Clag (card game)
| Alternative names | Clagg |
|---|---|
| Type | trick-taking |
| Players | 3-7 |
| Skills required | tactics, probability |
| Cards | 52 |
| Deck | French |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
| Related games | |
| Whist, Hearts | |
Clag or Clagg is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards. It is similar to Whist or Oh Hell, and can be played with up to seven players.
The cards are shuffled before each deal and dealt to each player in turn until the desired number of cards are dealt. The top card from the pack is then turned over to reveal the trump suit if required. The aim of the game is to finish with the most points. The points are recorded after the end of each round and then totaled at the end of the game to reveal the overall winner. Points are obtained by successfully bidding on the number of tricks each player will win, this bidding takes place after finding out the trump suit. A correct bid is worth 10 points and each trick is worth 2. An incorrect bid is always worth zero. For example, a bid of two tricks is worth 14 points.
The complete game consists of twenty rounds each with slightly different rules. Only one card is dealt for the first round and the second round two are dealt. Successive rounds then increase up to seven cards. Once a seven card round has been played six seven card rounds are played. The first is played with the same rules except no trump suit is played. The next is played with trumps but bidding must happen before the trump suit is revealed. Next two rounds are played with normal trumps with blind variations. The first round players must bid before looking at their cards and the second round the players must bid before looking at the cards and they have to play each card in the order they were dealt from the top of their pile. The next two rounds are misere ones, the first is played with trumps and the second is played without trumps. For these rounds each player is forced to bid zero tricks and for each trick won two points are deducted, a bonus of ten is awarded if no tricks are obtained. Once the six rule variation rounds are finished a normal round with seven cards is played then a round of six cards is played. Rounds are then played successively until the final round with one card is played.
A score card like the following can be used to help record scores. Each round is recorded in a row and each player gets a column with a running total of points. The left-hand number is the score after that rows round and the right hand number is a record of the bid recorded before the round starts play.
As stated in the history below Clag was primarily played throughout the Royal Air Force, until the early 90s the rules of Clag varied from station to station and squadron to squadron around the globe. At this time serving personnel attempted to unify the rules throughout the service. This section covers the rules in use at that time.
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