Catch the Ten

Scotland’s every-player-for-themselves trick game. The trump jack is king of the deck, and the trump 10 is the prize everyone is hunting. 2–8 players.

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How to play Catch the Ten

  1. 1A Scottish trick game for 2 to 8 players, each playing for themselves, with a 36-card deck: ace down to 6 in every suit.
  2. 2All the cards are dealt out. When they don't share evenly, a 6 or two is set aside first. The dealer's last card is shown to everyone: its suit is trump for the hand, and the card stays in the dealer's hand until they play it.
  3. 3In trumps the jack is the top card, then ace, king, queen, 10 and down to 6. In the other suits the ace is high and the jack sits in its usual place.
  4. 4The player left of the dealer leads. Follow the suit led if you can; if you can't, play anything, trump or not. The highest trump takes the trick, or else the highest card of the suit led, and the winner leads next.
  5. 5After the last trick, score the trump honours you took: jack 11, ace 4, king 3, queen 2, and the 10 a big 10. Then score 1 point for every card you took beyond the number you were dealt.
  6. 6The first to 41 wins. Honours count first, from the jack down, so an honour that carries you to 41 wins before anyone else's points go on.

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