Pluck

In Pluck the object is to get more books then the quota set by the player’s position relative to the dealer. Doing so both scores a player points and allows them to exchange for better cards(you get to pluck someone) on subsequent hands.

setup

To play Pluck, remove all of the 2s except the 2 club, then add in the two jokers. You’ll be left with a deck with aces through 3s in each of the four suits, two jokers, and the 2 club. The cards rank in their usual order, with aces high. The big joker is considered to be the highest trump, followed by the little joker as second-highest trump, then the ace of trump, and so on.

The quotas

Each player has their own quota of books(tricks) that they are required to capture on each hand.

The dealer: seven books

Player to left of dealer: six books

Player to right of dealer: four books

Note that the three quotas add up to exactly seventeen tricks, the total number of tricks in the game. This means that if anyone exceeds their quota at all, by even one book, another player will be short.

Scoring

Upon looking at their hand, the dealer declares the trump suit. Whoever holds the 2 club start with the 2 of club. The next player to their left responds by playing a club, if they are able; otherwise, they may play any card they wish. The final player follows in turn. These three cards played to the table are called a book or trick. After all players have played a card, the player who played the highest trump, or the highest club if none were played, wins the book.

The player that won the first trick then leads any card, except for a trump. The first time a player who is unable to follow suit plays a trump, trumps are said to have been broken. Trumps can then be led to subsequent turns. When clubs are trump, trumps are broken on the first turn with 2 club.

After all seventeen tricks have been played, the hand is scored. Each player counts the number of tricks that they have. A player scores one point for each trick that they collected in excess of their quota. If a player captured tricks less than or equal to their quota, they score nothing for that hand.

After the hand is scored, the player to the outgoing dealer’s left deals the next hand.

time to play

plucks

Beginning with the second hand, and on every hand thereafter, players are entitled to plucks based on their score in the previous hand. A player earns one pluck for each extra trick they collected on the preceding hand. Players can be plucked from once for each trick they were short of their quota on the previous hand.

Plucking takes place immediately after the cards have been dealt, before the dealer announces the trump suit. The plucking player passes one card, face down, to the player they are plucking from. That player then passes back, also face down, the highest card they hold of suit of the card they just received. Because the trump suit is not yet known, the jokers cannot be passed during plucking.

Game play continues until one player reaches a score of 20 points or more. That player is the winner.

Ending the game