Mariáš

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Choosing trumps
5. Choosing the contract
6. Bonuses and flek
7. Playing the tricks
8. Scoring
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Mariáš is the most popular card game in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Three players take part, and in each deal one of them – the lone player – plays against the other two, who work together as a team. Usually the lone player chooses trumps and tries to win more card points than the other two together; extra bonuses are paid for winning the last trick with the 7 of trumps and for reaching 100 points. Instead, a player may also undertake to lose every trick (Betl) or win every trick (Durch).

• Players: exactly 3 (four can take turns – see Variants).
• You need: a standard 52-card deck, and paper and pencil or counters to keep score.

Deal and play go clockwise.

The cards

Use 32 cards: take out all 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s. When there are trumps, each suit ranks from high to low:

A – 10 – K – Q – J – 9 – 8 – 7

In the no-trump contracts (Betl and Durch), the 10 drops to its natural place: A – K – Q – J – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7.

A trick is one card from each player; the best card wins all three. Card points come only from Aces and Tens in your tricks, 10 each, plus 10 for the last trick – 90 in all.

A marriage is the King and Queen of the same suit in one hand: 40 in trumps, 20 in any other suit.

Setup

1. Choose the first dealer at random; afterwards the deal passes to the left.
2. The player on the dealer's right cuts. The player on the dealer's left is forehand.
3. The dealer gives 7 cards to forehand, then 5 to the next player and 5 to themselves, then another 5 to each – forehand ends with 12 cards, the others with 10.
4. Forehand may look only at the first 7 cards for now; the other 5 stay face down. The others may look at all their cards.

(Traditionally the cards aren't shuffled between deals – they are just gathered, cut and dealt, so good players can remember where cards went.)

Choosing trumps

Looking at their 7 cards, forehand chooses the trump suit by placing one card of that suit face down on the table. Trumps beat all cards of the other suits. If forehand doesn't like any suit, they may instead put down one of the 5 unseen cards at random – its suit becomes trumps. Then forehand picks up the rest of their cards.

Choosing the contract

There are five contracts, from lowest to highest:

1. Suit – forehand only, with the chosen trumps: take more card points than the two opponents together (marriages count too).
2. Betl – no trumps: lose every trick.
3. Durch – no trumps: win every trick.
4. Open Betl – like Betl, but after the first trick the lone player's cards lie face up.
5. Open Durch – like Durch, with the lone player's cards face up after the first trick.

How it works:

1. Forehand names a contract – they can't pass. For a no-trump contract they take the trump card back into their hand.
2. Forehand discards 2 cards face down. In a suit contract, these may not be Aces or Tens.
3. Forehand asks the other two in turn (the next player first, then the dealer) whether the contract is "good". A player who says "bad" wants to play a higher contract (forehand then takes the trump card back into hand): they pick up the 2 discards, discard 2 cards of their own and announce the higher contract. Now they ask the others.
4. This goes on until both others say "good". The last one to announce is the lone player.

Bonuses and flek

In a suit contract, forehand turns the trump card face up and may announce:

• Seven: "I'll win the last trick with the 7 of trumps."
• Hundred: "I'll take 100 points or more." Only one marriage may count towards the 100.

Then each opponent in turn may say "flek" (double) to the game or to any announced bonus, or announce seven against or hundred against for their team. Forehand may answer a flek with "re" (double again), and flek the opponents' announcements; then the opponents may say "tutti", and so on, until one side says "good". After the announcements, forehand takes the trump card back into hand – it is played like any other card. In Betl and Durch, an opponent may answer "flek" instead of "good" when asked.

Unplayed game: if forehand plays a suit contract with no announcements and no flek, the cards aren't played – forehand simply wins the game.

Playing the tricks

The lone player leads to the first trick; afterwards the winner of each trick leads. The rules are strict:

1. Follow suit if you can – and beat the highest card of that suit in the trick if you can, even your partner's.
2. If you can't follow, you must trump, and overtrump if the trick is already trumped and you can.
3. If you can't beat the trump in the trick, you must still play a trump if you have one.
4. With neither suit nor trump, play any card.

The highest trump wins the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led. In Betl the deal ends (and is lost) as soon as the lone player wins a trick; in Durch, as soon as an opponent does.

To score a marriage, play the Queen first and say "20" or "40" as you play it. Leave the Queen face up in front of you as a reminder. It counts even if you lose the trick.

A player who announced seven must keep the 7 of trumps until the last trick, unless the rules force them to play it.

Scoring

Payments are counted in units. The lone player collects from each opponent, or pays each opponent. Every part is paid separately – you can win the game but lose the seven.

• Hearts trumps: every payment in a suit contract is doubled.
• Flek doubles the item it was said to, re doubles again, and so on.
• Seven: a failed announced seven costs 2. If a trump 7 is played to the last trick and beaten, that side pays 1 even if it wasn't announced. Seven against and hundred against work the same way for the opponents.
• 100 replaces the score for the game: a made announced 100 pays 4 (a quiet one 2) instead of the 1 for the game, not in addition. A failed announced 100 costs 4 at 90 points, 8 at 80, 16 at 70, and so on.

Example: Anna plays clubs and announces seven; nobody says flek. She takes 50 card points and declares a marriage in diamonds: 70 against 40 – game won (1). Her 7♣ wins the last trick (2). Ben and Carla each pay her 3: Anna +6, Ben −3, Carla −3. Had her 7♣ been beaten, she would have won 1 and lost 2 – paying each of them 1.

Winning the game

Play as long as you like – traditionally the session is over when you agree to stop. The player with the highest total wins.

Tips for beginners

• Choose trumps with care: with only 7 cards to look at, pick a suit where you have high cards and length.
• Chase Aces and Tens – nothing else counts. Try to catch the opponents' Tens with your Aces.
• Keep the trump 7 back for the last trick when you can, even without announcing it.
• Flek sparingly. A flek doubles your loss too.

Variants

All optional – agree before playing.

• Four players: the dealer sits out each deal, but pays or collects along with the two opponents.
• Auction Mariáš (licitovaný): everyone gets 10 cards and 2 go face down in the middle. Players bid through the contracts (seven, seven in hearts, hundred, … Betl, Durch, two sevens); the winner takes the 2 cards, discards 2 and plays at least what they bid.
• Two players (lízaný): 8 cards each, the rest form a stock. Draw after each trick; once the stock is empty, follow suit and beat if you can.
• Official scores: the Czech Mariáš Association pays 15 for Betl and 30 for Durch and has no open contracts.
• Killed seven: at some tables, an announced seven beaten in the last trick costs 3 instead of 2.