Pisa
Pisa Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 56 playing cards: 14 cards per suit, with values 0 to 13
- 8 voting cards
Idea of the Game
Imagine that you hold your hand of cards and can use it to decide, as you see fit, the trump suit(s), the number of tricks to be won, and the order of the cards (ascending or descending).
In this game the idea is not a wishful dream but a reality. The problem is that you have to contend with your opponents. Either you push your choices through and partly determine how the game unfolds, or you let the others do so and score points before the actual game is played. The choice is yours!
Object of the Game
Pisa is a trick-taking game in which each round is divided into two parts: a voting phase and an actual play phase. Points are awarded after each of the two phases. The number of points to be earned is twice as large in the actual play phase.
Setup
Lay out paper and pencil.
Shuffle all 56 playing cards well and deal 13 cards to each player (with 5 players: 11 cards per player). Set the remaining cards aside face down.
The players pick up their hand cards and keep them face down, hidden from the other players.
The voting cards are laid out face up in the middle of the table, grouped by type. (Among the trump-suit cards, the main trump is shown as the greatest, and the undertrump is the "second" suit.)
Sequence of Play
1. The Voting Phase
As soon as the hand cards have been dealt, the voting phase begins. In this phase the players together determine how the actual game will be played.
There are three voting rounds. First the trump suits are determined (4 possibilities), then the number of tricks to be won (2 possibilities), and finally the ranking of the cards (also 2 possibilities).
Course of a voting phase:
- The player to the left of the dealer starts the first voting phase. At each following vote, the starting player is the player to the left of the previous starting player. (Each voting round is therefore opened by a different player.)
- The corresponding voting cards (4 or 2) are laid out clearly face up in the middle of the table.
- Beginning with the starting player of that vote, and continuing clockwise, each player places 1 to 3 of his hand cards face down next to the voting card of his choice. It must remain clear which player placed which cards where.
- Once all players have voted, all the placed cards are turned face up and it is determined which voting card will be used. For this, the sum of all the playing cards placed on each voting card is calculated. The suit of the cards, and who placed them, play no role here.
- The voting card with the highest placed total is used for the second part of the round (the play phase). The other voting card(s) are set aside and no longer count.
- In the event of a tie in a vote, the voting card on which the most cards were placed wins. If the tie remains, the values of the placed cards are compared: the highest card takes precedence, and so on.
- Each player now takes back his placed cards and lays them face down in front of himself on the table.
- A second and a third voting round then follow in the same way.
Once the three voting rounds are finished, three voting cards remain, which together form a "tower". This tower shows how scoring is done in the play phase.
Scoring after the voting phase:
- The players turn over the cards they placed during the voting phase (at least 3, at most 9) and each calculates the sum of these cards.
- The player with the largest sum receives 1 point, the player with the second largest sum receives 2 points, and so on. The player with the smallest sum therefore receives the most points. This number is equal to the number of participating players (for example, 4 points with 4 players).
- If there is a tie for a given place, the tied players each receive the lower of the point values for that tie.
- These point values must be recorded.
Each player now decides which of the hand cards he has played during the voting phase he wants to use again. Each player must top up his hand to 10 cards (with 5 players: 8 cards). In this way exactly 3 cards remain for each player. These are now taken out of the game and set aside.
The play phase can then begin.
2. The Play Phase
The starting player is the player to the left of the dealer. The others follow clockwise.
Rules for the trick-taking game:
- The first suit played must be followed.
- A player who cannot follow suit may trump or play any other card.
- The trump suits count separately: one trump suit ranks above the other.
The player who wins a trick plays the next card.
Scoring after the play phase:
Once all tricks have been played, each player's tricks are counted. The number of tricks each player has won is now important.
- If the game was played for the "greatest number of tricks", the player with the fewest tricks scores the fewest points. (The points to be earned in this phase are twice as large.) That player therefore scores 2 points. The player with the most tricks scores the maximum number of points: with 4 players this is 8 points. (In general: number of players x 2.)
- If the game was played for the "smallest number of tricks", the player with the fewest tricks scores the most points. And so on.
- If several players have won the same number of tricks, their "theoretical" point totals are added together and divided among them.
Example with 4 players: the goal is to win many tricks. Player A won 5 tricks and scores 8 points. Players B and C each won 2 tricks. They each score 5 points (the 6 points for second place plus the 4 points for third place = 10 points, divided between them). Player D with 1 trick scores 2 points.
These points are recorded.
End of the Game
After each round, the next player becomes the dealer. As many rounds are played as there are players.
The player with the largest sum is the winner.
Transcriber note: the source's end-of-game sentence reads "de speler met de grootste som is winnaar" without naming the total. It is rendered here as printed; the sum is understood to be the total of the points recorded over all rounds.