Jo-Jotte Streamlined
Jonathan Kandell
Tucson AZ
A jazzed-up modernization of the classic European card game Klobyash, as described in
Ely Culbertson Jo-Jotte: How to Play and Win (Philadelphia: Winston, 1937). Reflecting
Culbertson’s personality, Jo-Jotte accentuates the original game’s dramatic temperament,
with more bids, above and below the line scoring, and big bonuses and penalties. The odd
card ordering--standard for the whole of the “Jass” family--is integral to the game but takes
some getting used to.
Deck
32 cards, the 7 through Ace in four suits. Jo-Jotte uses standard Jass rankings:
Rank in Non-trump suits: A T K Q J 9 8 7
Rank in trump suit: J 9 A T K Q 8 7
The winner is the player with the most total points after an agreed upon number of
“rubbers,” usually three.
Outline of a hand:
1) Initial 6 cards dealt to each, & the next card turned up as potential trump suit.
2) Bidding to set trump.
3) Final 3 cards dealt to each (for a total of 9 cards each), and one more “information”
card is upturned from deck but not used for play.
4) Second bidding round: Defender may bid “Nullo” (to win no tricks at no-trump), and
declarer may bid “Slam” (win every trick in his trump).
5) Melds are declared and scored, led by defender.
6) The 7 of trumps may be swapped for the upturned trump card any point after trump is
set but before the first trick is played.
7) Tricks are played, led by defender.
8) Hand is scored.
Trick play rules. Player who didn’t win the contract (the “defender”) leads the first trick.
Cards must follow suit if able; if one cannot, he must trump, if able. A trump led must be
won, if able. [f,T,r] .
Bidding:
The heart of Jo-Jotte is a series of regimented steps to set “the contract”. Similar to
Klobyash and Belote, bidding is to win more points with a suit of one’s choosing, not for
winning a specific number of tricks. Jo-Jotte adds in some “modern” bids not found in the
former games. At each juncture, each option offers a higher-stakes contract than the
previous, which “wipes out” the previous bid.
The four bidding rounds are in turn:
A) Trump suit is set, either that of the upturned card or a suggested suit.
B) Possibility of overcalling with No-trump.
C) Possibility of Double (and Redouble).
D) Finally, all of these can be overcalled by a Nullo or Slam after the final cards have
been dealt.
Details of each bidding stage:
A & B) First, the non-dealer may accept the turned up trump suit, or pass; if he passes,
then the dealer may accept the turned trump or pass. If both pass, the non-dealer may
name any other trump suit (or notrump), or pass. If he passes again, the dealer has the
same choice. A trump suit once named may be overcalled by a notrump contract, but not
by another suit.
Spelling this out, the various options for bidding through stage B:
Non-dealer Dealer Non-dealer Dealer Nondealer CONTRACT
Accept OK ND plays turned-up suit
Accept No-trump D plays no-trump
Pass Accept ` D plays turned-up suit
Pass Accept No-trump ND plays no-trump
Pass Pass No-trump ND plays no-trump
Pass Pass Bids another suit ND plays his suit
Pass Pass Bids another suit No-trump D plays no-trump
Pass Pass Pass Bids another suit D plays his suit
Pass Pass Pass Bids another suit No-trump ND plays no-trump
Pass Pass Pass No-trump D plays No-trump
Pass Pass Pass Pass Thrown Deal
Regardless of who dealt, the person who wins the bid and names trump suit is known as
the Declarer, the other player is the Defender.
C) In order to put some caution to the wind, after trump is set as above Defender may
double if skeptical, and Declarer may redouble if confident he can win:
Defender Declarer Outcome
Double OK Winner scores both players’ combined trick-pts X2 below line; may not nullo
Double Redouble Winner scores both players’ combined trick-pts X4 below line
Doubling or redoubling doesn’t change who is the declarer or defender.
Doubling only affects the trick points, not the honors melds
No-trump can no longer be called after a double has been called.
D) Finally, the last three cards are dealt to each player, the next card is turned face up as
the “information” card, and there is one last round of potential overcall “super bids”:
Defender Declarer Outcome
Nullo Ok Defender becomes Declarer, playing for Nullo at No-trumps
Nullo Slam Declarer’s contract changes to a Slam in his previous trumps/no-trumps.
Pass Slam Declarer’s contract changes to a Slam.
Nullo not allowed if contract has been doubled.
Declarations:
After bidding is complete, declarations are announced, with Defender going first. Melds are
declared as in Bela and Piquet in a ritualized manner designed to give the minimal
information necessary to determine the winner.
The Defender goes first announcing the point score of his highest meld of each class (4-
kind and sequence). Declarer then responds with either “good”, “not good”, or “same,”
stating the point value of his own higher combination if appropriate. If equal, the rank of
the highest card is stated by the defender (then declarer if necessary) to determine the
winner. Ties result in no points for either; trump beats no-trump.
Each class of meld is considered separately: The player with the best four-of-a-kind can
score all of that class he possesses, and player with the best sequence of three or more
cards of the same suit can score all his sequences; the loser scores nothing for each
class.
Winning combinations (only) are shown face up on table to one’s opponent before being
scored and put back in hand. Melds are scored immediately after being won above the line
prior to and independent of the scoring which occurs at the end of the hand. Players don’t
have to declare; they may “sink” the meld to keep information from the opponent.
Types of allowable melds:
o Runs: 3 or more cards in a row in same suit. Cards revert to “normal” (not Jass) ranking
for use in runs, even in trumps suit, viz. (low) 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A (high).
o Four-of-a-kind: in trump contract: four Js,9s,As,Ts,Ks or Qs (no 8s or 7s); for no-trump
contracts, four-As,Ts,Ks,Qs, or Js (no 9s, 8s, 7s).
o Meld Points:
Meld Pts
Run of 3 in a suit 20
Run of 4 in a suit 40
Run of 5 in a suit 50
Four of a Kind* 100
*Four-of-a-kind 7s,8s, and non-trump 9s do not score.
Example: You are the Defender. You say “Forty”. I have J-10-9-8 in hearts and 9-8-7 in
diamonds. Since my hearts run is worth forty, I say “Equal.” You have 10-9-8-7 in spades
so say “Ten high”. I say, “No Good.” I then show my hearts sequence and score its 40 pts,
together with scoring 20 pts for my diamond run. My best sequence beats your best
sequence so I can score both of them.
“Jo-Jotte”, the K and Q of trumps (i.e. the “Bela” in Clobyash) is a special declaration
announced during trick play but scored at the end of the hand. The player declaring must
say "Jo" when playing K, and "Jotte" when later playing the Q. Cards don't have to win the
tricks to score, and Jo-Jotte doesn't have to be declared if player knows he's losing the
hand. The Jo-jotte is scored below line as part of the trick score even though it is
technically a declaration (see below). The K and Q also score their regular 5 pts for
whoever won them at the end of the hand. There is no Jo-Jotte allowed in no-trump deals.
Scoring
Scoring is a bit elaborate, but becomes intuitive once played a couple times.
Score is kept using a bridge-pad, with melds, bonuses and penalties scored above the
line, and trick-pts (cards won in tricks) below the line. Only one player each hand scores
below the line.
Meld scores are written above the line immediately as they are declared and stay with a
player no matter what happens in tricks or who wins hand.
The winner of each hand is determined by the player with highest sum of both his Trick pts
and his Meld pts.
Trick point values:
Trump All suits Jo-Jotte Last
trick
Card J 9 A T K Q (K>Q)
Points 20 15 10 10 5 5 20 10
“Last trick” and “jo-jotte” count as trick-points toward game, not honors.
Neither last-trick nor Jo-Jotte score in Nullo contract; Jo-Jotte not allowed in No-trumps contract.
There are 185 possible game points possible in trump contracts, though there are only typically
about 110 pts per hand; there are up to 130 in no-trumps, though usually only around 80 per hand.
Trick points are written above or below at end of hand depending on who wins this total:
o Declarer wins hand: declarer’s trick pts below the line; defender’s trick score above the
line.
o Defender wins hand: defender writes combined trick pts of both players below the line.
o Tie: both players’ combined trick pts (only) held “in escrow” (circled on score pad); they
are subsequently awarded above line to the winner of the next hand.
Notice there is a steep penalty to losing the contract (i.e. the defender wins). You do not
want to take on a contract unless somewhat sure you can win it.
A Slam which is fulfilled gives a 500 point bonus above the line; if unfulfilled (i.e. defender
wins one or more tricks) the penalty is that the Defender scores combined trick pts above
line.
A Nullo fulfilled gives a 200 point bonus above the line; if unfulfilled the Defender scores
200 for 1st trick, 100 for each thereafter above line. In either case, the total pt-tricks of
both players (with the exception of 20 for jo-jotte and10-for-last) are held in escrow for
winner of next hand, who scores them above the line.
Reaching 80 pts below line is a "game", and may be made over several hands. Each game
starts with a fresh line. Winning two games is a "rubber". At each rubber all the scores
above and below are totaled for each, including partials, and rubber winner gets a big 300
point bonus. Players play an agreed upon number of rubbers.
Bonus and penalties:
Bonus Fulfilled Penalty if Unfulfilled
Unbid slam 100 n/a
Bid slam 500 Sum of both player’s tricks scored by defender
Nullo 200 Defender gets 200 for 1st trick, 100 for each thereafter
Rubber 300 n/a
Jo Jotte Player aid:
Above each player’s line are written: Honor melds & Bonuses
o Rubber bonus: =300.
o Melds, as declared by winner in each class (20,30,50,100)
o Defender's trick-pts, if he lost hand.
o Slam bonus: =100 (if not bid); =500 (if bid)
o If Declarer lost slam, sum of both player's trick-score are scored
by Defender above line.
o Nullo bonus: =200 to Declarer.
o If unsuccessful, bonus to defender of 200 for 1st trick, 100 for
each thereafter.
o Winner of hand gets all points held “in escrow" from last hands’ ties or
nullos.
Below the line are written: Trick-pts counted toward “game”, including Jo-
Jotte and last-trick:
o Declarer's trick pts, if he won hand.
o Sum of both player's trick-pts, if Defender won hand.
o Sum of both player’s trick-pts X2 or X4 by winner (either declarer or
defender), if contract was doubled or redoubled.
Sample score-pad for a rubber:
Similar to Bridge, each deal has its own squares above and below the line on the scorepad
for each player. In hand one, Declarer JK won enough trick pts (80) to win “game”,
indicated by drawing the dark horizontal line below his score. He had no melds so the
square above the line is left blank. A losing defender’s point total always goes above the
line; hence Defender EW’s 35 trick pts and 20 pt three-card run were all written above. In
deal two, EW fulfilled a Nullo contract, earning 200 pt bonus, while, per the rules for nullo,
the hand’s 65 trick-points were held in escrow, shown by being cirlced. When JK won the
hand three, he got those circled 65 written above the line--but with only 70 total in trick
points no one had yet won “game”. JK finally won second “game” in deal four (since 75+70
> 80 trick points), and thereby got the 300 pts rubber bonus. Final score of rubber: 590 to
355.
Deal JK EW
Honor melds
4 300 10
3 65 40
30
2 200
20
1 35
20
Game score
1 80
2 65
3 70
4 75
5 590 355
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