Calypso for Two
by Kerry Handscomb
This is a version of the card game Calypso for two players.
The following text is by Kerry Handscomb (of Abstract Games magazine), who kindly granted permission for it to be reproduced here.
Calypso for Two
Calypso for Two is a variant of the four-player card game Calypso, which originated in Trinidad in the 1950's. It was invented by R. W. Willis of Trinidad and developed into its finished form by professional Bridge player, Kenneth Konstam. For standard rules, I am referring to the book Calypso: The four-trump game by Josephine Culbertson, published in 1955.
In developing a version of the game for two, I was inspired by Sid Sackson's game Slam, which is a form of Bridge for two. Slam uses four cards per trick, two cards contributed by each player, simulating, as it were, a Bridge game with four players each contributing one card to a trick. Just as Slam cuts the deck down to 32 cards, so does Calypso for Two—but this time, of course, four 32-card decks! (Standard Calypso uses four 52-card decks.)
The rules below suppose a basic familiarity with trick-taking games.
Deck
Calypso for Two uses four 32-card Piquet decks shuffled together. It's best if they have the same backs. This deck is the same as that for Rubicon Bezique.
The cards rank in the order Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7 (low).
Play of the cards
One player will collect the Major Suits, Spades and Hearts; the other will collect the Minor Suits, Diamonds and Clubs. Cut for choice of Major Suits or Minor Suits.
The players cut for deal. Dealer deals 16 cards to each player face down. This is the first hand, which will be played in a series of eight four-card tricks.
When the first hand has been played through, the loser of the last trick deals another hand of 16 cards each from the remainder of the deck. And so on for a total of four hands to use up the whole deck and complete the game. Each hand is played through in eight four-card tricks, as explained below.
Non-dealer leads to the first trick in every hand. In all except the first hand, non-dealer will have won the last trick in the previous hand. The winner of a trick always leads to the next trick. This is the case even between hands: the winner of the last trick in the previous hand leads to the first trick in the next hand.
The play of the four hands is like a single deal in which the players replenish their hands every eight tricks when they run out of cards, while keeping the same player on lead.
Trumps
Before leading to the first trick in the first hand, non-dealer must declare which of their two suits is their "personal trump"; before responding to the first trick, dealer must do the same and declare one of their two suits as their "personal trump."
Thereafter, a player can change personal trumps to their second suit, but only after winning a trick to which the opponent led and before leading to the next trick. The same is true even between hands: the players' personal trumps do not change between hands unless a player wins a trick to which the opponent led and decides to change. There is no obligation to switch to the other suit, and a player can continue with the same suit as their personal trump even after winning a trick to which the opponent led.
During the whole game, a player's personal trump suit may alternate between their two suits several times. It's a good idea to use a marker to keep track of each player's current personal trump suit.
Tricks
Tricks consists of four cards each, following the system in Sid Sackon's game Slam. The players each play two cards, one at a time, alternating between them. Cards played to a trick must follow the suit of the card led if possible; if it is not possible to follow suit, a player can play any card to a trick. With only two players, each trick contains four cards, as if it were a four-player game.
To decide the winner of the trick, use the Calypso rules, as given in Josephine Culbertson's book, Calypso: The four-trump game. Interpreted for Calypso for Two, these are as follows:
- If a player leads a suit that is not the personal trump of either player, the highest value card of that suit played to the trick wins—unless one or more personal trumps is played to the trick, in which case the highest personal trump wins the trick.
- If a player leads their own personal trump, and it is not trumped by the other player, it wins no matter the values of other cards of the same suit played to the trick by the other player, even if they are higher.
- If a player leads their own personal trump, and it is trumped by the other player because of a void, the trumping player wins, no matter the values of any personal trumps played to the trick by the leading player, even if they are higher.
- If a player leads the personal trump of the other player, the other player can win only by playing the highest card in the trick of their personal trump—which effectively is not a trump suit for this trick. Of course, if the leading player has a singleton of this suit, they may trump it with their second play to the trick and win the trick no matter what cards the other player contributes to the trick.
- Two or more cards of the same value may be tied to win a trick—perhaps of the same suit or perhaps of different suits if they are both personal trumps. In either case, the first card played of that value wins the trick.
Regular Calypso keeps track of each player's void suits, where they don't follow suit, by using a marker. Players may do the same in Calypso for Two, but perhaps it is not so necessary in the two-player game.
Collecting Calypsos
The objective of the game is to collect Calypsos using the cards won in tricks. A Calypso is a full suit of eight cards, from Ace down to 7. Major Suit player collects Calypsos in Spades and Hearts; Minor Suit player collects Calypsos in Diamonds and Clubs.
When a player wins a trick, the player takes out any cards of their two suits from the trick that can be used in Calypsos. The remaining cards, of the opponent's suits and those of their own suits that can't be used, are set aside face down in their discard pile. Each player keeps their own discard pile to one side.
A player can only collect one Calypso in a given suit at a time. Cards of that suit already in the Calypso cannot be collected and must be discarded. When a Calypso is complete, with all eight cards, it is gathered up and set aside and a new Calypso in that suit is begun. If some cards from a given suit in a trick complete a Calypso, any other cards in that trick of the same suit are used to start the next Calypso rather than being discarded.
Scoring
Once all four hands have been played through, the players total their scores.
- The first Calypso in a suit scores 500 points; the second Calypso in a suit scores 750 points; a possible third or fourth Calypso in a suit, though unlikely, scores 1000 points.
- Every card in a player's incomplete Calypsos scores 20 points.
- Every card in a player's discard pile scores 10 points.
The player with the higher score is the winner.