Mizerka

Rules of the Card Game Mizerka

Mizerka is a trick-taking card game for 3 or 4 players. The game is played with a standard 52-card deck. What makes Mizerka unique is that it uses different contracts and allows players to exchange cards with an extra pile of cards: the talon.

Below you will find an explanation of the gameplay and scoring system.

Cards and Contracts

• The cards have the standard ranks: 2 through 10, jack, queen, king and ace.
• There are 6 possible contracts: clubs trump, diamonds trump, hearts trump, spades trump, no trump and Mizerka.
• In the Mizerka contract, your goal is to take as few tricks as possible.
• In all other contracts, your goal is to take as many tricks as possible.
• Each player may play each contract only once.

Preparation

1. The dealer first deals 6 cards to each player.
2. An additional face-down pile is created: the talon.
3. The player to the left of the dealer then chooses the contract for this round based on their first 6 cards.
4. There are 6 types of contracts, and each contract can only be selected once.
5. The dealing then continues until every player has 13 cards (10 cards in a 4-player game).
6. The talon consists of the remaining face-down cards.

Exchanging with the Talon

1. First, the player to the left of the dealer may discard cards and draw the same number of new cards from the talon.
2. Next, the player to the right of the dealer may do the same, but only from the cards still remaining in the talon.
3. If there are any cards left in the talon after that, the dealer may also exchange cards.
4. The cards in the talon are not visible to the players.

Gameplay

1. The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick.
2. Each player must follow suit if possible.
3. If you do not have the required suit, you may play any other card.
4. In a trump contract, the highest trump card wins the trick.
5. If no trump card is played, the highest card of the led suit wins the trick.
6. The winner of the trick leads the next trick.
7. A total of 13 tricks are played.
8. In the next round, a new contract is chosen (each contract only once).
9. The 6th time a player must choose a contract, only 1 option remains available.
10. A complete game lasts 18 rounds with 3 players (3 players × 6 contracts) and 24 rounds with 4 players.

Scoring

• In standard contracts, the active player has the highest target, while each following player has a lower target:
  3 players: 7, 5 and 1 trick(s)
  4 players: 4, 3, 2 and 1 trick(s)
• In regular contracts, meeting your target scores points as follows:
  Each trick above your target = +1 point, each trick below your target = -1 point
• In the Mizerka contract, the scoring is reversed:
  Each trick above your target becomes a penalty (-1 point), while each trick below your target earns a bonus (+1 point)

End of the Game

• Each player must choose every contract exactly once.
• As a result, a complete game consists of 18 or 24 rounds.
• After the final round, all points are added together.
• The player with the most points wins the game.

Variations

• A short variant using only the contracts: hearts, no trump and Mizerka.