Six-bid solo, six bid solo or just six-bid for short, is a

trick-taking A trick-taking game is a card game, card- or tile-based game in which play of a ''Hand (card games), hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of ...

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 ...

from the western United States for 3 players and is often associated with

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. It is a member of the German Tarok group of games that originated in an attempt to play a

tarot card game Tarot games are card games played with tarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanent trump suit alongside the usual four card suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the French name tarot are called tarocchi i ...

with standard, non-

tarot cards Tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play trick-taking car ...

. Six-bid solo itself is a variant of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

, a game very similar to south German Tapp, the Swabian version of German Tarok.

History

The origins of six-bid solo lie with an old south German game called

German Tarok German Tarok, sometimes known as Sansprendre or simply Tarok, is an historical ace–ten card game for three players that emerged in the 18th century and is the progenitor of a family of games still played today in Europe and North America. It b ...

(''Deutschtarok'') which arose in the desire to play the

Grosstarock Grosstarock () is an old three-handed card game of the Tarock family played with a full 78-card Tarot pack. It was probably introduced into the southern German states around 1720 but spread rapidly into Austria and northwards as far as the Nethe ...

with

German-suited German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suit (cards), suits of Acorns (suit), Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves ( ...

, non-

tarot card Tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play trick-taking ca ...

s. German Tarok appeared in the late 18th century and became very popular in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

during the 19th century. One offshoot was the game of Tapp, played in Württemberg and Swabia, which was essentially German Tarok with

French-suited cards 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 ...

. It may have been Tapp that was brought to the United States by European emigrants and which became the game of

, the name being derived from the lowest contract in Tapp, which was a ''Frage'' or ''Froag''.Dummett (1980), p. 569 The rules of frog first appeared in a 1907 ''Hoyle'' and, by 1922, a variant called Straight Solo had emerged in which the frog contract had been dropped. This mirrored a practice in German Tarok where the ''Frage'' contract was left out in many places, something that was "regrettable" because there was much skill involved in playing it. Six-Bid was an elaboration of Straight Solo from two to six contracts, very like the modern version of Tapp with its contracts to lose or win every trick and in which hearts is a preference suit. The rules for six-bid solo first appeared in the 1924 edition of ''Hoyles Standard Games'' (''HSG'') and have hardly changed since. It was played in

and is sometimes referred to as Salt Lake Solo.''Hoyle's Standard Games'', (1924), pp. 185–186. The 1940 ''Official Rules'' note it as "A Salt Lake Variation" without further elaboration. It is also known as American Solo.Parlett (1991), p. 196

Rules

The following rules are based on ''HSG'' supplemented by the other sources cited.

Players

Six-bid may be played by three or four, but there are always only three active players; if four play the dealer is '

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

' and sits out. Some rules state that five''Goren'' (1961), pp. 328–329 or even sevenWood & Goddard (1938), pp. 152–154 may play but, again, only three are active in any one deal.Goren (1961), p. 327.

Cards

Thirty-six

are used, formed by stripping the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s from a

standard 52-card pack The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. The main feature of most playing card decks that empower their use in diverse games and other activities is their double-sided design, wh ...

. The cards rank and score, as in most ace–ten games, as follows:

Deal and auction

Deal In cryptography, DEAL (Data Encryption Algorithm with Larger blocks) is a symmetric block cipher derived from the Data Encryption Standard (DES). Its design was presented by Lars Knudsen at the SAC conference in 1997, and submitted as a proposa ...

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. The first

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 * ...

is chosen by any desired method. The dealer shuffles and has the cards

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 ** ...

before dealing a packet of 4 cards to each player, 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 ...

, then 3 each, then 3 cards face down on the table as the

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

, and finally 4 more cards each, i.e. 4-3-(3)-4, so that each player has a

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

of 11 cards. If four play, the dealer now sits out and does not participate in the game. Beginning with eldest, players may

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland *Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *El Paso, Texas, a city which translates to "The Pass" * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see Li ...

or bid for one of the six

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

listed below. Players may not change their announced bid unless overcalled in which case they must immediately

raise Raise may refer to: Music *''Raise!'', a 1981 album by Earth, Wind, and Fire * '' Raise'' (album), a 1991 album by Swervedriver *'' Raised'', a 2022 album by Hailey Whitters Place names * Raise, Cumbria, England * Raise (Lake District), a m ...

or pass. The winner of the

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

becomes the 'bidder' or 'player' and the widow counts to him or her at the end, except in ''Misère''. The games are shown below in ascending order: Some rules rename ''Guarantee Solo'' and''Spread Misère'' to ''Guarantee'' and ''Spread'' respectively.Gibson (1993), pp. 309–311 In a ''Spread Misère'', the bidder's hand is laid down, face up, after the other two players have played their first card. In a ''Call Solo'', if the called card is

sleeping Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain Sensory nervous system, sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with th ...

in the widow, there is no exchange.

Play

Except in ''Spread'', eldest leads any card to the first trick and play proceeds clockwise, each player playing one card. Players must

follow suit A trick-taking game is a card- or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of suc ...

if able; otherwise must trump if able. If they can neither follow nor trump they may discard. There is no requirement to

head the trick The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge (card game), bridge, Hearts ...

. The trick winner collects the trick and lays it away face down before leading to the next trick.

Scoring

Scoring is as per the table above. If the game is won, the bidder is paid the game value by each active opponent; if lost, the bidder pays the same to each player at the table including the dealer if there are four players.

Progressive solo

Another variant of frog that emerged at the same time as six-bid was progressive solo, later also called Denver progressive solo or Denver solo.Pennycook (1982), pp. 286–287 The 1940 ''Official Rules'' subtitle progressive solo as the "Denver Athletic Club variation" without substantiating the statement.''Official Rules'' (1940), pp. 201–206. Its rules were last recorded in the 1980s so it may now be extinct. Pennycook describes it as a "simple, yet skilful, game." The rules are as for Six-Bid, except where stated. Three to five may play. This time there are five

contracts A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

. Frog is retained and there were four suit solos ranking, in ascending order, , , and . Players bid in rotation and must initially

or bid any contract. Once a bid is made, subsequent players must pass, double or

overcall In contract bridge, an overcall is a bid made after an opening bid has been made by an opponent; the term refers only to the first such bid. A ''direct'' overcall is such a bid made by the player seated immediately to the left of the opener, i.e ...

. A player whose bid is overcalled may

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

when the bidding comes around again, otherwise must pass. Any doubling is only between the bidder and the doubler and is cancelled if the current contract is overcalled. A player who has been doubled may redouble when the turn comes around again. Once all bar one have passed, the player left in becomes the 'bidder' and must play the highest contract announced. In a Frog, the bidder picks up and exchanges with the widow before laying away the three discards, face down, to one side. In any solo, the widow is untouched. In either case, the widow cards count towards the bidder's score at the end of play. To win, the bidder must then take at least 60 card points in tricks and the widow. If successful, the bidder is paid by each opponent for each point above 60; if unsuccessful, the bidder pays them each the same amount. The tariffs, which are multiplied by any doubling or redoubling, are shown in the summary table below: In addition, there may be two pots – one for ''Frog'' and one for the ''Solos'' – to which players ante an agreed amount each deal. Pennycook specifies the same stake for each pot; ''HSG'' states that the solo pot receives a double stake from each player.

Footnotes

References

Literature

* _ (1839)
''Das Sansprendre-Spiel in Regeln zur richtigen Auffassung und Ausführung desselben nach seinen verschiedenen Nuancen dargestellt''
(''SSR''). Bayreuth: Grau 50 pp. * _ (1881). ''Ausführliche Anleitung zum Deutschtarokspielen, nebst einem Anhange, enthaltend: ein Verzeichniß über alle technischen oder Kunstausdrücke, Provinzialismen und vulgären Bezeichnungen, welche bei diesem Spiele vorkommen''. (AAD) Munich: Cäsar Fritsch. 88 pp. * _ (1907)
''Hoyle's Games''
NY: McClure. * _ (1922)
''Official Rules of Card Games''
Cincinnati: USPC. * _ (1924)
''Hoyle's Standard Games''
Cincinnati: USPC. * _ (1940). ''Official Rules of Card Games: Hoyle Up to Date''. Cincinnati: USPC. * Beattie, Rob (2009). ''The Art of Playing Cards''. NY: Quarto. *

Culbertson, Ely Elie Almon Culbertson (July 22, 1891 – December 27, 1955), known as Ely Culbertson, was an American contract bridge entrepreneur and personality dominant during the 1930s. He played a major role in the popularization of the new game and was wide ...

(1957),

Phillips, Hubert 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 ...

(ed.), ''Culbertson’s Card Games Complete'', Watford: Argo *

Dummett, Michael Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett (; 27 June 1925 – 27 December 2011) was an English academic described as "among the most significant British philosophers of the last century and a leading campaigner for racial tolerance and equality." H ...

(1980). ''The Game of Tarot''. London: Duckworth. *

Gibson, Walter B. Walter Brown Gibson (September 12, 1897 – December 6, 1985) was an American writer and professional magician, best known for his work on the pulp fiction character The Shadow, and as a ghost-writer for many of his friend Harry Houdini's book ...

(1993)

974 Year 974 ( CMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Battle of Danevirke: Emperor Otto II defeats the rebel forces of King Harald I, who has invaded Nordalbingia (modern-day Ho ...

''Hoyle's Modern Encyclopedia of Card Games''. Devizes: Selecta. *

Goren, Charles Charles Henry Goren (March 4, 1901 – April 3, 1991) was an American Contract bridge, bridge player and writer who significantly developed and popularized the game. He was the leading American bridge personality in the 1950s and 1960s and widely ...

(1961). ''Goren's Hoyle - Encyclopedia of Games.'' NY: Chancellor Hall, Ltd. *

Morehead, Albert H Albert Hodges Morehead, Jr. (August 7, 1909 – October 5, 1966) was a writer for ''The New York Times'', a bridge player, a lexicographer, and an author and editor of reference works. Early years Morehead was born in Flintstone, Taylor County, ...

, Richard L. Frey and

Geoffrey Mott-Smith The Mott-Smith Trophy, named for writer and cryptographer Geoffrey Mott-Smith, is awarded to the player with the best overall individual performance in the Spring Nationals, the spring event of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North Ame ...

(1991). ''The New Complete Hoyle'' NY, London: Doubleday. *

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'', Oxford: OUP. *

(2008), ''The Penguin Book of Card Games'', London: Penguin, * Pennycook, Andrew (1982). ''The Book of Card Games.'' London/NY: Grenada. {{Trick-taking card games German Tarok group Three-player card games American card games French deck card games