Misère ( French for "destitution"), misere, bettel, betl, or (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

for "

beggar Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public plac ...

"; equivalent terms in other languages include , , ) is a bid in various

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card g ...

s, and the player who bids misère undertakes to win no tricks or as few as possible, usually at no trump, in the round to be played. This does not allow sufficient variety to constitute a game in its own right, but it is the basis of such trick-avoidance games as Hearts, and provides an optional contract for most games involving an auction. The term or category may also be used for some card game of its own with the same aim, like Black Peter. A misère bid usually indicates an extremely poor hand, hence the name. An open or lay down misère, or misère ouvert is a

500 500 may refer to: * 500 (number) * 500 BC * AD 500 Buildings and places * 500 Boylston Street of Boston * 500 Brickell in Miami * 500 Capitol Mall in Sacramento * 500 Fifth Avenue * 500 Renaissance Center, one of seven buildings in the GM Rena ...

bid where the player is so sure of losing every trick that they undertake to do so with their cards placed face-up on the table. Consequently, 'lay down misère' is Australian gambling slang for a predicted easy victory. In Skat, the bidding can result in a null game, where the bidder wins only if they lose every trick. (Conversely, the opponents win by forcing the bidder to take a trick.) In

Swedish Whist Swedish whist ( sv, svensk whist), also called ''Fyrmanswhist'' ("Four-hand Whist") or, regionally, just whist, is a Swedish trick-taking, card game. Knowing four-player whist is useful for playing other card games because it was the prototype for ...

, by contrast, a null game is one in which both teams try to take the fewest tricks. This variation is known as

ramsch Ramsch, formerly also called Mike in East Germany, is a card game based on the contract of the same name in the popular German card games, Skat and Schafkopf. However, thanks to its interesting mode of play it has since developed into an independ ...

in Skat. In Spades, bidding for no tricks is known as bidding nil, which if successful gives the bidder a bonus. The word is first recorded in this sense in the rules for the game "

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

" in the late 18th century. It cannot be played in 6 hand 500.

Misère game

A ''misère game'' or ''bettel game'' is a game that is played according to its conventional rules, except that it is "played to lose"; that is, the winner is the one who loses according to the normal game rules. Or, if the game is for more than two players, the one who wins according to the normal game rules loses. Such games generally have rulesets that normally encourage players to win; for example, most variations of

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

(US: "checkers") require players to make a capture move if it is available; thus, in the misère variation, players can force their opponents to take numerous checkers through intentionally "poor" play. In

combinatorial game theory Combinatorial game theory is a branch of mathematics and theoretical computer science that typically studies sequential games with perfect information. Study has been largely confined to two-player games that have a ''position'' that the playe ...

, a misère game is one played according to the "misère play condition"; that is, a player unable to move wins.
Revised and reprinted as: (This is opposed to the "normal play condition" in which a player unable to move loses.) For most games this is the same as the ordinary use of the word, but a very few games are actually misère games according to their standard rules, for example

Sylver coinage Sylver coinage is a mathematical game for two players, invented by John H. Conway. It is discussed in chapter 18 of '' Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays''. This article summarizes that chapter. The two players take turns naming positi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Misere Board game terminology Card game terminology Combinatorial game theory *Misere

Misère game

See also

References