The rules above are enough for a full evening of play. When your group wants more, start with these.
Even more expansions More rules and expansions are online. gotarok.com/41
Standing by seat
This is a wider rule for who may say “I hold” (see “Core Concepts”, Standing).
In the base rules only the Forehand, the player to the left of the Dealer, may hold. A group may play standing by seat instead: you may hold only against a player who sits after you in the bidding order, and the order runs from the Forehand round to the left, with the Dealer last. Then the Forehand can hold against everyone and the Dealer against no one, and against a player before you, you bid higher or pass. Agree before you play. More on standing: gotarok.com/46.
Five color cards for No-Trump
This is a minimum hand for bidding No-Trump.
No-Trump is the contract worth 4 Victory Points that you play alone, with the Taroks as a plain suit and not as trumps. Some groups let you bid it only when you hold at least five cards of the four color suits. Agree on it before you play.
Throwing inZusammenwerfen
A hand with no Tarok, or almost none, is stopped right after the deal.
A player dealt no Tarok at all must throw in. A player whose only Tarok is one of the three Trull cards (the Skus, the Moon (XXI) or the Pagat (I)) may throw in, or may play on. The cards go back, the hand scores no Victory Points, and the same Dealer deals again. Agree on it before you play.
The Traditional Scoring
This is zero-sum scoring, where each loser pays a winner.
This book uses Simplified Scoring: only the winners add, and nobody subtracts. In a traditional group the contract values stay the same and the losers subtract them. Win the Call, the contract with a Partner worth 1 Victory Point, and you and your Partner each add 1 Victory Point while each Defender subtracts 1 Victory Point. A player who plays alone settles with each of the three Defenders: win a Solo worth 4 Victory Points and you add 12 Victory Points while each Defender subtracts 4 Victory Points; lose it and you subtract 12 Victory Points while each Defender adds 4 Victory Points. The tables are at the back of this book (Traditional Scoring Tables).
Kontra
This is a way to double the value of a contract or of an announced bonus (see “Core Concepts”, Kontra).
In this game a Defender says it before play starts: a Solo worth 4 Victory Points is then worth 8 Victory Points. The Declarer’s side may answer “Rekontra”, and the contract is worth double again, 16 Victory Points for that Solo. Kontra can also be said against an announced Pagat Ultimo, the bonus for winning the last trick with the Pagat (I); then it doubles that bonus only, not the contract. One player’s Kontra counts for their whole side. More on Kontra: gotarok.com/47.
| Announcement | Victory Points |
|---|---|
| Kontra | ×2 |
| Rekontra | ×4 |
The traditional count
This is another way to count the Card Points in your tricks.
Traditional groups read each card’s value in one step: Kings and the three Trull cards (Skus, Moon (XXI), Pagat (I)) 5 Card Points each, Queens 4 Card Points, Cavaliers 3 Card Points, Jacks 2 Card Points, every other Tarok 1 Card Point, and the empty four (1♥, 1♦, 10♣, 10♠) 0 Card Points. The deck still holds 88 Card Points, and the result is the same as our count in two steps, where every captured card except the empty four counts 1 Card Point and the pips printed on the cards are added. More on counting: gotarok.com/48.