Card games shmear

It is predominantly played in North America although the game is appreciated elsewhere. The common version seen in many games is where four players play in a partnership.

Two teams formed. Each region normally has its house rules. The article describes the following versions of the smear game. The deck used consists of 52 standard cards plus one joker. This is St Paul, Minnesota Version of the game. Each of the players is usually issued 6 cards, after which 17 cards remain for the second deal. An auction pitch is used in the calculation of scores where cards are brought home.

Each hand entails a total of 6 points. A bid represents the number of points that a particular team can probably take. In this specific scenario, the highest bid one can make is 6 while the lowest is 3. A player is allowed to either bid a higher number than the previous bid or passes the chance. The person sitting on the left side of the dealer starts the bidding which later goes round for a single time.

Thereafter, the individual who wins the bid will determine the trump suit. And, in case no one bids, the same dealer will have to re-deal the cards again. At the point a trump suit is determined, every individual apart from the dealer can choose to discard up to 3 cards other than the trump cards.

Each player will then be given cards by the dealer to bring the total at hand to 6. The dealer will go ahead and take the remaining cards, then, discard the same number of cards. Although it is not allowed to discard the trump, the dealer can do so when they exceed 6 trumps—but not discard the trump two, the trump ace, joker, left bower or right bower. The bidding side will receive all points if they take more points from the bid.

Likewise, they will lose the bid amount if the team takes fewer points than bided. However, the opponents will score the bided points in any case. The team that attains 21 or more points first wins. If both surpass 21, the team with more points wins.

If both sides equal scores, the bidding team wins. It is the best Smear variant that resembles the ten point pitch. Usually, 4 or 6 individuals sit crosswise and play in fixed partnerships using a pack of 54 cards.

Apart from the points gathered from the High, Low, Jack and Game, there are also team points from the:. The jick jack of the same color normally ranks below the trump jack; and, the joker between the jick and ten. The bidding process is similar to the one described above except that the minimum bid is 4 and the maximum Each player is dealt 10 cards, a trump is named, and the highest bidder picks and adds the other 14 undealt cards to the hand. It seems likely that the name is related to the German word schmieren , which is used in point-trick games such as Skat for the technique of discarding a high-value card on a trick which your partner is winning.

The name might perhaps also be connected to "smudge", which is the highest bid in some forms of Pitch. In comparison to normal Pitch , these are the main differences - not all of which apply to all the versions of Smear:. This version was contributed by Ben Butzer, who calls the game Schmier.

According to his family tradition, they brought it from Austria-Hungary many years ago, but this seems unlikely to be the case; games of the All Fours group are thought to be English in origin, and to have spread through the English speaking countries.

If anyone knows of any evidence for games of the All Fours group ever having been played in Central Europe, please let me know. Scoring is based on bringing cards home and is calculated somewhat like in Auction Pitch. There are a total of 6 points per hand:. Each bid is a number, representing the number of points that team will try to take.

The minimum bid is 3; the highest bid is 6. The bidding begins on dealer's left goes around table 1 time. Each player can pass or bid a number of points higher than the previous bid if any.

The person winning the bid names the trump suit. Once the trump suit is named, each person other than the dealer may discard up to 3 cards from his hand. No trump cards may be discarded. The dealer deals enough cards to each other player to bring their total hands up to six cards each. The dealer now adds the remaining undealt cards to his hand there will be at least two such cards , and then discards an equal number of cards his discard may include cards he picked up.

The dealer is not allowed to discard trumps except in the rare case when he has more than 6 trumps in his hand. In this case he must discard the minimum number of trumps leaving himself with a hand of 6 trumps , and is not allowed to discard the trump ace, right bower, left bower, trump two or joker.

The winner of the bid leads. Each player must follow suit until he is void note that you are not allowed to trump while you still have a card of the led suit - this is unlike Pitch.

A player with no card of the suit led may play any card. In addition whoever played the ace of trumps gets a point for his team, and the player of the two of trumps gets a point for his team even if the other team takes the trick.

If the bidding side take at least as many points as they bid, they score all the points they made which may be more than the bid. If the bidding side take fewer points than they bid, they lose the amount of their bid which may make their score negative. In either case, the opponents of the bidding side score the points they made. The winners are the first team to reach 21 or more points, or if both reach 21 on the same deal, the side with more points.

If both sides reach 21 or more points on the same deal and the scores are then equal, the bidding side wins. Remove the twos and threes from the deck.

The first deal and the bidding are as in the six player game, and the high bidder names trump. After the second deal, the winner of the bid is allowed to call a partner by naming a desired card. The holder of the called card is the partner of the bidder but does not announce who he is - the teams are not known until the called card is played.

If the called card turns out to have been discarded, the bidder plays and scores alone, and the other four play as a team and score equally. The bidder may also choose to play alone voluntarily, and in this case does not call a partner. It is illegal for the bidder to call a card which is in his own hand. Each player keeps an individual score because the teams shift on each hand. The winner is the first individual player to reach 21 points. As the twos and threes are out of play, the point for lowest is awarded to whoever holds the four of trumps.

There is also an older version of the 5 player game played with a full deck of cards, in which players may discard up to 6 cards rather than 3 before the second deal. As always, it is illegal to discard trumps. The original Smear game is played with 4 players in fixed partnerships, sitting crosswise. A 54 card pack is used, the cards in each suit ranking as usual A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. The two jokers are extra trumps ranking between the jack and ten. If both jokers are played to the same trick, the first played beats the second.

Nine cards are dealt to each player, and there is one round of bidding, beginning with the player to dealer's left. Each player can pass or name a number of points, from 2 to 4, which must be higher than the previous bids if any. The winner of the bidding names trump, and then each player discards three cards face down, and plays with the remaining six. No trump of any kind may be discarded except by a player who has more than six trumps.

The high bidder leads to the first trick. In the play, suit must be followed. A player with no card of the suit led may anything. A player is also allowed to trump while still holding cards of the suit led.

If the bidding side make as many points as they bid they score all the points they made; if not they lose the amount they bid. The non-bidding side score the points they made in any case. Negative scores are possible.

If more than one party reaches the required number of points to win the game, the party with the higher score wins. In case of a tie the pitching party wins.

Each player is dealt nine cards. After the pitcher has declared trumps, each player discards all non-trumps and receives as many cards as necessary to bring their hand back to six.

A player who holds more than six trumps must keep all trumps. During trick-play, only trumps may be played. Any player holding more than six cards must play the extra cards to the first trick. Players drop out of the game as they run out of trumps. If a player wins a trick with their last trump, the following player leads to the next trick.

The Joker points are awarded to the owners, not winners, of the two Jokers. The game is 21 up or 31 up. Only the pitching party can win the game. Each player receives 9 cards in batches of 3. At some point in between a widow of 4 cards is put aside. The minimum bid is 4 points. The pitcher takes up the widow before declaring the trump suit. All players except the pitcher discard all their non-trumps and receive replacements as necessary to bring their hands back to six cards.

Finally the pitcher picks up the remaining stock and discards down to six cards. The pitcher need not lead a trump to the first trick. A player with more than six trumps including the pitcher after picking up the stock, if applicable will have to discard trumps, but may not discard any that have scoring value. The point for Low is replaced by a point for Deuce , i. Similar to the Fool in Tarot games, if the Two of trumps gets lost in a trick, its owner of the fool takes it back and puts it to their own party's tricks, to facilitate scoring.

The point for "Game" is replaced by a point for the ten of trumps. This simplifies scoring and eliminates the need to count card points. One possible bid is shooting the moon. This is the same as winning the maximum amount of points possible, but for higher stakes: In case of success the pitching party immediately wins the game. However, if the pitching party previously had a negative score it is merely reset to 0. In case of failure the pitching party loses the game.

Five point Smear can be played with 4, 6, or 8 people. In each way, the group is split into two teams. The game is played with a 53 card deck, only one Joker. When playing 8 handed all cards are left in the deck.

But some use 3 cards to make a kiddy which the winning bidder gets to exchange cards with and 2 are left "sleeping" or unused.