I wrote about the game of whist, which was the favorite game of Phileas Fogg, protagonist in the novel “In eighty days around the world” by Jules Verne.
I wanted to show you a game that Phileas Fogg could play if he had really lived. I had a problem because there are many variants of Whist, and the Verne’s book is not clear about Fogg’s favorite variant. I already described simplest Whist variant but I also pointed out, that Fogg could play so called “Solo Whist”. This variant was especially popular in the XIX century in England and today is still known in UK.
Solo Whist resembles other types of Whist. It’s a game for 4 people, played with a full deck, each player gets 13 cards and goal of the game is to win tricks (or to lost them but more on that later). A characteristic feature of the Solo Whist is the bidding. During bidding players use French terms to declare a contract. Most often the declarer plays against the three other players, and that’s why this variant is called “Solo”.
Cards to play whist solo
To play Solo Whist you need a standard card deck with 52 cards (from Aces to Twos).
Cards rank
There is cards rank in Solo Whist. The highest card is an Ace, then King, Queen, Jack and spots. So rank from the highest to lowest is: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
Cards dealing
The dealer deals all 52 cards, faces down, starting from the player on his left. Cards are dealt clockwise. The last card goes to the dealer, who reveals it. This card determines the trump suit.
This last card belongs to the dealer.
The bidding
Whist in all its forms is a trick-taking game. Four played cards form so called trick. The trick is won by the player who played the highest card.
However in Solo Whist, before the play begins, players declare what they can achieve during game. Bidding (also called the auction) is started by the player to dealer’s left and goes clockwise.
Each player can make make one of possible bids.
- Proposal and Acceptance – the player who says “I propose” undertakes to win at least 8 tricks together with a partner. Partner is the other player who will say “I accept”. Each player may also pass or bid higher.
In “proposal and acceptance” the suit of the turned up card is a trump suit.
Note: If the first bidder says “pass” and second or third bidder says “I propose”, the first bidder may then accept the proposal. It’s the only one exemption when player can bid after he had passed.
Note II: If no one accepts a proposal there is no game. Cards are shuffled and dealt again. - Solo – the player who declares “solo” commits himself to win at least 5 tricks with the suit of the turned-up card as a trump.
- Misère – the player who says “misère” undertakes to lose every trick. In “misère” game there is no trump suit.
- Abondance – the player who declares “abondance” commits himself to win at least 9 tricks. In “abondance” the trump suit is freely chosen by the bidder.
- Abondance in Trumps – the player who says “abondance in trumps” undertakes to win at least 9 tricks, but using the suit of the turned up card as trump suit.
- Misère ouverte – player who declares “misère ouverte” undertakes to loose every trick and also to place his or her cards face up on the table after the first trick is complete. In “misère ouverte” game there is no trump suit.
- Abondance declared – the player who declares “Abondance declared” (or abondance déclarée) commits himself to win all 13 tricks. In “abondance declared” there is no trump suit
There is a rank of bids and I presented possible bids in ascending order. The proposal and acceptance is a lowest bid. Solo is higher, misère is higher than solo and so on. Abondance declared is the highest possible bid.
During bidding subsequent players can either pass or bid higher.
If someone bids and three other players pass, bidding is over and the player with a highest bid becomes the declarer. The declarer may raise contract if he wants to.
It is not possible to return to the auction after passing, except one case described above (in the proposal and acceptance). This distinguishes Solo Whist from Contract Bridge.
The last highest bid becomes the contract, and the winner of auction becomes a declarer.
The play
Typically, the player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick. There is one exemption. In Abondance declared (highest bid), the declarer leads the first trick. Then subsequent players play their cards (clockwise). They must follow suit led. Only when player has no card of the suit led, he (or she) may play any card.
Four played cards form so called trick. The trick is won by the player who played the highest card in the suit led.
The exception is when someone played card in the trump suit. Then the trick is won by the player who has played the highest card in the trump suit.
Note: Player can play card in the trump suit only if he don’t have a card of the suit led. He always have to follow suit if possible.
The winner of the trick leads the next trick.
Playing with higher card to win trick is not mandatory. You can play low card to keep a strong card for later.
The play continues until all thirteen tricks are played.
Aim of the game
The aim of the game is to win points for making a contracts. The number of hands played is not strictly defined. You can end the game after any number of hands.
The scoring (first option)
There are different scoring systems for solo whist. Some of them were developed with the aim of playing for money, others are more “sporty”. I will show you two options. First is “sporty”.
Scoring system is based on the following table.
| 1. For wining or losing contract – for declarer | 2. For wining or losing contract – for opponents | 3. For overtricks or undertricks – for declarer | 4. For overtricks or undertricks – for opponents | |
| Proposal and Acceptance | 4 (points for declarer and partner) |
4 | 1 (points for declarer and partner) |
1 |
| Solo | 12 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Misère | 24 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Abondance | 36 | 12 | 6 | 2 |
| Abondance in trumps | 36 | 12 | 6 | 2 |
| Misère ouverte | 48 | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Abondance declared | 72 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
If declarer made a contract he gets a number of points from the first column (for wining or losing contract – for declarer). At the same time his opponents loses as many points as shown in the second column (in other words they get minus points).
If declarer fails to make the contract, he or she gets minus points (in number from the first column). Opponents get as many points as shown in the second column (for wining or losing contract – for opponents).
Players also earn or lose points for overtricks and undertricks. Overtrick is every trick won above the contract. Undertrick is every trick short of the contract.
Example I: Player declared “solo”. He had to win 5 tricks, but won 7 tricks. He gets points for making the contract (12 points), plus points for two overtricks (2 * 3 = 6 points). In total he gets 18 points.
His opponents lose points per contract (-4 points) and for overtricks (2 * -1 = -2 points). They get -6 points.
Example II: The player who declared abondance wins only 7 only tricks. Contract was not made. He gets minus points for contract (-36 points) and minus points for 2 undertricks (2 * -6 = -12 points). So in all he gets -48 points.
Opponents get points for the contract (12 points) and two points for undertricks (2 * 2 = 4 points). So opponents get 16 points.
In some contracts overtricks and undetricks may not occur – eg. in misère wining only one trick means fail to make a contract.
Scoring (second option)
Another scoring system is designed to play for money. It assumes that there is some basic monetary bid (unit) and winning contract multiples this bid. In this system, there are no points for undertricks or overtricks, only for the contract.
Bidder is paid by all three opponents and pays all three if the bid fails. So you can win 3 units in total for solo (1 from each opponent). You can also lose 6 units if you fail to make misere (3*2=6 units).
| Kontrakt | Wygrana |
|---|---|
| Proposal | 1 unit |
| Acceptance | |
| Solo | 1 unit |
| Misère | 2 units |
| Abondance | 3 units |
| Abondance in Trumps | 3 units |
| Misère ouverte | 4 units |
| Abondance declared | 6 units |
This game is very cool. Just try it! You should also learn something about the simplest variant of whist. I described it in other article: Play whist like Phileas Fogg, part I.
About the painting
At the beginning of this text I put an image of gentlemen playing cards. Unfortunately, they do not play Solo Whist, or even Whist. The image is titled “The Four Friends Playing l’Hombre” (by Danish artist Malthe Engelsted). L’Hombre is an interesting old game, a relative of whist solo. Probably I’ll describe it in the future :-).
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