Mizzaire Rules

Overview

Mizzaire consists of 18 rounds and is played by 2 to 7 players. In each round the first player deals the appropriate number of cards to each player in a clockwise direction, dealing for themselves last. When dealing multiple cards each player should receive 1 card at a time with the dealer continuing in a clockwise direction until each player has all of their cards.

After each round the dealer role moves to the next player, always moving in a clockwise direction.

After the cards have been dealt the next card on top of the pile is turned over, this card will be known as the trump card. **With the exception of rounds 8, 9 and 10. See below for more details.

The trump card is placed in the middle of the table and is visible to all players. All remaining cards are left unturned.

Calling

After all cards have been dealt players may look at their cards and must call the number of tricks they aim to win for the current round. **With the exception of round 9 in which players must NOT look at their cards before calling.

Calls are made in a clockwise direction with the player immediately after the dealer calling first and the dealer calling last. All calls should be written down as a player will only earn points for calling correctly.

The total number of calls in a single round must not be equal to the number of tricks available. For example if a round has 5 available tricks the total number of calls cannot be 5. This means that the dealer of the current round may be forced to call higher or lower than they want to.

For example If the round has 5 available tricks and 4 tricks have been called with only the dealer left to call they must call 0 or more than 1.

If the total number of calls is more than the number of available tricks with only the dealer left to call they may call any number of tricks.

Trumps

‘Trumps’ refers to the final card turned over after each player has received all of their cards. A trump card is any card that follows the suit of the final card that was turned over.

Rounds

Mizzaire consists of 18 rounds. In rounds 1 to 7 each player receives a hand of cards appropriate to the current round. For example in round 1 each player receives 1 card each, round 2 each players receives 2 cards, round 3 each player receives 3 cards and so on until round 8.

Round 8 – Round 8 is known as ‘half blind’ and each player receives 7 cards. In this the trump card is not revealed until after each player has made their call. Player may look at their own cards before making their call.

Round 9 – Round 9 is known as ‘full blind’ and each player receives 7 cards. In this round players all players must call before looking at their cards or revealing the trump card.

Round 10 – Round 10 is known as ‘no trumps’ and each player receives 7 cards. In this round no trump card is used. Players may look at their cards before calling. In this round a player can only win a trick by following suit and playing the highest value card.

Round 11 – Round 11 is known as ‘Mizzaire’ and each player receives 7 cards. In this round players do not call and instead aim to lose every trick. At the end of this round players will be deducted 1 point for each trick they win.

Rounds 12 to 18 are a reverse of rounds 1 to 7. In round 12 each player receives 7 cards, in round 13 each player receives 6 cards. This continues on to round 18 where each player receives 1 card. The game ends once round 18 has finished.

Following Suit

At the start of each round the first player is free to play any card in their hand. If the first player plays the 6 of hearts each player must play a heart card if they have one in their hand. This is known as ‘following suit’. If a player cannot follow suit they are free to play any card. Subsequent player must continue to follow the suit set by the first player if they have the appropriate suit in their hand.

After winning a trick in a multi card round (for example round 2) the winner of the trick will start the next hand, and is free to play any card they like. They are not obligated to follow the suit set in any previous hands. However all players must now follow the new suit that has been set.

Card Values

Cards are valued in the following order with the first being the highest scoring card: Ace, King Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

Winning Tricks

A trick is won by following suit and playing the highest value or by playing the highest value trump card.

Example:

If the first player leads with the 6 of hearts and player 2 plays the 7 of hearts, player 2 is now winning.
If the player 3 then plays the Ace of hearts they become the winning player. The only way to beat player3 is to play a trump card, however players must always follow suit if they can.
If a player lays a trump card the same rules apply, the highest value trump card wins. However the trump card always beats any card that followed suit. In our example game if player 4 plays the 2 of trumps they become the winning player and can only be beaten by playing a higher value trump card.

If the first player starts the round with a trump card the highest value trump card wins.

After all players have played 1 card the hand is complete. The winning player is determined by the following rules in the following order:

The highest trump card wins.
If no trump cards are played the highest card to follow suit wins.
If no players were able to follow suit the first card wins.

If no trumps were played and none of the player followed suit the first player wins the hand. Therefore if trumps is hearts and the first player plays the 2 of clubs, and all other players play a diamond the first player will win with the 2 of clubs because no trump cards were played and nobody followed suit.

If a card does not follow suit and is not a trump the card has no value and cannot win the hand.

Scoring

If a player wins the number of tricks they calls at the start of the round they are awarded 2 points for calling correctly and an additional 1 point for each trick they won. For example if a player called 2 tricks and won 2 tricks they are awarded 4 points. If the player called 0 and won 0 they are only awarded 2 points for their correct call.

The exception to this is round 11 (Mizzaire), in this round players lose 1 point for every trick they win. If a player wins 0 tricks in this round they are awarded 2 points.

Winning

At the end of the game the player with the most points is determined to be the winner.