How to Play the Card Game Vidrasso

Vidrasso is another fun card game designed by creator Sean Ross, who is also well known for his popular shedding game, Haggis. Vidrasso is a trick taking game designed for two players and features both a trump suit and a trump rank. The rules for Vidrasso, as specially written for this site, are provided here from the original rules which are part of the Canadian Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 licensing model (CC BY-NC 2.5).

Example initial deal in Vidrasso

Vidrasso is a two player trick taking game using a 36 card deck. This deck can be created by removing all cards of denominations 10, Jack, Queen and King from a standard 52 card deck and using the remaining cards for play of the game. The first unusual feature of this game is the ranking of the cards in this deck. In Vidrasso, the cards in each suit rank as follows (from highest to lowest); Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Each card in the deck also has an associated point value. An Ace has a point value of 1 and each other card a point value equal to the number marked on the card.

Determination of seating positions and first dealer can be performed using any method, with draw for high card such a method commonly used. The player drawing the highest ranked card (as per the unusual card ranking of this game) is set as the first dealer (as well as having the first choice of seats at the table), and thereafter, on each hand the role of dealer alternating amongst the two players.

Once the dealer has been determined, this player then thoroughly shuffles the deck and offers it to his opponent for the cut. After the cut, the dealer then begins the deal. He first deals each player a row of five face-down cards in front of each player. Following these five cards, he deals five more cards to each player, dealing one card directly on top of each of the previously dealt face-down cards. These cards are dealt face up. These cards dealt (10 total to each player) are known as strawmen. After this, he then deals a hand of 8 face-down cards to each player, which should exhaust the deck. The players are allowed to pick up their hand cards for examination, but must leave the other 10 cards they have been dealt on the table. They are not entitled to look at or display the face-down cards in the strawmen until the card on top has been legally played to a trick.

In an unusual feature which is also found in a few other trick taking games, such as Watten, Vidrasso features both a trump suit and a trump rank. After the cards have been dealt, the dealer's opponent, after reviewing his hand, then sets a trump suit to be used for the hand. He may announce any of the four suits as to his choosing. After this player declares the trump suit for the hand, the dealer then, after reviewing his hand, declares a trump rank for the hand. This may be any of the normal ranks of cards (nine to Ace). These declarations can thus have a drastic effect on gameplay. The four cards of the chosen trump rank are the four highest cards in the game, each ranking equally. These cards are still considered to be a member of the suit marked on that card, however, so may only be played when a card of that suit could normally be played. After these four trump ranked cards, the next highest ranked cards in the deck are all the cards of the trump suit, with a relative ranking amongst each other based on the normal card ranking used in this game. After the cards in the trump suit, the cards which are not of the trump rank, in the three remaining suits are ranked also using the normal card ranking as used for this game.

Example trump suit and rank in Vidrasso

After the trump suit and trump rank are determined, each player then selects one card from the eight cards forming his hand as his "Capture card". This can be any card in that player's initial eight card hand, and at the end of the hand, the point value of that card will be added to that player's score. The card selected by that player is placed face-down to start that player's capture pile, in which that player will also place all cards won in tricks during the hand. The opponent of the dealer starts the hand by leading the first card to the first trick.

In leading to a trick a player may play any of his face-up cards or his hand cards to start the trick. After the lead to the trick, the opponent then plays one card to that same trick. If he has a card of the suit originally led to the trick, he may play a card of that suit, a card from the trump suit, or a card from the trump rank. If he has no cards of that suit led, he may play any card from his hand to the trick.

After both players have played a card to the trick, it is determined who won the trick. If the trick contains exactly one card of the designated trump rank for the hand, the player of that card wins the trick. If the trick contains two cards from the trump rank, the second of these two cards played to the trick wins the trick. If the card contains no cards of the trump rank, but one or more cards of the trump suit, the highest card of this trump suit wins the trick. If the trick contains no cards of the trump rank or trump suit, the highest card of the suit originally led to the trick wins that trick. The winner of each trick leads the first card to the next trick.

The winner of each trick places the cards from the won trick into his Capture pile. If, either player played the face-up card on his strawmen row, exposing the face-down card beneath it, he may then, after completion of that last trick, turn this card over, exposing it's rank and suit and allowing it's use by that player in an upcoming trick.

After all the cards have been played, each player then adds a number of points to his current ongoing score equal to the sum of all cards in that players capture pile (including the initial Capture Card selected by that player). Each card has a point value, as mentioned previously, equal to the number as marked on that card (with Aces having a point value of 1). If, at the completion of any hand, either or both players have accumulated a point total of 300 or more points, the player with the highest such total is declared the game winner.