Black Maria is a popular British

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

of the Hearts group for three to six players. It is an elaboration of

Black Lady Black lady is an American card game of the hearts group for three to six players and the most popular of the group. It emerged in the early 20th century as an elaboration of hearts and was initially also called discard hearts. It is named afte ...

, itself a development of the original American game of Hearts, the progenitor of the group. Black Maria is regarded as one of the best games for three players. The name of the game is derived from the nickname given to the

Queen of Spades The queen of spades (Q) is a face card in decks of French-suited playing cards and Tarot, depicting a queen of the spades () suit and associated with the Greek goddess Pallas. In Old Maid, several games of the Hearts family, and some variants ...

which plays a key role. The name Black Maria is sometimes used, confusingly, for the related American game of Black Lady; likewise this game is occasionally referred to as Black Lady. While many of the games of the Hearts family may be considered as variants of 'basic' Hearts, Black Maria is "sufficiently different and popular" to justify being described as a separate game.

History and naming

In the ''Penguin Hoyle'' of 1958, English economist, journalist and bridge player,

Hubert Phillips Hubert Phillips (13 December 1891 – 9 January 1964) was a British economist, journalist, broadcaster, bridge player and organiser, composer of puzzles and quizzes, and the author of some 70 books. Life Education and early career Phi ...

claims to have invented Black Maria during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Its rules first appears in print in ''The Complete Book of Card Games'' in 1939, where Phillips and co-author, B.C. Westall, referring to three-player games, describe it as "the best of them all". Although Black Maria is its most common name, it is occasionally called

which, however, usually refers to the popular American variant of Hearts that features the Queen of Spades (the Black Lady) as the only high-scoring

penalty card Penalty cards are used in many sports as a means of warning, reprimanding or penalising a player, coach or team official. Penalty cards are most commonly used by referees or umpires to indicate that a player has committed an offence. The offici ...

, as opposed to the three top penalty cards that characterise Black Maria. One source states that an alternative name is Slippery Anne, although this is also an alternative name for Black Lady, while several sources erroneously give the name Black Maria to the game of Black Lady.

Cards

The games uses a standard

French pack French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. In ...

, normally of the

English pattern French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...

, with 13 cards in each of the four suits: Hearts, Spades,

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

and

Clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

. The cards rank in their natural order,

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

s high: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. There is no

trump suit A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically an entire suit is nominated as a ''trump suit''; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the terms ''trump c ...

Players

The game is best suited to three players, but may also be played by four, five or six. In the case of the three player game, the is removed from the pack. If five play, the and are removed and, if six play, all four 2s are removed.

Aim

The aim of Black Maria is to avoid capturing the penalty cards in tricks. The penalty cards are all the hearts, , and (''Black Maria'').

Rules

The following rules are based on Arnold (1995).

Dealing

The

dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

may be chosen by cards; lowest deals. Deal and

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

are clockwise. After

shuffling Shuffling is a technique used to randomize a deck of playing cards, introducing an element of chance into card games. Various shuffling methods exist, each with its own characteristics and potential for manipulation. One of the simplest shuf ...

the cards and having them

cut Cut or CUT may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** ...

, the dealer deals 17 cards to each player, one by one and face down, beginning with

eldest hand Card players are those participating in a Card game#Hands, rounds and games, card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin pla ...

(left of dealer).

Playing

Players examine their hands and pass three cards, face down, to their right-hand neighbours. They must not view the cards they receive until they have selected and passed on their three discards. Eldest hand leads to the first trick. Tricks are won by the highest card of the led suit and the trick winner leads to the next.

Scoring

The penalty cards score as follows: * Each heart taken – 1 point * – 7 points * (Black Baz) – 10 points * (Black Maria) – 13 points At the end of the deal, players tot up their penalty points which should collectively add up to 43 points.

Winning

The winner is the player with the lowest score after an agreed number of deals (usually divisible by three so that everyone has the same number of turns as dealer).

Slam

Arnold mentions a type of

slam Slam, SLAM or SLAMS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional elements * S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine), a fictional weapon in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe * SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield), a fictional anti-ball ...

known as 'hitting the moon' as an optional rule whereby a player with a poor hand is able to capture all the penalty cards. If successful, the score is reduced by 43 points. Most descriptions of the game do not mention a slam or 'take-all', although it is common in other games of the Hearts family.

Dirty Lady

A variant called Dirty Lady or ‘Dirty Janet’ is described by Headington in 1972. It differs from Arnold as follows:Headington (1972), p. 22. * Three players are assumed. * The 2 is removed. * The 3 discards are passed to the left and must not include the Q. * Penalty points: Q 13, A 5, K 4, Q 3, J 2 and all other Hearts 1 each. * Collecting all 14 penalty cards counts in the player's favour.

Footnotes

References

Literature

* * _ (2009). ''The Little Giant Encyclopedia''. Diagram Group, Sterling, New York/London. * _ (2014). ''The Card Games Bible''. Octopus, London. * * Bathe, N.A.C. (1998) ''Card Games''. Robert Frederick. * Glenn, Jim and Carey Denton (2003). ''The Treasury of Family Games.'' Reader's Digest Association. * Headington, Rodney (1972). "Dirty Lady" in ''Games and Puzzles''. Issue 2. p. 22. * Katz, Nikki (2012). ''The Book of Card Games''. Simon & Schuster, Avon MA. *

Parlett, David David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. Life David Sidney Parlett was bo ...

(1991). ''A History of Card Games'', OUP, Oxford. * * Pennycook, Andrew (1982). ''The Book of Card Games''. London, NY, Sydney, Ontario and Auckland: Granada. * * Rigal, Bruce (2011). ''Card Games for Dummies''. 2nd edn. Wiley, Hoboken. First published 2005. {{Trick-taking card games Card games introduced in the 1930s French deck card games Three-player card games Reverse games British card games