Dappen — Puzzle X1

XX, XVIII, XV, XII, IX, VI. Seven Taroks were on offer and six of them tower over anything the color suits could show you: keep the six strongest, let the weakest Tarok (III) go with all eleven color cards, and hollow every suit at once. Swapping VI for III to chase a III Ultimo trades a control card for a third-to-last trick promise you cannot steer with a six-Tarok hand against six opponents; the failed Ultimo pays the table and a thinner ladder costs more than the bonus is worth. Every Queen and Jack you discard still lands in your own pile at the end; nothing here is wasted. Skus and XXI never appeared among your eighteen cards, so both are sitting somewhere in the six opponents’ hands: your XX leads are not unbeatable, but the six you kept are the best cards available to you, and the suits are hollowed.