Oneonta Whist rules

A trick-taking cardgame for one or more players.

by Richard Hutnik (copyright 1993)
Latest version of rules: 1.1 (updated January 2013).
EQUIPMENT USED
Deck used: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and the 10 of all four suits. Plus, 2 Jokers (Decide
which Joker will be the Large joker and which will be the Small joker).
Order from highest to lowest value of non-trump suit: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10.
Order from highest to lowest trump suit: Large joker, small joker, Ace, King, Queen,
Jack, 10.
LIST OF TERMS
Dummy hand: A pile of cards (hand) that always leads and the player plays against.
Lead: To play first.
Null: To bid to win no tricks. These bids are usually recorded with a negative number.
Trick: To win cards played by all players when cards are laid down.
Trump/Trump suit: A suit that is higher than all other suits. When a card of trump suit
is played, it beats all other cards that aren't of a trump suit. For examples, if diamonds
is a trump suit, a Jack of Diamonds would beat a King of any other suit (like Clubs). A
trump card is a card that is part of trump suit.
SOLITAIRE PLAY
Dealing and set-up:
Cards are dealt alternately between two hands. Nine cards are dealt out to each hand.
One hand is for the player. The other is a dummy hand. After 18 cards are dealt out
(nine in each hand), the top card of the remaining four is turned over. The suit on the
card turned over is the suit of the trump suit. If a joker is turned over, then there will
be no trump suit. However, the remaining joker is still a trump card (it beats all other
cards played). The dummy hand remains face down.
Bidding:
After cards are dealt out, the player estimates how many tricks they will win. A player
can bid one of two ways:
A player can bid between one and nine (1-9). This type of bid represents the number of
tricks a player thinks they will win.
A player can also bid what is called a null. This type of bid is for when a player thinks
that they will take no tricks. A null bid may also be from one to nine (1-9). If the player
wins no tricks, they receive the number of points that they bid null. If the player wins
one or more trick, they lose as many points as they bid.
Play:
The dummy hand, that hand which is not controlled by player, has its top card turned
face up.
The player must match the suit of the card played by the dummy hand, if they can. If
the player has a card higher than the value of the card played by the dummy hand and
is the same suit as the dummy hand, the player wins that trick. Both cards are then
placed into a pile of cards won by player in tricks.
If the player can't match the suit of that the dummy hand led with, then the player

may play a trump card and win the trick. If the player doesn't have a trump card, then
the dummy hand wins the trick.
Play continues until all the cards in the player's hand have been played.
Scoring:
1. Player adds up number of tricks they won.
2. If player made a regular bid:
If player didn't win as many tricks as they bid, they lose the number of points they bid.
If a player bid five and won only three, they would lose five points.
If player won exactly the same number of tricks as points they bid, the player wins the
number of points they bid. If a player bid four and won four points, the player would
receive four points.
If a player won more tricks than they bid, the player wins then number of points they
bid. However, for each trick won over the number of points the player bid, the player
would lose a point. Example: player bids four and wins six tricks. Player would win 2
points. 4-(6-4)=2. 3. If player made a null bid:
3. If player made a null bid:
If player won no tricks, they would receive the number of points they bid. Example:
player bids null 3 (said null negative three or -3), player wins no tricks and receives 3
points.
Player wins one or more tricks. Player would lose the number of points they bid.
Example, player bids -5 (null 5). Player wins two tricks. Player would lose five points.
Note: Null bids are all or nothing. Player must not win any tricks or they lose what they
bid.
MODIFICATION OF RULES FOR NON-SOLITAIRE PLAY:
Winner of the game: Play to a set point value or a set number of rounds. First player to
reach the point value or go over wins. Or, player with highest score after set number of
rounds wins. In event of a tie, continue play until one player has more points than all
others. Players who are tied for lead would continue playing, while those who had less
points would end play (are eliminated).
Dealing: There is no dummy hand. Cards are dealt to players instead. The minimum
number of cards in a hand is seven. If there aren't enough cards in deck used to play,
cards less than 10 should be used. First nines then, then eights, etc... This is done to
raise number of cards to at least seven in a hand. There also should be at least one
card remaining to determine trump suit. Deal passes clockwise from player to player
after each round.
Order of bidding: Player who won the most amount of points in the previous round
would bid first. The next player, clockwise, would then state bid. This continues until all
players are done bidding. Bids are then recorded (or recorded when said). Note:If all
players bid null, then all players bids are counted as a regular bid of zero. Each player
would lose one point for each trick they take.
Order of play: Player who bid highest would go first. A null bid is considered negative in
evaluating who goes first. In event two or more players bid the same, the player with
the most points amongst the tied players in bidding would go first. In event of still a
tie, the player dealing cards would go first. Order of playing card then proceeds
clockwise. After the first trick is won, the player who won the trick would then play a
card, and again, the next player, clockwise, would play a card.

VARIANT RULES:
Cooperative Play: Go around, and everyone makes their bids. The object is for the
group to collectively (every person in their group) to meet their bids. Players determine
at the start how much communication is allowed between players. Everyone plays as
one team. The object is to get a high score. One could also base scoring around lowest
scoring player.
Beat the game cooperative play: Players play cooperatively, but also try to beat a
dummy hand, like in the solitaire game. As with the solitaire game, the dummy hand in
the game would always lead.
Doubling (Implement to prevent a hand from being pointless): If a play bids null or
regular bid the maximum amount (total number of tricks in a hand), the player has the
option to double. For example, if there are possible tricks, if the player bids a null 7
(bids 7 points to take no trick) or bids 7 (bids to take all 7 tricks), the player can bid
null double (take no tricks) or double (take all tricks). When a player bids double or
null double, the player either wins or loses 14 points. Else, play continues the same. A
double is the highest amount one can bid. A null double is the lowest one can bid. It is
recommended that players who play with this variant only to allow the first player to
declare they are doubling to double, in order to prevent a round from being pointless
by having one player end up saying they are doubling with a null or regular bid and
their opponent saying they are doing the opposite.
An alternative way to handle doubling is to make the doubling of points be automatic if
players bid maximum amount of points and give them double points for accomplishing
this. However, unlike the prior approach, players only lose the points they would of bid,
instead of double the amount of points, With this alternative approach, the first player
who bids maximum (whether null or positive, and even if one player bids null and
another bids positive) has a chance to get the bonus, even if more than one player bids
maximum, either way. The end result will be that only one player qualifies for the
bonus (double the points), and that is the first player to bid maximum points (null or
positive).
Tougher Solitaire scoring: A player scores no points if they take more tricks than they
bid, rather than subtracting one from their bid total, as is normally done. The object of
the game is to finish the game with a positive score. This adjustment makes for a
much more challenging, and arguably meaningful, solitaire game.
Edd Allard's alternate scoring for solitaire play:
This variant was proposed as an alternate scoring for solitaire play for Oneonta Whist.
These are included because I have always had issue with coming up with an optimal
set of scoring. These rules drop the null (-1) bid as being relevant though, but Edd
enjoys his variant, so they are included here. This would be fine for solitaire play,
because a null 1 bid is a defensive hedge bid against an opponent.
Below are the words of Edd on Boardgame Geek, with some editing done to fit the
context of these rules:
- Deal, bidding, and hand play is per the original solitaire rules, except as outlined
below.

- Each game is 9 deals.

- A player making his bid scores 1 for each trick bid and made, minus 1 for each
overtrick.
- A player failing to make his bid loses the full amount of the bid.
- A player scores 10 points for Null bid and made.
- A player failing to make a Null bid scores the number of tricks taken, minus 10 points.
- The player wins on a score greater than 30 points. A score of 30 is a draw. A score
less than 30 is a loss.
DESIGNER NOTES:
I originally got bored of the usual solitaire type games. I found they had too much luck,
keeping in mind this game was created before I discovered Freecell. One night while I
was waiting around, with only a deck of cards, I came up with the idea for this game. I
played it a few times and found out that it played well and was an interesting variation.
I eventually got around to playing it with someone else and found that it also played
well. Over time, rules for doubling and modification on the null rules came into play.
By the way, the name "Oneonta Whist" comes from the first place this game caught on,
SUNY Oneonta college in SUNY New York. The Whist part of the name comes from the
fact that the trump suit is determined at random by a card being turned over, as is
done in regular Whist.

Thanks for posting the rules, neat little game. I tried it last night and had a couple
(potentially dumb) questions if I could ask:
- I'm confused about the joker when it is the drawn card, i.e. no trump. The rules state
that the other Joker is still a "trump card" in that case and beats everything. I guess
I'm just confused by this since there is no trump in this case? and the jokers are only
listed in the trump section hierarchy.
- How many hands are usually played? I see 9 hands as a variant, I could try that. Just
wondering what the normal mode is.
Thanks!

The joker can be played one of two ways. The first way is that it always wins a trick,
which works if the game is playable with more than 2 players. The second one is that it
never wins a trick. In that case, if it is led with more than 2 players, there is
uncertainty as to what the suit to follow is. One could then end up having the next card
played act like that.
If one plays with the Edd variant, it is 9 hands, otherwise, you can decide how many
you want to play.