Knorri / Hörri
- Introduction
- Players and Cards
- Objective
- The Deal, Trumps and Invulnerable Cards
- The Play
- End of the Game
- Variations
Introduction
Knorri is an old Finnish card game for three or more players which resembles some versions of Skitgubbe (or Mas or Mattis).
The Swedish Academy Encyclopedia of 1936 has an entry about it containing references to mostly Finnish sources dating back to 1862. The name Knorri looks Swedish (very few Finnish words begin with two consonants) but no rules in Swedish are known. According to the 1936 encyclopedia, 'knorr' refers to the suit of clubs, but 'knorri' is also a drink of coffee mixed with alcohol. It is also conceivable that there is some etymological link between 'knorri' and 'narri' (fool) which suggests a connection with Durak or Stortok.
The game has an alternative name "Hörri", which is common in Western Finland and may also be a dialect word for fool.
An unusual feature of Knorri is that all the cards are seen by the players in the first phase, during which the players collect their hands, so that the second phase is in theory a game of complete information, all players knowing the location of all the cards.
The main source for detailed rules of this game is the book Korttipelikirja (ed. Ilmo Kurki-Suonio). Otava: Keuruu 1962. This book itself is based partly on translations of Danish and Swedish originals, but with the addition of some Finnish games including this one.
This page is based on information from Cristian Seres, Olli Salmi and Mikko Saari. Cristian Seres published a web page http://www.korttipelit.net/knorri [archive copy] about this game in 1990s.
Players and Cards
Knorri is a game for 3 to 8 players using a standard international 52 card pack in which each suit ranks from A (high) to 2 (low).
Deal and play are clockwise. The loser of each hand deals the next.
Diamonds are trumps and Clubs are "hard" (like the "anti-trumps" in some versions of Mas). Therefore:
- A club, spade or heart can beat any lower card of its own suit but cannot beat any card of a different suit.
- A diamond can beat any lower diamond.
- Any diamond can beat any heart or any spade irrespective of rank, but a diamond can never beat a club.
Equivalently:
- A spade or heart can be beaten by any higher card of its own suit or by any diamond.
- A club can be beaten by any higher club but not by a card of any other suit.
- A diamond can be beaten by a higher diamond but not by a card of any other suit.
Objective
There are two phases: in the first phase players collect cards, and in the second phase they play the cards they collected in phase 1, with the aim of getting rid of all their cards. The last player holding cards at the end of the second phase is the loser.
The only objective is not to be the loser. A player who acquires no cards at all in the first phase or who gets rid of all their cards in the second phase is safe and cannot lose.
The Deal
The dealer shuffles the pack and stacks it face down on the table. The top nine cards are taken from the pack and laid out face up on the table. According to preference these face up cards can be arranged in a circle or in any disorganised layout. All players can participate in laying out these nine cards.
At the start of the game none of the players has cards in their hand - these are acquired during phase 1 of the play.
The Play
First Phase
The player to the left of the dealer begins after which players take turns in clockwise order.
Each player starts their turn by turning the top card of the pack face up so that everyone can see it.
- If there is a smaller card of the same suit as the turned card face up on the table, the player must take it together with the turned card and store these two cards in a face down pile in front of them. If there are several smaller cards of the same suit as the turned card, the player may choose which one to take.
- If the turned card is a diamond and there are no smaller diamonds on the table, the player must take a face up spade or a heart of their choice together with the turned card and store these two cards.
If neither of the above options is possible - i.e. there is no face up card on the table that can be beaten by the turned card - the player leaves the turned card face up on the table along with the cards that are already there, and it can be taken by a later player.
The turn then passes to the next player who turns the next card from the top of pack and so on until the pack is exhausted. In this way each player accumulates a pile of cards in front of them, which will form their hand for phase 2.
When the pack is almost empty, players should keep track who has most recently taken a card from the table. When the pack is exhausted the last player who took a card from the table also takes any remaining face up cards and adds them to their pile.
During the first phase, if a player turns up a card and does not notice that there is a face up card that can be taken with this card, any of the other players can point it out and force them to take it.
Second Phase
Each player picks up the cards they collected in phase 1 and looks at them. If any player took no cards in phase 1 they are already out - they do not take part in phase 2 and cannot lose the game.
The cards are played in 'tricks', but these are rather different from tricks in a normal trick-taking game, because each player at their turn must either play a card that beats the card most recently played to the trick or pick up the bottom (lowest) card of the trick and add it to their hand.
When the top card of the trick is a spade or a heart the next player is always allowed to trump it with a diamond - there is no requirement to 'follow suit' in this case. However, since each play must beat the previous play it is necessary to play either a higher card of the same suit as the previous card or (if the previous card was a spade or heart) to play a diamond (trump).
The first trick is subject to special rules. It is begun by the holder of the two of clubs, who must play this card. If the same player holds further clubs in unbroken sequence with the 2, for example 
2-3 or 2-3-4 or 2-3-4-5 etc. these may all be played together. This option to play more than one card is only available as the first play in the first trick - subsequently players are only allowed to play one card on a turn, never a sequence .
A trick is complete when the number of cards in it is equal to the number of players that were in the game when the trick was begun. The cards in a completed trick are set aside out of the game, and whoever played the last and highest card begins a new trick by leading any card.
For the purpose of determining whether the first trick is complete, a sequence led by the first player counts as a single card. However, if a player picks up instead of playing to this trick, they only pick up the lowest club remaining in the trick, not the whole sequence. Example with four players: A plays 2-3-4, B plays 7, C plays J, D cannot or chooses not to beat the J so picks up the 2. The trick now consists of 3-4-7-J which still count as only three cards since the 3 and 4 were played together, so it is A's turn. A may beat the J, for example with the K, set the trick aside (since it now has four 'cards") and lead any card to start a new trick, or may pick up the 3 in which case it is now B's turn again. If B picks up the 4 then there will be only two cards left in the trick 7-J and two more cards will be needed to complete it. It is now C's turn either to beat the J (which is in fact the card that C herself played on her previous turn) or pick up the 7.
A trick may never be completed but instead may end when the only card that remains in it is picked up by a player, leaving the table empty. In this case the next player after the one who picked up the last card then begins a new trick by playing any card from their hand.
When a player plays their last card, they retire from the play and cannot lose. From then on their turn is skipped. If a player completes a trick by playing their last card, since they have nothing to lead the player to their left begins the next trick by leading any card.
Note that the number of cards needed to complete a trick is equal to the number of player that were in that game at the start of that trick. If players go out during a trick this does not reduce the number of cards needed to complete the trick. For example in a 4-player game if A leads 
8 to a trick, B beats it with her last card the K, going out, C picks up A's 8, D beats B's K with the A and A trumps D's A with the 
5 there are now three cards in the trick (K-A-5) and three remaining players (A, C, D) but the trick is not yet complete because there were four players in the game at the start of the trick. It is now C's turn and C must either pick up the K or beat the 5 with a higher trump. If C beats the 5 the completed 4-card trick is set aside and C now leads any card to begin a new trick which will only need three cards to be complete, since there are now only three players in the game.
End of the Game
The last player with cards remaining in the hand is the loser ("hörri") and becomes the dealer for the next hand.
Variations
Soft clubs
Instead of clubs being hard, players can agree to play with "soft" clubs. If the top card of the trick is a club it can be beaten by a higher club or by any spade, heart or diamond. So diamonds can trump all other suits, hearts and spades can trump clubs (but not each other) and clubs can beat nothing but lower clubs.
Scoring
Usually points are not counted but if players wish to score it is done as follows. When a player goes out of the game they score +1 point for each player still in the game at that moment. (Any player who collects no cards in phase 1 will score a point for each player who has cards at the start of phase 2). When the loser is determined that player scores as many negative points as the total number of positive points scored by all the other players so that the scores add up to zero. For example in a 4-player game the players in order of going out will score +3, +2, +1 and -6. A cumulative total is kept over a series of hands and the final scores show how much each player should pay or receive.
Last Card
Often it is required that a player who has exactly one card remaining must warn the other players by saying "last card". This announcement must be made before the next player plays. If a player forgets to announce that they have one card then on their next turn they are not allowed to go out but must take the bottom card from the current trick (or if the table is empty at that point they miss their turn and the following player starts the next trick).
Two packs
Using two packs it is supposed to be possible to play with more than 8 players. Some small adjustments to the rules are needed. There are two 2's of clubs so a method is needed to decide which of them should start. One way would be to mark the face of one of the 2's of clubs and the holder of the marked 2 of clubs should start. Presumably a card cannot beat an equal card - each card played to a trick must be strictly better than the previous card.
Phase 1 variants
Cristian Seres describes an alternative version of phase 1 which he played in the 1990's, in which each player takes all cards in the same suit that are lower than the turned card. In this version diamonds do not act as trumps in phase 1 - a player who turns a diamond when there are no smaller diamonds on the table takes no cards and leaves the turned diamond on the table.
Olli Salmi describes a variant with soft clubs in which phase 1 is similar to phase 1 of Mas. Three cards each are dealt to each player and the remainder stacked face down. Tricks consisting of two cards are played, the higher card irrespective of suit winning the trick. When playing to a trick a player may use either a card from their hand or the unknown top card of the stockpile. After playing from hand the player replenished their hand to three cards by drawing from the stock. The player of the higher card takes the two cards, stores them face down for phase two and leads another card. If two equal cards are played it is a bounce: the cards remain in place and the players involved play another card each to determine who takes the pile of played cards. A difference from Mas is that the players take turns to lead. If the players in clockwise order from the dealer A are A, B, C, D, E, then B and C play the first trick with B leading, C leads to the second trick played between C and D, D leads to the third trick player with E and so on around the table.