How to Play Jo-Jotte
Jo-Jotte is a card game which plays similarly to Belotte and Klaberjass and was invented by Ely Culbertson of Contract Bridge fame in 1937. Jo-Jotte is a highly strategic card game designed for two-players.

Jo-Jotte is played using the Piquet deck, which is a standard deck with all cards lower than 7 removed. The actual ranking of the cards in the deck are different for certain suits, depending on if that suit is the trump suit for the hand or not. The following shows the rank of the cards for the trump suit and non-trump suit (plain suits):
Determination of the first dealer can be determined in any number of methods, with drawing for low cards a common such method. Both players would each draw a card from the shuffled deck and the player drawing the lower ranked card (based on the non-trump suit ranking of the cards) would be set as the first dealer and would take the first seat at the table. If both players draw a card of equal rank, those cards would be placed aside and the players would draw new cards, continuing to draw in this manner until one draws a card higher in rank than the other. After each hand, the role of dealer alternates amongst the two players.

Completion of initial deal in Jo-Jotte After the first dealer has been determined, this player thoroughly shuffles the deck and offers it to his opponent to cut. After the cut, the dealer then deals each player six cards in two three card packets. He begins by dealing the first such packet to his opponent, and the next to himself. After each player has six total cards, he then places the remainder of the deck in the middle of the table, removing the top card from the deck and placing it beside the deck. This exposed card is called the turn-up card.

After the dealing procedures, the bidding begins. To begin, the opponent of the dealer may either "accept" the suit of the turn-up card as trump for the hand or elect to Pass. If he accepts this suit, the suit of that card will be set as the trump suit for the hand, and that player becomes the contractor for the hand and strives to win the majority of points during the hand. If he passes, the opportunity to accept or pass then moves to the dealer. If the dealer thusly accepts the turn-up card, the suit of that card is set as the trump suit for the hand, and the dealer is the contractor for the hand.

However, if both players pass, neither accepting the suit of the turn-up cards as trump for the hand, the bid again reverts to the non-dealer. This time, the non-dealer may, if he prefers, name a trump suit of his choice (which must be a different suit than that of the original turn-up card), may opt to play the hand at "no trump" or may again pass. If that player names a suit, the named suit becomes the trump suit for the hand and that player becomes the contractor for the hand. If he specifies "no trump" the hand is played with no trump suit set, and the player calling this is the contractor for the hand. However, if he passes, the bid then moves to the dealer, who has the same options (name a suit of his choice which is different than the original turn-up suit, name no trump or pass). If he names a trump suit, that suit will then be set as the trump suit for the hand, and the player becomes the contractor for the hand. Similarly, if he names no trump, the hand will be played with no trump suit and the dealer is set as the contractor for the hand. However, if the dealer also passes a second time, the cards are thrown in and the hand is not played.

Note that, if one player names a specific trump suit, his opponent may overcall with a bid of no trump, which will play the hand at no trump and transfer the role of contractor to that player who called no trump.

After the contract has been determined for the hand, a round of bidding occurs. The opponent of the player who determine the trump suit (or called no trump) may opt to call double, which effectively doubles all scores for the hand. If the contractor's opponent has doubled, the contractor may elect to redouble, which doubles the scores again.

Once the contract has initially been determined, the dealer then picks up the deck (leaving the turn-up card on the table) and deals one more face-down three card packet to each player, starting with his opponent. Each player should then have a hand consisting of nine total cards. After this the dealer places the remainder of the deck on the table, partially covering the turn-up card. He then draws the bottom card of the deck and places it face-up on the top of the deck. This card does not take part in actual play but is used for informative purposes (and is thus called the information card), to show the identity of one additional card from the deck.

After each player has his full hand of nine cards, the opponent of the contractor (called the defender) may opt to call "nullo". This is essentially one last opportunity to overcall the winning bid with a bid of nullo, which indicates that the hand will be played with no trump suit and the new contractor (the player to call nullo) will attempt to win no tricks during the hand. At this time, the original contractor also has the opportunity to call "slam". This indicates that the current contractor will attempt to win every trick during the hand. If the defender calls "nullo" and the contractor calls "slam" the slam bid takes precedence over the nullo bid.

Once the final contractor and trump suit has been determined (if any), the players have the opportunity to declare and score for Honor Melds in two categories, Four of a kinds and Sequences.

Melds in Jo-Jotte The first category is the Four of a Kind category. A four of a kind is four cards all of the same denomination, in certain ranks (i.e. Four Aces). In a hand being played with a trump suit, a player may declare a four of a kind in the following ranks; Jacks, Nines, Aces, Tens, Kings, Queens. In a contract of no trump, a player may declare a four of a kind of the following ranks; Aces, Tens, Kings, Queens, Jacks. Both players, starting with the non-dealer, announces his highest four of a kind (if he has any). The opponent may either concede the score to that player for the four of a kind or announce a higher ranked four of a kind (if he has one and wants to show it). The player with the highest four of a kind is then entitled to score for that four of a kind as well as any other applicable four of a kind combinations he has in hand. Any four of a kind honor melds which are scored must also be temporarily shown to the opponent. Each four of a kind scored earns that player 100 points.  For comparison of Four of a Kind type melds, in trump suit contracts, the ranking uses the card ranking as in the trump suit, and for non trump suit contracts the normal card ranking is used.

The second category of Honor Meld is Sequences. A sequence is three or more cards of the same suit and in direct sequence to each other. Note that the ordering of the cards in the deck (of any suit) for purposes of creating these sequences is somewhat different than for play of the hand (from high to low; Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7.) Similarly to the four of a kind honor meld, the non dealer would first specifically announce his highest sequence. The dealer can then either concedes the score for the sequence honor meld to his opponent or announce a higher scoring such sequence. The player who ultimately scores for the sequence honor meld may score not only for the sequence declared but any other sequences as well. Note that to score the sequences, the player who scores for them must also temporarily show these cards from his hand. The following are the scoring values for the various sequence honor melds in Jo-Jotte: In comparison of sequences, to determine which player might have a higher sequence, a higher point value sequence is considered higher than one of a lower point value. If the highest sequence held by both players is of the same point value, the sequence which contains the highest ranked top card is considered the winner. If the sequences are both of the same point value and have the same highest ranked top card, if one of the runs is in the trump suit that sequence is considered higher. If neither of those is in the trump suit neither player scores for the sequence on that hand.

Note that, in order to reduce the amount of information that might be revealed about a player's hand during this honor meld phase of the game, the players, starting with the dealer first, give only enough information to reveal the character and value of the meld. The other player may then either concede or announce a higher type. In the case that both are equal (in a sequence meld), they would then include additional information to determine the highest (such as the highest card and suit). In any event, the player who scores for one or more honor melds must temporarily show these melds to his opponent before scoring for them.

If the suit of the turn-up card ultimately is set as the trump suit for the hand, and a player has the seven of this suit in his hand (called the dix), he may (but is not obligated to) exchange that seven of trumps from his hand for the turn-up card, adding that card to his hand and placing the dix in it's place. The player must do this before the actual play of the hand begins.

Once the bidding has concluded and the honor melds announced, the play of the actual hand begins. The defender (non contractor) leads the first card to the first trick, with his opponent than adding a card to the trick. The rule of play to trick is somewhat strict in this game, and the following rules are enforced:
Trivia: Ely Culbertson, the inventor of Jo-Jotte, named the game after his wife at the time, Josephine Culbertson.
The trick is won by the player of the highest trump card played to the trick if it contains one. If the trick contains no cards of the trump suit (of the hand is played at no trump), the trick is won by the player of the highest card originally led to that trick). The winner of the trick should set the cards won in that trick aside for later scoring and leads the first card to the next trick which may consist of any card remaining in his hand.

After all nine tricks have been played and won, the hand is scored to determine if the contractor managed to win the hand. As would be expected from a game created by an inventor with heavy Contract Bridge influences, the game is scores somewhat like Contract Bridge. Thus, scoring in Jo-Jotte, is retained in two sections on the score sheet for each player, an above the line area and a below the line area.

Points scored by each player for Honor Melds during the hand are automatically scored in that player's above the line section of the score sheet.
Additional scores (including any below the line score) are calculated based on whether the contractor was able to earn a higher Total Score than his opponent during the hand. His Total Score is calculated by summing all of the following point categories: Above or Below the Line scoring The summation of all these scores is called the Total Score. If the contractor for the hand has a higher "Total Score" than his opponent for the hand, he adds his trick score for the hand (his total points earned during the hand from cards won in tricks, last trick and Jo-Jotte) to his current below the line total, and his opponent adds his own Trick Score (all points earned from cards won in tricks, last trick and Jo-Jotte) to his above the line section of the score sheet. However, if the defender has the higher Total Score for the hand, the defender scores his own Trick score added to the declarer's Trick score to his own below the line section of the score sheet. If a "Double" call was made during the hand, however, the player with the higher Total Score, scores double the sum of both player's trick score to his below the line section of the score sheet. If the contract was redoubled, the player with the higher total score, adds the sum of both scores, multiplied by four to his below the line section of the score sheet.

If both players have an exact tie for total scoring during a hand, a special procedure is applied. All the point scoring cards used in the hand are added together from both players and written on a special section of the score sheet and not awarded to either player. This is usually denoted by drawing a circle around the score, and these points are said to be "in prison". Whichever player earns the most points on the next hand also earns these "in prison" points, which are scored in the above the line section of the score sheet.

If the contract was a "Slam" bid, and the contractor does, in fact, win every trick during the hand, he also earns a 500 point bonus above the line. However, if the contract was a Slam bid and the contractor did not win every trick during the hand, his opponent scores the combined Trick Scores of both players in his above the line section of the score sheet (unless the opponent also managed to earn a higher Total Score than the contractor, in which he earns this total in the below the line section instead).

If a player wins every trick but did not bid a "Slam" he earns a 100 point bonus above the line.

The scoring on a Nullo contract is somewhat different than the normal scoring of the hand. These special bids have very specific ways of calculating the final score for the hand based on whether the contract was successful or not:

For a Nullo contract: If the contractor manages to win no tricks during the hand, he earns 200 points in his above the line section of the score sheet. However, if the declarer wins exactly one trick, his opponent scores 200 points instead, as well as 100 points for each additional trick the contractor won during the hand. These points are also scored above the line for that player. In addition, all possible trick scoring points are added together from both players and written on the score sheet with a circle around them ("in prison"). The player with the higher "Total Score" on the next hand then earns these points, adding them to his above the line section of the score sheet.

Note that in any event, each player earns any Honor Melds for the hand (which are scored in that player's above the line section of the score sheet.

As soon as one player manages to earn 80 or more points in his below the line section of the score sheet, he is said to win one "Game". The total scores for that "Game" are calculated by adding the above the line and below the line sections of the score sheet for each player. The first player to win two "Games" is said to win the Rubber. The winner of a rubber earns a 300 point bonus which is added to his combined score for the rubber. Each player's rubber score is his totaled score (both above and below the line) from each game comprising that rubber.

                     
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