Vidrasso

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Tricks
4. Setup
5. Choosing trumps
6. The gift card
7. Playing a hand
8. Scoring
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Vidrasso is a trick-taking game for two with an upside-down twist: the Ace is the strongest card in each suit and the 9 the weakest – but every card scores its number in points, so the weak 9 is worth 9 and the mighty Ace only 1. Part of your cards lie face up on the table as strawmen, so your opponent can see some of what you hold. Every hand, one player picks a trump suit and the other a trump rank, whose four cards beat everything. Collect the most valuable cards over several hands; the first to 300 points wins.

• Players: exactly 2.
• You need: 36 cards from a standard deck (Ace to 9 in all four suits), paper and pencil.

Vidrasso was designed by the Canadian designer Sean Ross (known for Haggis) and published free on the web in 2021. The rules here are in our own words; the original rules are linked under Sources.

The cards

Take out the 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings and put them away; you play with the remaining 36 cards.

In every suit the cards rank from high to low: A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. The Ace is the strongest card of its suit, the 9 the weakest.

For scoring, each card is worth its number: an Ace 1 point, a 2 two points, and so on up to 9 points for a 9. All 36 cards together are worth 180 points.

Tricks

A trick is one card from each player. The first player leads a card, the other plays a card to it, and the stronger card wins both. The winner of a trick leads to the next one.

Setup

1. Cut for the first dealer: whoever cuts the lower card deals. After that, you take turns to deal.
2. The dealer shuffles and deals each player a row of five cards face down in front of them.
3. Then the dealer deals five cards face up, one on top of each face-down card. Each of these little piles – a face-down card with a face-up card on top – is a strawman. Each player has five.
4. Finally, each player gets a hand of 8 cards. That uses up the whole deck. Look at your hand; you may not look at the face-down cards in the strawmen.

Choosing trumps

Now you set the trumps for this hand. One player chooses the trump suit, the other the trump rank:

• First hand: the non-dealer chooses first. They may pick either the trump suit or the trump rank; the dealer then picks the other one.
• Later hands: the player with the lower score chooses first. If the scores are equal, the player who chose second last time chooses first.

Trump suit. Any of the four suits. Its cards beat all cards of the other three suits.

Trump rank. Any rank from Ace to 9. The four cards of this rank are the strongest cards of the hand – stronger even than the trump suit – and they are all equal. Each of them still belongs to its own suit for following suit (see below).

Example: Hearts are trumps and 7s are the trump rank. From weakest to strongest: the other suits (9 … A), then the hearts (9♥ … A♥, without the 7♥), then the four 7s. The 7♣ beats the A♥, and the 7♥ is no stronger than the 7♣.

The gift card

After the trumps are set, each player chooses one card from their hand and puts it face down in front of the opponent. This is the start of the opponent's capture pile, where they will also put every trick they win. The opponent scores this card at the end of the hand but may not look at it.

Giving a card is a hard choice: a 9 gives your opponent 9 points, an Ace only 1 – but it may be the Ace you would rather keep for winning tricks.

Playing a hand

The non-dealer leads to the first trick. After that, whoever won the last trick leads. You always play from your available cards: the cards in your hand and the face-up top cards of your strawmen.

• Leading: play any available card.
• Following: if you can follow suit – play a card of the suit that was led – you may either follow suit or play a trump (a card of the trump suit or of the trump rank). If you can't follow suit, you may play any card.
• A trump-rank card counts as a card of its own suit. If a 7♣ is led and 7s are the trump rank, the other player must play a club or a trump, as for any club lead.

Who wins the trick?

1. If one trump-rank card was played, it wins. If both cards are of the trump rank, the second one wins.
2. Otherwise, if a card of the trump suit was played, the higher trump wins.
3. Otherwise, the higher card of the suit that was led wins.

The winner puts the trick face down on their capture pile. Then both players look at their strawmen: if a face-up card was played and the face-down card under it is now uncovered, turn it face up. It is available from the next trick on – never during the trick in which it was uncovered.

Example: Hearts are trumps, 7s the trump rank. Anna leads the 5♣ from a strawman. Ben has clubs, but he may still trump: he plays the 8♥ and wins – a trick worth 5 + 8 = 13 points. Anna now turns up the card under her 5♣: the 4♥. Ben leads next.

Each player starts the play with 17 cards (5 strawmen, 5 cards under them and 7 in hand), so a hand has 17 tricks.

Scoring

When all 17 tricks have been played, each player adds up the cards in their own capture pile – including the gift card they received. Write the totals down and add them to your scores.

Example: Anna won 8 tricks, Ben 9. But Anna caught more 8s and 9s: her capture pile, gift card included, is worth 94 points, Ben's 86. The two totals always add up to 180. After the first hand the score is 94 to 86.

The dealer then changes, and you deal a new hand.

Winning the game

The first player to reach 300 points wins. If both reach 300 in the same hand, the higher total wins. (The rules don't cover an exact tie – play another hand.) For a longer game, play to 500.

Tips for beginners

• Low ranks, high points. Winning a trick with an Ace or a 2 is easy, but those cards are worth little. What counts is catching your opponent's 8s and 9s.
• Pick trumps that fit your hand. A trump rank of which you hold two or three cards gives you strong cards; a trump suit in which you have many cards lets you trump often.
• Your strawmen are an open book. Your opponent sees your face-up cards and can plan against them. Play strawmen early to uncover the hidden cards underneath – or keep them to hide what is in your hand.
• Think about the gift. A high gift gives points away, but a low card from a suit you want to be void in can be worth more.
• The second trump-rank card wins. If your opponent leads a trump-rank card, one of yours beats it.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• Long game: play to 500 points.
• Score with chips: the designer suggests a bank of chips worth 700 points (1100 for the long game). After each trick, the winner takes its value from the bank – no adding up at the end.