Sloppy Seconds

Contributed by Peter Schell (peterschell@hotmail.com)

Players

3 or 4

Equipment

Standard 52 card deck - no jokers

Object

Score the second most number of points of each suit in each hand.

Deal

Deal out all the cards evenly. If three are playing, remove the 2 of Clubs.

Play

Player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick. Standard trick taking rules apply. The first player leads a card, the others must follow suit if they can otherwise they may play any card. The highest card of the led suit takes the trick unless a trump suit is played in which case the highest trump takes it. At the start of the hand, however, there is no trump suit yet. Winner of the trick leads the next one.

Rank and Scoring

Each card is worth its face value with Jacks=11, Queens=12 and Kings=13. Aces rank highest for taking tricks but are only worth one point for scoring.

Setting Trump

The second suit to be "broken in" during a hand immediately becomes the trump suit. A suit is "broken" when it is played after a different suit was led. The first suit broken in becomes ineligible for trump. The second suit can be broken in during the same trick as the first broken suit or during a subsequent trick.

Scoring

At the end of the hand, each player separates and totals the points they won by suit. Players then compare their scores for each suit.

Players who are first or tied for first get no points for cards of that suit.

Players who are second or tied for second get the points for cards of that suit.

Players who are third or fourth get no points for cards of that suit.

Anyone who scores less than five points for a hand automatically get a score of five for that hand.

Play up to 300 or maybe 364 which is the total number of points in the deck. Remember, there are 91 points total for each suit.

Tips

Deciding a second suit isn't too difficult if given the opportunity. A player should break in his shortest suit first to make sure it doesn't become trump. A long trump suit may ruin your chances for making points for that suit but it allows you to capture a variety of other suits.