Derda

• Introduction
• Players, Cards and Objective
• Bonuses
• Deal and Bidding
• Play
• Scoring
• Comments and Uncertainties

Introduction

Derda is a two-player jass game which was once popular in Poland, particularly among cinkciarze (illicit currency traders), gamblers and other denizens of the underworld, and as such it was generally played for money. Its peak popularity was during the communist era of Poland. At first it was mostly played in Łódź and Warsaw, but by 1960 it had spread to the whole of Poland. It was featured in the movie Sztos (1997), and Zienkiewicz’s book is a story revolving around derda as a game of the underworld. It is closely related to Clobyosh.

Nowadays Derda is largely forgotten and only a handful of enthusiasts keep it alive (or at least remember the rules), including notably Ryszard Zienkiewicz. This page is based on information from Ryszard Zienkiewicz’s book „Derda” (Gorzów Wielkopolski 2020) and a 1994 article from Gazeta Stołeczna, “Derda dla Dwojga”, the author of the aforementioned book, contributed by Jakub "JayJay" Kowalski.

Players, Cards and Objective

Two play using a 32-card French suited pack, the cards being A K Q J 10 9 8 7 in each of the four suits. The dealer's opponent has priority, being the first to receive cards in the deal, the first to bid and the first to play in the first trick of the deal.

The card rankings are typical for a jass game:

• Trumps rank from high to low: Jack, 9 (called minela), A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7.
• Plain suits rank from high to low: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7.
• For the purpose of forming sequences the cards rank from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7. This ranking is also called the “derda ranking”.

The cards also have point values:

• Ace – 11 points
• 10 – 10 points
• King – 4 points
• Queen – 3 points
• Jack – 2 points

the remaining cards (9s 8s and 7s) are worth no points at all.

The objective is to be the first to achieve a cumulative score of 500 points over as many deals as it takes. Points are scored for cards taken in tricks and also for bonuses - see below. Score is kept by one of the two players and using a special notation, described below.

Bonuses

Bonuses are also called “words” (słowa), because most of them have an associated jargon word to describe them. These points are counted when tallying up points for the hand at the end of the play.

• Trump Jack – 20 points
• Minela – trump 9 – 14 points
• Derda – holding and declaring a sequence of three consecutive cards in one suit – 20 points
• 50 or fuf – as derda, except with four consecutive cards – 50 points
• Belo or bello – holding and declaring the King and Queen of trumps – 20 points
• Sztoch – winning the last trick – 10 points

The trump jack and minela are scored by the player who took the trick containing them and sztoch is scored by the winner of the last trick. Note that, unusually for a jass game, the trump jack scores both as a regular jack (2 points) and as a word (20 points), meaning that it scores twice for a total of 22 points.

Derda and 50 are scored only by the player that has the best sequence (see: Play).

Deal and Bidding

The first dealer is normally chosen by drawing cards. The pack is shuffled and whoever draws the higher card in trump order is the first dealer (if equal ranked cards are drawn the draw is repeated). Players may agree to use a different ranking order if they prefer, for example it was also common to use the sequence order when choosing the first dealer.

Normally the winner of each hand deals the next hand. If there is no winner, either because the hand is passed out or because there is a sztajnbajt (tie), the deal passes to the previous dealer's opponent. Sometimes the deal may stay with the previous dealer as a result of a “commercial offer”, as described later.

The deal is in two parts, between which there are one or two rounds of bidding to choose the trump suit. The player who chooses trumps commits themselves to score more points for the hand than their opponent. As soon as a player chooses trumps the bidding ends.

First part of the deal

The dealer deals six cards to each player in packets of three, starting with non-dealer. The 13th card is turned up for the suggested trump suit, and the remaining cards are stacked crosswise on top of the the turned-up card so that half of the turn-up is visible.

First round of bidding

In the first round of bidding only the suggested trump suit can be chosen. The non-dealer must say either "play" to choose the suggested suit as trumps or "pass". If the non-dealer passes the dealer has three options:

1. to say "I play", choosing the suggested suit as trumps,
2. to say "pass", rejecting the suggested suit as trumps, in which case there will be a second round of bidding,
3. to ask the non-dealer "how many times?" (are you passing), offering to choose the selected trump suit if the dealer passes a second time. The dealer must respond either "once" or "twice". If the answer is "once" the dealer must play with the suggested trump suit. If the answer is "twice" the cards are thrown in for no score and a new hand is dealt by the previous non-dealer.

Option 3 is equivalent to the "Schmeiss" option in Clobyosh.

Second round of bidding

If both players pass in the first round of bidding, there is a second round in which only a trump suit different from the suggested suit can be chosen.

The non-dealer begins and may either choose and name a trump suit that is not the suit of the turned up card or pass or make a "commercial offer".

If the non-dealer passes the dealer must either pass or choose a trump suit different from the suit of the turned up card.

If both players pass, the cards are thrown in for no score and a new hand is dealt by the previous non-dealer.

A "commercial offer" by the non-dealer is an offer to throw in the hand in exchange for some form of advantage, consisting normally of a number of points scored and/or "cards" which means that the same player must deal again. The dealer may accept the offer, refuse it or negotiate by making a counter-proposal. If the dealer accepts, the terms of the offer are implemented, the cards are thrown in and there is a new deal; if the dealer refuses or the players fail to reach an agreement the non dealer must choose a trump suit different from the turned up card and play. For example the non-dealer might offer "20 and cards" to which the dealer might reply "15 and cards". If the non-dealer accepts this, the cards are thrown in, the non-dealer scores 15 points and there is a new deal in which the same player deals again. If the agreed terms were just a number of points without "cards" the non-dealer would score these points and become the dealer for the next hand.

Second part of the deal

If a trump suit has been chosen, the dealer completes the deal by giving each player another packet of 3 cards from the undealt portion of the pack, and again laying the remainder of the cards crosswise on top of the turned up card. The top card of the remainder is turned face up and placed on top of the stack of cards. This card takes no part in the play - it just provides information to the players that this card is not in play.

So the players now have 9 cards each and in the centre of the table there is a face up card on top of which is a stack of 13 cards laying across it with its top card face up.

Play

Before the lead to the first trick, if the suggested suit was chosen as trumps and a player holds the 7 of trumps, they may exchange this 7 for the face up trump indicator card, taking the original indicator card into their hand and leaving the 7 on the table in its place. A player may choose not to exchange the 7 of trumps, for example if that 7 can be used to complete a sequence (derda or 50).

The non-dealer leads to the first trick and thereafter the winner of each trick leads to the next.

• If a trump is led the opponent must play a higher trump if they have one. If unable to beat the trump led they must play a lower trump if possible. If they have no trumps at all they may play any non-trump card.
• If a non-trump is led the opponent must follow suit if possible, but is not obliged to beat the card that was led. If the opponent has no card of the suit that was led they must play a trump. Having no trumps and no cards of the suit led they may play any card.

In either case, the trick is taken by the highest trump played, or the highest card of the suit led if no trumps have been played to the trick.

In order to score the bonus for a sequence of 3 or 4 cards the player must declare it when they play their card to the first trick. The principle is that the player with the highest sequence scores for all their sequences and the opponent scores nothing for any sequence they hold. The highest sequence is determined as follows:

• a 50 beats a derda.
• If both players have a meld of the same length, the meld with the higher ranking highest card wins.
• If the highest card doesn’t break the tie, the non-dealer's meld wins.

Note that in Derda, unlike Clobyosh, a trump sequence does not beat a non-trump sequence of the same rank and length. If the dealer has J-10-9 of trumps and the non-dealer has J-10-9 of another suit, the non-dealer's derda wins.

To declare a sequence, the player simply says “derda” or “50”. If they hold more than one sequence, they only name the highest sequence they hold (e.g. if a player holds a 50 and a derda, they declare “50”).

If the non-dealer declares a sequence, the dealer responds “good” if they don’t want to declare a sequence of their own that could be better than the one that was declared, or "not good" if they want to declare a sequence that is definitely better (a 50 against non-dealer's derda).

If the dealer wants to declare the same type of sequence is the non-dealer, the dealer asks “how high?” and non-dealer names the highest card in their sequence. For example an AKQ derda wins against the opponent's KQJ as its highest card (A) is higher than the opponent's highest card (K).

Once the holder of the best sequence has been determined, this player can also declare any other sequences they hold. Their opponent may require this player to show all their declared sequences immediately or before the lead to the second trick.

Belo is declared and scored during the play of cards, when showing the declared melds or when playing cards to the last trick. When a player shows a derda/50 that contains a belo (e.g. KQJ), plays either card of the belo to a trick, or plays their final card having held a belo, they say “belo”.

The player who takes the last trick automatically gets 10 points for sztoch.

Scoring

Once all nine tricks have been played, both players count their points, starting with “words” (bonus points for declared sequences and bello, top trumps and the last trick), then card points. Remember that the trump jack is counted twice: once as a word and once as a 2-point card.

• If the declarer got more points than the opponent, both players score what they took and the declarer becomes the next dealer.
• If the defender got more points than the declarer, that’s called a bajt (pronounced like English “bite”; equivalent to bate, bête). In that case, the defender scores all the points - both the points they took and all points made by the declarer - while the declarer scores nothing. The defender becomes the next dealer.
• If the players tie with equal numbers or points, that’s called a sztajnbajt (pronounced “shtine-bite”). In that case the defender scores the points they made but the declarer’s points are held in abeyance, and are awarded to the winner of the next played-out deal. The defender becomes the next dealer.

The game is won by the first player whose score reaches a total of 500 or more points over as many deals as it takes. If at the end of a deal it turns out that both players have 500 or more points the declarer of the final hand wins the game, regardless of who ended with more points above the target score.

A player who, counting points in their head, believes they have reached the target score of 500 after winning a trick may say “enough” and end the game early. They can count all the cards in tricks they have won so far, and also their successfully declared sequences and belo if held. If they are right in thinking that they have at least 500 they win the game - even in the case of a declarer who would have lost their points in a bajt or sztajnbajt had the play continued to the end. If a player says "enough" when they do not have as many as 500 points, their opponent wins the game irrespective of the scores.

A player is only allowed to say "enough" after winning a trick. A player cannot win the game on a deal in which they took no tricks at all, even if they successfully declared sequences with enough value to take them over 500. If a player who takes no tricks achieves a total score of more than 500 by means of words alone (sequences and/or belo) and the other player, who won all the tricks, does not reach 500, there is no score and the deal must be replayed. This also applies in the case where the defender's words alone were enough to make the declarer bajt and the declarer did not say "enough" before the last trick.

Derda Notation

The score is kept by one player, using a system of digits and tallies, similar to those used at Tartli or Klaverjassen:

• 10 is a horizontal line along the baseline “_”.
• 20 is a vertical line “|”.
• 30 is written as a combination of 10 and 20, which results in an “L” shape.
• 50 is written as a shape with an open top – V-shaped if written in one go, or as a square-bottomed U if constructed from previous 20s and/or 10s.
• 80 is written as a shape with an open bottom, same as 50 but flipped upside down.
• 100 is written as a full shape – O-shaped if written in one go, triangular if constructed from a 50 or 80, or square if constructed from a square shape or from previous 20s and/or 10s.

Units are written with Arabic numerals under the shapes.

The units will accumulate over the course of the game, so it’s convenient to convert them into shapes every few hands. For example, let’s say that across three deals one player got 5, 7 and 9 units under their shapes. The sum of these numbers is 21 – the scorekeeper might want to simplify the notation by writing the 20 as a vertical line and the remaining 1 as a number under the shapes.

Sometimes it might also be more convenient to use negative numbers for the units. For example, in the first hand one player got only 18 points. The scorekeeper might consider writing it as a horizontal line (10) with an 8 below to be awkward notation, so they might opt to write it as a vertical line (20) and -2 below. But in the end, the exact manner in which these shapes and tallies are used is up to the scorekeeper.

Example of the notation in a finished game of derda:

The player on the left has five full shapes, meaning 500 points, and the 5 underneath denotes 5 units, total of 505 points. Player on the right only has three full shapes, three vertical lines and a total of 7 units underneath, totalling at 367 points.

Variations

The target score, confusingly sometimes called “derda”, which is also the name of the 3-card sequence and of the whole game, is usually set at 500 points. However players may agree on a lower or or higher target for a shorter or longer game.

Comments and Uncertainties

Zienkiewicz’s rule about the case in which a player achieves 500 points by words alone is a little hard to understand. He writes (in translation):

"Points for declaring a derda, 50 or belo, which are enough to finish the derda [collecting 500 points.] require having taken a trick in order to count. Without taking a trick, one cannot win the game, even if the amount of points for words is enough to bajt the opponent. In that case the deal must be redone."

We have interpreted this to imply that it is possible to score points for words without taking a trick provided that they do not take the player above 500. It is only in endgame situations where scoring in the normal way would cause a player to win the whole game despite winning no tricks in the final deal that the cards have to be redealt.

An alternative interepretation could be that words can never be scored by a player who takes no trick. This would be a viable rule, and it is found in some other jass games, but if this were the rule there would seem to be no justification for replaying the deal if the trickless defender had enough in words to bajt the declarer - it would be more natural to say that since word points do not count without a trick, the declarer simply wins in this case, scoring for all the cards taken.