Frog, sometimes called solo sixty, is a trick-taking,

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 ...

for 3 players that is or was popular in southern USA and Mexico (where it is known as rana). It is a member of the German Tarok group of games that originate from an attempt to play the

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 ...

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 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 ...

Background

Frog is an American derivative of the south German game of Tapp, with which it is almost identical and which, in turn, descends from

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''). German Tarok was originally an adaptation of the

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 ...

, to use standard 36-card German- packs. Later,

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 ...

were also used in Germany. Even the terminology is of German origin: ''frog'' being the equivalent of the Tarok bid, ''Frage'' (Bavarian: ''Froag''), and 'blind' being a translation of the German word, ''Blinde'', a skat or talon. The three bids of ''frog'', ''chico'' and ''grand'' equate to the contracts in Tarok known as: ''Frage'', ''Solo'' and ''Herzsolo''. The earliest rules for frog appear in the 1907 edition of ''Hoyle's Games''.''Hoyle's Games'' (1907), pp. 241–242. Virtually identical rules appear in the 1908 edition of ''Foster's Complete Hoyle'' where it is also described as "a very popular game in Mexico, and seems to be an elementary form of Skat, which it resembles in many ways." Almost every American author follows Foster in speculating that frog is derived from Skat, however, as Dummett remarks, "this is, of course, a complete mistake." Moreover, there is no direct evidence that frog or Rana was ever played in Mexico; all the early sources are American.Dummett (1980), p. 570Foster (1909), pp. 441–442. The variants of Solo or Slough, Straight Solo and Coeur d'Alene appear in the 1922 ''Official Rules'' before disappearing again only to resurface in Wood & Goddard (1938). Progressive Solo or Denver Progressive Solo appears in the 1924 ''Hoyle's Standard Games'' and is recorded sporadically into the 1960s. The only variant to attain real popularity is the elaboration known as Six Bid Solo which appeared alongside Progressive Solo in 1924 but whose rules are still published today along with frog itself.

Rules

The rules of frog have varied little over time. The following are based on the 1909 edition of ''Foster's Complete Hoyle'' which describes it as a "very popular game in Mexico".

Players

Three to five may play, but there are only ever three active players at one time. With four players, the

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sits out; with five, cards are dealt to the two players on the left of the dealer and the one on the left. Deal and play are clockwise.

Cards

Frog is played with a

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of 36 cards, the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s being removed from a standard 52-card

French-suited 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 ...

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

Deal and auction

The first dealer is chosen by any desired method. The dealer deals a

packet Packet may refer to: * A small container or pouch ** Packet (container), a small single use container ** Cigarette packet ** Sugar packet * Network packet, a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-mode computer network * Packet radio, a form ...

of 3 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 ...

to the left, then 3 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 ...

(or blind in British rules), and finally two rounds of 4 cards each, i.e. 3-(3)-4-4, 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. 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 following games: There is one round of bidding, but a player who announced "''Frog''" and is outbid by "''Chico''" may immediately raise to "''Grand''"; otherwise must pass. The winner of the auction is called the "bidder" and plays alone against the other two active players. The bidder may not play a higher contract than that which won the auction. In a ''Frog'' the bidder exposes the widow, picks it up and discards 3 cards, placing them face down to one side. In ''Chico'' and ''Grand'', the widow is untouched.

Play

Eldest leads to the first

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. 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; if unable to follow, they must trump if possible. 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 takes up the trick and lays it face down before leading to the next trick.

Scoring

Once the eleventh trick is played out, players count up their

card point Card or The Card may refer to: Common uses * Plastic cards of various types: ** Bank card ** Credit card **Debit card **Payment card * Playing card, used in games * Printed circuit board, or card * Greeting card, given on special occasions Arts ...

s. For this purpose the widow belongs to the bidder. There are 120 points in the

and the bidder must score at least 60 to win. In ''Frog'', he scores 1 chip for every point above 60 from each active player. ''Chico'' scores double, and ''Grand'' quadruple (see table above). If the bidder loses he pays the same rate to every player ''at the table''. This means that if four or five play, the non-active players are also paid by a bidder who loses, but are not required to pay if the bidder wins.

Rule variations

Since the 1950s, most sources modify the pre-war rules slightly as follows: * The dealer deals 4-(3)-3-4 cards instead of 3-(3)-4-4. * The widow is not exposed in a ''Frog''

Variants

Solo or Slough

The 1922 ''Official Rules'' published a variant of Frog called Solo or Slough. There were changes to some of the contract names and values:''Official Rules'' (1922), pp. 213–216 Other differences were: * The number of possible players increased to seven * The cards were fanned face down; the player with the lowest chose whether to be dealer or eldest hand for the first deal * Cards were dealt singly, the 1st, 4th and 8th going to the widow which was called the ''slough'' * In a ''Frog'', the ''slough'' was not exposed * Players started with 11 chips of one colour each worth 10, and 10 chips of another colour, each worth 1 * The first player unable to pay for winnings lost the game * There were three systems for payments to or from non-active players: ** They only received payments ** They paid and received ** They paid and received for a ''Solo'', but only received for ''Frog'' * In a variation called Penalty Frog, the bidder paid the Heart Solo rate if a ''Frog'' contract was lost

Straight Solo

The same rules mentioned a Straight Solo in which the only change to the Solo/Slough rules above was that the ''Frog'' contract was omitted. In a ''Simple Solo'' contract, 1 chip was paid per point and 2 chips in a ''Heart Solo''.

Coeur d'Alene Solo

The same rules introduced a variant called Coeur d'Alene Solo or simply Coeur d'Alene, this being the name of a town in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. This was the same as Solo or Slough except that there were fixed payments for winning instead of point-based payments. Payments were in the ratio 1:2:3 e.g. 25¢ for Frog, 50¢ for Simple Solo and 75¢ for Heart Solo.

Footnotes

References

Literature

* _ (1907)
''Hoyle's Games''
NY: McClure. * _ (1922)
''Official Rules of Card Games''
Cincinnati: USPC. * _ (1924)
''Hoyle's Standard Games''.
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 (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. * Foster, R.F. (1909)
''Foster's Complete Hoyle''
NY: F.A. Stokes.Southern *

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. *

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 ...

(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 Mexican card games Canadian card games Southwestern United States