Pippins Aplenty

Pippins Aplenty is a trick-taking card game for four players, playing in fixed partnerships. The suits form a trump hierarchy that emerges over play, with the new top trump being set by the lowest card above the current trump-setter. Points are scored by capturing in tricks cards below the threshold, with cards of weaker suits worth more.

It is a slight work-in-progress, and rules are subject to change. Significant changes will be documented, and links to any old distinct rulesets will appear here.

Rules

The game is played with a 'standard' 52-card pack of cards. Cards rank from 2 (low) up to Ace (high) in 'standard' order. Additionally you will need something with which to keep score — a Cribbage board should do fine, although you will take several trips round it, and so will need something to mark this, such as coins, or chips.

Play is for four, with two against two. Partners should sit opposite, after having been agreed by any suitable means. The initial dealer is chosen by any agreeable method.

The deal

Dealer shuffles, and then the player to right of dealer cuts. Dealer then deals thirteen cards singly to each player, clockwise.

The discard

After inspecting their hand, each player selects one card and places it face-down in front of them. Once each player has done so, the four cards are turned face-up for all to see. These cards take no further part of the deal, and are removed from play. Once everyone has had a chance to look, they are placed in a 'discard pile', which is a face-down pile located to the left of dealer.

The tricks

After the dicards, the player to the left of dealer (eldest) leads a card to the first trick. Play continues clockwise; each subsequent player must follow suit if they are able, otherwise may play any card. The trick is won by the highest trump played (see below), or if no trumps are played by the highest card of the suit led.

The side winning the trick scores immediately for its value (see slightly more below). The winner of a trick leads to the next, and play continues in this fashion until everyone's hand is empty.

If no side has won, then another hand is played, with deal passing to the left.

Trumps

Play starts with no trumps. After the end of the first trick, the lowest-ranked card is placed face-up to the left of the dealer, next to the discard-pile, starting an area called the reaches. If more than one card is tied for lowest rank, the last played is used. The suit of this card will be the single trump suit for the second trick.

The cards of the reaches determine the trump suits. They are always displayed in rank order, partially overlapping, with the highest on top. There will be at most one card of each suit. Any suit represented in the reaches is a trump suit. Cards from the top suit outrank all cards from the next suit down, and so on. All trump cards outrank non-trumps (if any).

From this point onwards, the lowest-ranked card which is higher-ranked than the highest card of the reaches is added to it, becoming the new top card. Any previous cards of that suit in the reaches are removed, and placed in the discard pile face-down. If more than one card is lowest-ranked in this way, the last played is the one that counts. If a trick contains no cards higher-ranked than the top reach, the reaches remain unchanged.

Scores

Each trick is worth a single point for winning. In addition, the cards contained in the trick may be worth points, depending on their rank and their suit.

Any card ranked above the highest reach card are worth nothing. Cards ranked the same, or below, it, are worth a number of points that depend on their suit, as follows:

In addition, any card which matches the rank of a reach card counts double.

If this is confusing, an example hand is given below with some explanatory text. Additionally, a video of a different hand (with no explanation) is provided here. The reaches are shown at the top, and there is slight annotation of score breakdowns in the score section.

Ending the game

After a deal has finished, dealer passes to the left, and another hand is started, in the same fashion.

A game runs to a pre-agreed number of points, which should be a multiple of 120. The side that first crosses this threshold wins the game immediately, and if a hand is in-progress, the remainder of the hand is abandoned. This is conveniently scored on a Cribbage board, with each side receiving a coin or token of some kind to indicate how many laps they have completed. Note that the team must score at least one more than the target number - if they land on it exactly they must still score one more point to win.

A quick game is 240 (i.e. first team scoring 241 wins - twice round a large Cribbage board). A decent length would be 600. For a longer session, probably 960 would suffice.

Example hande

The scoring / trump suits are perhaps best clarified by means of an example hand, as described in the following table:

Trick N E S W N E S Score Reaches at start of trick Notes
Discard 2♥ 7♣ 5♥ 5♦ N/A N/A This happens simultaneously
1 6♣ 8♣ 2♣ T♣ 1 No reaches yet; just the point for the trick
2 8♦ 9♦ 3♦ 2♦ 5 2♣ Diamonds are non-trumps (worth 2 now), matching rank makes it double - 2♦ is worth 4
3 4♥ K♥ Q♥ 3♥ 7 2♣ 3♦ 3♥ is non-trump (now worth 3), and matching rank means it's double
4 J♣ Q♣ K♣ 5♣ 1 2♣ 3♦ 4♥ No cards at or below reach cards - just the trick point
5 9♥ 2♠ A♥ 3♣ 7 3♦ 4♥ 5♣ Clubs are worth 1, Spades are 4 (only remaining non-trump). The 2 is therefore 4, the 3 is in reaches, so doubled for 2. Total (with trick-point) is 7
6 9♣ 6♥ A♣ 4♦ 9 3♦ 5♣ 9♥ H=1, C=2, D=3, S=4 (NT). 2x2 + 1 + 0 + 3 + 1 = 9. Hearts is top trumps, so the 6 wins. Reaches fixed now - Spades remain non-trumps.
7 5♠ A♠ K♠ T♠ 21 3♦ 9♥ A♣ Each worth 4, except A which is double, making 21 total with the trick-point!
8 A♦ 6♦ T♦ 7♥ 15 3♦ 9♥ A♣ Hearts outrank diamonds, so 7 wins. 2x3 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 15
9 6♠ Q♠ 4♠ 4♣ 14 3♦ 9♥ A♣ Clubs are top trumps. No mathching ranks, so Spades are 4 each, and Clubs just 1.
10 Q♦ 8♥ K♦ 9♠ 17 3♦ 9♥ A♣ Hearts outrank Diamonds; Spades are not trumps. 3 + 2 + 3 + 4x2 + 1 = 17
11 7♠ J♠ J♥ J♦ 14 3♦ 9♥ A♣ 4 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 1 = 14
12 T♥ 7♦ 8♠ 3♠ 18 3♦ 9♥ A♣ 2 + 3 + 4 + 2x4 + 1 = 18; Hearts wins the final trick

Contact

If you have any thoughts about the game, or questions / any other feedback, feel free to get in touch at: pippins 'at' repiqued-interests.co.uk.