Romanian Whist - Variations

Variations

• In the last (and seldom first) games with one card the players don't look at their own card, but they hold it on their forehead. So each player can see the cards of the other players, but he doesn't know which card he holds himself. So he must guess how many tricks he can take from the biddings of the other players.
• Promotions: If a player wins 10 consecutive games (this means, if the player never fails to fulfill his contract), he may add 30 points to his total or if a player wins a number of games equal to the number of players plus one games, he may be awarded 10 points. The same number of points is subtracted if he fails to fulfill his contract just as many times. Games in which one card is dealt do not count as hands won or lost for promotions. In an 8-1-8 game, the one-card games end a winning or losing streak. DoiZece.neogen.ro, the (disputed amongst enthusiasts) popular authority on the game, awards 10 points for every won or lost streak of five games, regardless of the number of players. Yet another variation suggests that a player is denied bonus points if he bid 0 in any of the consecutive games won. This is meant to encourage high bidding.
• 0 Finish: If a player has exactly 0 points after the last hand, he wins the game. (This variation is commonly played, but is not recommended, because it tends to ruin the game at the end - players may try to lose as many games as possible, to try to reach zero.) One need not announce he intends to win a game thus.
• Eight to Eight Games: The 8-card hands are dealt first, then reducing to one card and increasing again to 8 cards. The number of 8 card hands at the beginning and end and one-card hands in the middle is equal to the number of players, so with four players you would have 8-8-8-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-8-8-8. These are called 8-1-8 games, as opposed to 1-8-1 games. In 8-1-8 games, you do not win if you have 0 points at the end of a game.
• Higher bidding can also be stimulated by awarding less than 5 points for fulfilling.
• 0 and NV games: In case of a draw in an endgame (or sometimes just for fun) a number of hands no larger than the number of players can be played in which players are all dealt 8 cards and are forced to bid 0. The other solution is one additional hand in which the players make a "blind bid" and then are dealt 8 cards. The games are marked "0" and "NV" respectively in the left column on the scoreboard.