Tarabish

Tarabish — sometimes called Tarbish or 'Bish — is a trick-taking card game that is played primarily by the people of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in Canada.

Origins

Tarabish belongs to the [http://www.pagat.com/jass/index.html Jass group] of card games, in which the highest trumps are the jack and the nine. Jass games originated in the Netherlands and spread from there through Europe and later across the Atlantic and to India. Popular games are Klaverjas in the Netherlands, Clobyosh in worldwide Jewish communities, Belote in France, and Jass in Switzerland. It is believed that the game was passed down from European immigrants who came to Cape Breton in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to work in the booming steel and coal industries. Since then Tarabish has developed into its modern form that has become greatly tied into the regional culture of Cape Breton.

Objective

The game is over when one or both teams accumulate 500 points or more. Points are counted at the end of each hand and both teams always count their points. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

The deck

A Tarbish deck consists of a normal deck of playing cards with the 2 through 5 of each suit removed.

In preparation for the hand the dealer shuffles the cards in the usual manner. When finished the person to the right of the dealer cuts the cards. The cut must leave at least four cards in each portion of the deck. Once the cards have been cut, no further shuffling is allowed.

The 36 Tarbish cards are dealt in groups of three beginning to the left of the dealer and proceeding clockwise until all the cards are passed out. Players look at their first six cards and the last three, called the "kitty", remain face down until after the bid is complete and a trump suit has been chosen.

The Bid

The bid is the process of determining the trump suit for the hand. The player to the left of the dealer has the first option of choosing the trump suit. If they "pass" the decision passes to the next person and so on. In the most popular variation, if the bid passes to the dealer, the dealer is "forced" to choose a trump suit. The less popular variation allows the dealer to "pass" in which case the hand is complete and the deal passes to the next player.

The team that "goes" must accumulate more than half of the points for that hand. If they get less than half, it is termed a "bait" and their points go to their opponents. If they get exactly half the points it is termed "half-bait" in which case they count zero while their opponents of course get to count their own.

The play

Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds clockwise until each player has played a card. Each player must follow suit by playing a card of the same suit as the first card of each trick. If you don't have a card of the same suit you must play a trump if you have one. If you don't have a trump you can play anything. Any time you play a trump you must beat any other trumps on the trick if you can. The person with the highest card on the trick collects the cards and makes the first play for the next trick.

When you collect tricks it is important to keep them neat as they may need to be referred to in the event of a mis-play. Completed tricks must be kept face down. You may suspend play at any time and ask to see the last completed trick but none before it. Once a trick is turned over it is considered complete.

Mis-Play

Failure to comply with the rules outlined in the preceding sections is called a ‘’mis-play’’. If you suspect someone has mis-played you can stop the hand and ‘’call a mis-play’’. You must then prove it by examining the over-turned tricks and identifying the trick where the mis-play occurred.

As an example, consider a trick where the King of trump is lead and the second player places a 6 of trump on the trick. If later the second player plays the 9 of trump, a good tarbish player will remember that the second player didn't beat the King on the opening trick.

If you are successful in proving the mis-play your team gets all of the points for that hand, including any cards that have not yet been played. However, if you cannot pick out the mis-play, your opponents get all the points.

Mis-playing is not considered cheating.

Scoring

Upon completion of each hand, teams count the points in their winning tricks to determine the scores.

Card values

Value of Trump cards only:

Value of Non-trump cards:

Runs

There are two types of runs. Runs in tarbish are according to the customary card rank as in Poker (6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K,A). So the three best trumps (J,9,A) do not make a run.

A twenty is a run of three cards in a row of the same suit. (e.g. 6, 7, 8 of hearts or 9, 10, J of clubs)

A fifty is a run similar to a "twenty" however it is a run of four cards in a row. If you happen to have 5 or 6 card in a row it is still just a fifty and the extra cards are in no way significant when comparing to other runs.

A player with a run must announce to the other players that they have a run before they play their first card. A player must show their run immediately before playing their second card.

One player can have multiple runs, but only one player can count runs in a hand. If more than one player announces a run, the player with the "best" run according to the following will get to count all of their runs. If a player has multiple runs, their best run is used for the following comparison:- A fifty always beats a twenty.- When comparing two runs of the same size, the one with the highest rank is best.- A run in trumps beats a run of the same size and rank in non-trumps.- Two runs of the same size and rank in non-trumps cancel each other out. In this case no one counts their runs even if one player has multiple runs. If a player announces a run, but fails to show it before the play of their second card, the run is not counted. A popular version suggests that if a player called a fifty but forgets to show it, before the third card is played, a twenty can be shown and counted, but only other players.

Bella

Bella (or Bells) is when a player has a king and queen of the trump suit in the same hand and is worth an additional 20 points when called. The player MUST call bella when playing the last of the 2 cards to get the points. Common practice allows to instead call the first of the bells rather than the last. This is adventageous in remembering to call it, but gives others information about one's hand and may be detrimental in giving away points if going bate.

In the event that bella is part of a valid run, the player has the option to announce Bella when they show their run or wait until played.

Other points

The team winning the last trick receives 10 points towards their total for that hand.

The minimum number of points in any hand is 162. Consisting of 62 points in trump values, 90 points in non trump values, and 10 points for last. The maximum number of points per hand is 282 (Calling and showing 2 50-point runs and announcing Bella).

If the calling team is able to score at least one more than half the points available, they can count their points, otherwise all points are awarded to the opposition.

Tarabish terms

The Bate - The team which "calls" trump and fails to accumulate at least one point more than half the points available.

The Half Bate - The team which "calls" trump and accumulates exactly half the available points loses the hand, and the other team gets half the point value of the hand, for example if a team calls trump and collects 81 points out of 162, they get no points and the opponent gets 81 points.

Bella - When a player has the King and Queen of trump in a single hand.

A Run - Three or four cards in sequence in the same suit.

A Twenty - A run of three cards.

A Fifty - A run of four cards.

A Misplay - When a player doesn't follow the lead suit, or doesn't beat trump when he can. If a misplay is caught, all the points go to the team who caught the misplay.

Last - Final trick earning an additional 10 points to the winning team.

The Kitty - The three cards that are hidden to a player until after a trump is called.

Playing to beat - If at any time a player is forced to play a trump, he must beat the best trump card on the table.

The Linganer - A twenty run consisting of 6-7-8, named after the former 876 Lingan Coal Mine

The Johnnie - The Jack of trump.

A Dry Ten - When a player has only the 10 in a suit, after being dealt their cards

Forced - A popular variation. If a team has over 400 points, that team is forced to call trump. Therefore, they are not allowed to pass trump call to the dealer if the dealer is on the opposite team. If both teams are over 400 points, the team with the higher points is 'forced'.

ee also

* Klaverjas
* Jass
* Clobyosh a.k.a Bela
* Belot, describing the Croatian "Bela"
* Pilotta, a Cypriot variation
* Clabber
* Twenty-eight
* Tarneeb
* Baloot

External links

* [http://tarbish.com Tarbish.com]