Control Nut!
Control Nut! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Rules
Control Nut is played over several rounds. Each round is composed of two phases: Auctioning and playing. Once the playing of the cards has been completed scores will be tallied and the process repeated until a winner has been determined. Before the auctioning phase deal out all of the "nut" cards.
Auctioning
Although there are many control cards in the deck only four of them are used in any one round. It is best to randomly determine the four control cards to be used in the round. The four chosen should be displayed to all the players and described for players that may not be familiar with the card. Once everyone is familiar with the control cards chosen they should be shuffled separately from the other cards in the deck. Each one of the control cards is will be auctioned off in turn. Each card to be auctioned off should be chosen at random from the four control cards in play for the round. Starting with the dealer bids are made for the control card. The bidding goes around the table once in a clockwise fashion ending with the player to the right of the dealer. A bid must always be in the form of three face up cards from your hand. The bid is valued by adding the face value of the cards together. When making a bid it is not required to exceed the previous bid but you must make a bid that is not equal to current high bid. When a bid is made the cards constituting the bid are laid face up on the table so that other players (including your partner) can see them.
After all players have bid the player with the highest value bid wins the control card. The bid (which is composed of three cards) is split up amongst the other players, one card each, as the winner sees fit. The cards should be given to the others players in an open manner so that everyone can see who is getting what. No consultation with your partner is allowed however.
The person who wins the control card will start the bidding for the next control card. When all of the auctioning is complete the player who gets the most control cards will decide which suit is trump unless the Trump Control card is being used (see below). If there is a tie for number of control cards the player who got their control card last will decided on trump.
Playing cards
Starting with the winner of the last auction each player will play a card from their hand face up to the table. Each player must play a card from their hand that matches the suit that was played by the dealer, if possible. If the player does no have a card that matches the suit then they may play any other card. The only exception to this rule is the control card. A control card may be played instead of following suit.
If all of the cards played are of the same suit then the highest value card wins the trick. (A trick is a set of cards where each person who has cards to play has contributed one card.) The player who wins the trick will collect the cards played to the trick and place them face down on the table in front of them. This should be done is a fashion that will make counting the number of tricks won possible.
It is quite probable that at the end of the auctioning round there will be an uneven number of cards in player's hands. If a player has no cards then they cannot contribute to the trick. So some tricks may be played with only three people, and maybe even two people. If only one partnership or one person is left then one trick is awarded for every four cards (rounded up) to the partnership (see scoring).
If a trump card is played to the trick because either trump was led or because when a player couldn't follow suit they played a trump card then the winner of the trick is the player who contributed the highest value trump card.
It is also possible to lead a control card. If that happens then there is no suit established for the trick the suit of the next non-control card to be played will establish the suit that must be followed for the rest of the trick.
Who ever wins the trick will lead a card for the next trick. Play continues until all players are out of cards. This will usually mean 13-17 tricks will be played.
Control cards
Control cards come in various flavors and styles. Each of the control cards has its own special ability to exert control over the game. Each of the control cards still fit into the game as described above but affect the rules in some way as described below. Also remember that any control card can be played at any time that you would normally play a card. You never have to follow suit to play a control card.
Control cards have no value and can not win tricks on their own. Consider their value to be 0. In the unusual event that four control cards (besides the trick control card) are played in the same trick then the first control card played would win.
Trump Control
This control card has the power of trump selection. When this card is being used in the round trump is not determined in the normal fashion. Instead there is no trump declared at the beginning of the playing of the cards. Immediately after the trick in which this card is played the player who played it picks one of the four suits to be trump. The trump must be one of the four available trump suits (e.g. they cannot choose to continue without trump).
Trick Control
This control card has the power to win tricks. When this card is played to a trick it will automatically win the trick. This card is considered of a higher value than all others including trumps.
Star Control
This control card has control over stars. When the auctioning has completed and before the playing of the cards the player who has won the Score Control card can decide to not play the score control card and add it directly to their partnerships score pile. If this option is chosen the card itself does not count as a trick but is considered to have two stars on it. This is important for scoring (see Scoring). If the player chooses not to add the card to the score pile the control card should kept in her hand (as with all other control cards). The control card would then be played as any other control card. When playing the card in this way the card is considered to have four stars on it. Keep in mind that since this card does not win tricks on its own it may be won by you opponents. Is it worth the risk?
Hand Control
This control card gives you the power of hand control. After the trick in which this card is played the person who played this card is entitled to take a single card at random from each of his two opponents. The card chosen cannot be a control card though. The player then adds those cards to his hand. Just like most of the other control cards this card does not win tricks on its own.
Order Control
This control card gives you the ability to sit out any number of tricks. When this card is played the owner of this card may decide not to play to any trick(s) they choose for as long as the card is in front of them. Once the owner plays the Order control card to a trick that player will play as normal.
Bonus Control
This card gives the power of declaring a bonus. The person that takes this card during the auction must at the end of the auction phase and before the playing of the cards declare a number of tricks that must be taken in order to receive a 50 point bonus. If at the end of the playing of the cards the team that used this card makes exactly the set number of tricks they receive a 50 point bonus. This card is not played to a trick and is put into the owning partnerships score pile but does not count as an extra trick.
Value Control
This control card gives you the ability to alter the value of a card it is played with. This card must be played with another card (not a control card) and alters its value up by two. In the case of a tie between two cards on the table the first card laid breaks the tie. This card cannot be played by itself and cannot win tricks alone.
Score Control
This control card gives you the ability to add points to your partnerships score. This card is played like most other controls cards in that it is played to a trick but doesn't win a trick on its own. The winner of the trick will put that trick (which includes this card) into their score pile. Not only is this card worth the normal 5 point control card score but it is worth an additional 20 points the partnership that has it in their score pile at the end of the playing of the cards.
Scoring
Notice that some cards have stars on them (2 stars on the "1" cards, 1 star on the "3" cards and 1 star on the "7" cards). It is also important to note that some of the control cards (i.e. Score control) are considered to have stars on them. This is important for scoring. When the play of cards has come down to either one person or one partnership then the play of cards is over. Any number of cards that the player/partnership have at that point is divided by four and rounded up (friendly rounding). This number is added to the number of tricks taken by that partnership.
Example: Frank and Ward are left 5 cards between them when Steven and Sheldon each play their last card. Frank and Ward would add 2 (6/4 rounded up) to their number of tricks taken.
Score is determined for the partnership by multiplying the number of tricks taken by the partnership by the number of stars collected in their tricks. Five points is then added for each control card in the partnerships score pile.
Example: Craig and Kim were the last to have cards and have determined that they have 11 tricks between them. Further they have determined that they have captured 12 stars (8 from 1s, 3s and 7s and 4 from the Star Control card because they won it during the course of play) They have also determined that they have 2 control cards (the Star control card and the Score control card) in their score pile.
This leads to a score of: 11 (number of tricks) times 12 (number of stars) = 132 + 10 (2 control cards * 5) + 20 (points from the score control card) for a grand total of 162.
The game is over when a partnership exceeds 300 points. The partnership with the most points is the winner. If a longer game is desired vary the number of points (500 points for a medium game, best 2 of 3 to 500 for a long game).