids
Pass
Double an opponent's bid, or redouble an opponent's double

The auction continues in this fashion until three players in a row pass. A player, having passed, still has the right to bid or double/redouble on future turns.

A side may double a bid of the opposing side, and a side may redouble an opposing double. Any subsequent bid cancels any doubles/redoubles in effect.

This auction procedure is very much (deliberately) like that of Contract Bridge. The key difference (aside from the nature of the bids themselves) is that if the initial three bids are passes, dealer is obliged to bid — hands may not be passed out.

A bid consists of:

Optionally one (or more) Calypsoes
A number of points, which must be a multiple of 10, and at least 220
A suit

Each bid must have at least as many points as the previous bid. Additionally, a bid is higher than another if:

It has a higher number of Calypsoes, or
It has the same number of Calypsoes but a higher number of points, or
It has the same number of Calypsoes and points, but a higher-ranking suit, with suits ranking as in modern Bridge ♣ < ♦ < ♥ < ♠

Thus the lowest possible bid is 220♣, followed by 220♦, and so on. These are all outranked by bids of '1 and 220♣', '1 and 220♦', etc. Note that the non-decreasing points requirements means certain pairs of bids can't happen together — if someone bids 230, then a player cannot bid '1 and 220' (as the points total is not allowed to decrease), but if a player bids '1 and 220' a player may not bid '230' (as this is a lower-ranked bid, having fewer Calypsoes). A bid with the same number of points but more Calypsoes is allowed to have a lower-ranking suit, so for example a bid of '300 ♥' is ranked lower than '1 and 300 ♣'.

When the auction is finished, the final player to bid is the declarer, and has a contract to make a certain number of points, and possibly Calypsoes.

Making Trumps

The suit that declarer named in their winning bid will be their trump suit. But in addition to this, declarer must then choose trump suits for the other three players. They may choose freely, subject to the requirement that each player has a distinct trump suit (and thus each suit is the trump suit of some player).

Declarer announces these suit allocations, and ideally some sort of suit marker is placed in front of each player to indicate their trump suit for the hand.

If not already done, before play it should be noted how many cards are present in the calypsoes of declarer's side in the suits which they have for the hand.

Play

The play of the hand now begins, with left of the dealer leading to the first trick, and the winner of each trick leading to the next.

Trickplay follows the same rules as in Standard Calypso.

When a player wins a trick, as in Standard Calypso they take any cards of their partnerships (current) trump suits that are not represented in their team's in-progress calypsoes and add them.

If a player completes a calypso in a trick, they gather the cards in a pile and leave it with the Ace face-up next to the calypso area. They can then immediately start on their next calypso, including any cards remaining of the trick in question.

Teams each have a (face-down) trickpile in which they put any cards won that they cannot put into calypsoes.

Once all thirteen tricks have been played, the deal is scored.

Resolving the hand and selling cards

There are three possible sources of points that can contribute to fulfilling declarer's contracted points total. These are:

Trickpile cards
Cards-required bonus for any calypsoes bid and made
'Selling' of cards from calypsoes-in-progress, if needed and desired

Firstly both sides count the number of cards in their trickpile. These count as 10 points each towards the contract.

Then, if declarer bid and made any calypsoes, they add the cards required bonus to the total points from trickpiles.

There are then three possibilities of the outcome.

Outright win

If the total of points from declarer's side's trickpile (at 10 apiece), and any cards-required bonus, sums to at least the value of the contract, then declarer's side are said to win outright, provided they also make the number of calypsoes bid.

If they do not, then there are two other possibilities, depending on the number of cards taken in calypsoes.

Limbo

If declarer's side make the number of calypsoes bid, but do not make the required number of points, then there are two possibilities: either they are in limbo, or they have lost outright.

To determine which, they count up the number of cards they added to calypsoes that hand as a partnership (which they can determine from the number of cards in-progress they had before the hand, which should have been noted); this is their selling cap.

Declarer then has the option to 'sell' up to this number of cards if it would take them above the total point value required for their contract. Selling a card means removing it from a calypso-in-progress and returning it to the pack. Each card sold is worth 20 points.

If it is possible for them to sell enough cards to make their contract, then they are in limbo. Otherwise, they have lost outright.

There are a few points to note:

If declarer chooses to sell, they must sell the minimum number needed to take the total to their contract value. They may not sell any more, or any fewer.
Declarer may not sell more cards than their selling cap. They may sell exactly that many.
They may choose to sell any cards in the two suits their side has just played in, regardless of whether they were won in that hand or were already present. They may not sell cards of the other two suits.
Declarer is free to either sell the cards they need, or not sell and fail the contract. Declarer must decide alone, without consulting their partner.
It may be that they do not have enough cards on the table to sell, even if their selling cap is high enough. This can happen if their side completes a calypso in the hand. If this is the case then they will be unable to sell, and thus lose outright.

Outright loss

If declarer cannot make the contract points even with selling, or if they fail to make the number of calypsoes bid, they are said to lose outright.

In this case they are not permitted to sell any cards.

Scoring

Once the outcome is resolved, the hand is scored. The score for the hand depends on the outcome, and whether the contract was doubled or redoubled.

Successful contract

A successful contract scores the points bid. If declarer's side takes more points than bid, then any points in excess of the contract (overpoints) are also scored, but only at half their value.

If the contract was only made with selling cards, then no overpoints are scored (even if selling would take you to 10 points above the contract). Declarer's side simply scores the value of the contract.

For an outright win, doubled/redoubled contracts simple double/quadruple the points earned for the contract.

Otherwise, if the contract was doubled, then in addition to the point-value of the contract, declarer's side scores the value of any points earned before selling (i.e. points from trickpile and any cards-required bonus if any Calypsoes were bid), if any. If the contract was redoubled, they score this value tripled.

Unsuccessful contract

If declarer's side fails (whether outright or by opting not to sell cards), they lose the value of the contract, and additionally lose the points deficit between the points taken and points bid.

If it was an outright loss, then if it was doubled/redoubled, this loss is multiplied by 2 or 4 respectively.

If it was a loss from limbo (i.e. declarer opted not to sell), then in addition to the lost (contract + deficit), if doubled / redoubled they lose the deficit again, multiplied by 1 / 3 respectively.

Cards-required bonus

If declarer's side has bid and made some number of Calypsoes, they also receive a cards-required bonus, which depends on the number of cards that were required to complete the Calypso. This bonus counts towards the points for the bid, and scores in exactly the same way as the trickpile points.

The value of this bonus depends on how many cards declarer's side needed, before the hand began, to complete the Calypso.

The scoresheet should indicate the number of cards that the side had towards the completed Calypso at the start of the hand. The number of cards needed is simply thirteen less this value. So for instance a side having 10 cards towards a Calypso at the start of a hand would receive a 'cards required' bonus corresponding to three cards.

The value of this bonus is equal to 100 points for the first card needed, and 80 more for each additional card. So for three cards needed the bonus would be 100 + 80 + 80 = 260.

A table of the cards-required bonuses may be useful for reference:

Cards required	Bonus
1	100
2	180
3	260
4	340
5	420
6	500
7	580
8	660
9	740
10	820
11	900
12	980
13	1060

If a side takes more Calypsoes than bid, the cards-required bonus counts for the suit declarer bid. In the unusual event a side takes more than one Calypso in the same suit, the cards-required bonus (if applicable) counts for the first Calypso.

Calypsoes

Either side making a Calypso scores 500 each (in addition to any contract points, if scored by declarers).

The exception to this is if declarer's side fails to make their contract — in this case any Calypsoes made do not score for their side. Defenders always score for any Calypsoes made.

If declarer bid any of these Calypsoes, they also gain the Calypso-bid bonus.

Calypso points do not count towards the points-value of a declarer's contract.

Calypso-bid bonus

For any Calypsoes bid and made, a side gets a flat bonus of 400 points.

This is in addition to the cards-required bonus, and the 500 points for completing a Calypso.

These 400 points do not count towards the points value of the bid.

Defenders

In addition to any Calypsoes made, defenders score for the cards in their trickpile at 5 each (i.e. at half the value they count towards declarer's side).

Scoring examples

Some scenarios should help to clarify how the scoring works. In all cases N/S win the auction.

T: trickpile cards, P: cards added to in-progress, C: Calypsoes made, R: cards required
Winning bid	Declarers							Defenders				Notes
	T	P	C	R	Score			T	P	C	Score
	T	P	C	R	-	X	XX	T	P	C	Score
290 ♣	33	7	0	-	310	620	1240	3	9	0	15	Declarers win outright. They make 20 overpoints, from the 4 excess trickpile cards.
290 ♣	22	10	0	-	290	510	950	14	6	0	70	Declarers in limbo, and choose to sell 4 calypso cards. The extra for (re-)doubled contracts is the 220 from trickpile points.
290 ♣	22	10	0	-	-360	-430	-570	14	6	0	70	Declarers in limbo, and choose not to sell. As well as the contract value, they lose the 70 points deficit, appropriately multiplied.
290 ♣	22	2	0	-	-360	-720	-1440	14	14	0	70	Declarers lose outright, as their selling cap is too low.
290 ♣	33	7	1	-	810	1120	1740	3	9	0	15	As the first example, but declarers make an unbid Calypso for 500 extra.
1 & 290 ♣	20	8	1	2	1235	1525	2105	10	14	0	50	Declarers make 200 + 180 (2 cards required) contract points, for 290 + 45 (=90/2) overpoints. Also get 500 for Calypso, and 400 for Calypso-bid bonus

Ditching

After the hand is scored, players have the option to ditch cards — meaning to remove them from Calypsoes-in-progress and return them to the pack for the next hand.

There is no score for doing so, but it may be used to help reärrange awkward Calypsoes, or put a side in a position to be eligible for a higher cards-required bonus.

Additionally, no side may have more than twenty-six cards on the table at the start of a hand, so any side having more than this number at this stage must ditch some number to come under the limit.

The procedure is this:

The opportunity to ditch starts with declarer, and moves round to the left, as in the auction or in cardplay
On a player's opportunity to ditch, they either ditch one or more cards, or say 'pass'
Players may ditch as many cards as they like, and whichever cards they like. They can be from any suit, or any combination of suits
If a side has more than twenty-six cards on the table, on their first opportunity they must ditch as many cards as needed so that they end up with twenty-six or fewer cards on the table. On subsequent turns they may ditch or not as desired
This continues until all four players pass consecutively

The next hand

If there are further hands to play, then all cards not in Calypsoes-in-progress (i.e. cards from trickpiles, cards that have been sold, cards that have been ditched, and any cards that were leftover from the deal) are gathered together and shuffled. This forms the pack for the next hand.

The dealer for this next hand is the player to the left of the previous dealer. The next hand is then dealt, and play continues as before.

Ending the game

The game is played to an agreed-upon number of deals, which should be a multiple of four. Sixteen is a good length game. If you are playing a short number (eight, or even four), it is probably a good idea to start the game off with the drafting setup.

All Fours Auction Calypso

You can also play Auction Calypso game using the All Fours version of Calypso.

If so, for a reasonable balance it may be necessary to adjust some of the score values, particularly the Calypso-bid bonus and the cards-required bonuses.

So far I have not played enough All Fours Calypso to have a sense of the relative difficulty of making Calypsoes, which would inform sensible scoring choices for the auction form.

Previous versions

See v0.0.1 for information on previous iterations of the Auction Calypso rules. It was substantially different, and probably didn't work too well.

Contact

Auction Calypso was devised by me, as a variant of Calypso. It is still somewhat of a work-in-progress, though I think it is approaching something that works.

If you have any thoughts on the game then please do get in touch, I would love to hear from you.