Revised May 2011
FORTY-FIVES (45’s)
All competitors must
be at least 55 years of age by December 31 of the year of the games.
AGE CATEGORIES /
EVENTS: Open team competition (open to ladies and
men)
|
AGE |
EVENTS |
NUMBER OF COMPETITORS PER ASSOCIATION |
|
55+ |
Open Pairs |
5 Pairs |
|
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS PER PROVINCE/TERRITORY = 10 |
||
The history of 45’s varies on whom one
talks to. Some believe the game is based upon an old game played in Scotland
& Ireland, while many others believe the game was invented in Nova Scotia.
The book “Official Rules of Card
Games” states that it is the “national game of Nova Scotia”. Played
mainly throughout the Maritime Provinces, rumour has it that it is played
occasionally by DM’s (displaced Maritimers) now located in western Canada.
45s is known by a few other names,
formally as Auction 45s, Spoil Five and also as Auction 120s and 120s. The name
is derived from "the four 5s" as the 5 of trump is the best card in
play.
Players
The game will be played with 4 players,
in teams of two (those sitting opposite each other are on a team). The teams do
not "table talk" nor see each other's hands but their points are kept
as a total and strategy develops around that fact.
Game Play
Dealing
Each player receives 5 cards, dealt in
a group of 3, followed by a group of two. There is also a "kitty" of
four cards from which the winning bidder can draw. The dealer deals 3 cards to
the person to his left and to each subsequent player (including himself), then
2 to the kitty and 2 more to each player and to the kitty.
The Auction (bidding)
Each "trick" is worth 5
points, except the trick involving the best card in play, which is worth 10
points. Thus, with 5 cards each, the total points for each hand is 30. Starting
with the player to the left of the dealer, each player bids in multiples of 5
(starting at a minimum of 15), or passes. A player bids the number of points
they assume they (and their partner) can garner in the hand. A player may pass
or bid higher than the bid currently on the table.
When the bid reaches the dealer, he may
choose to "hold" it. If the bid stands at 20, and the dealer holds
it, he is exercising his privilege of bidding 20 as well. The high bidder and
the dealer may then auction up until one gives up.
Example: Player 1 bids
15. Player 2 passes. Player 3 bids 20. The dealer holds the bid. Player 3 bids
25. The dealer, not wanting to bid 25, allows Player 3 to take the bid at 25.
The high bidder must now call a suit
which will be "trump" and then gets to pick through the kitty for any
better cards that may be within in.
If someone bids 30, which means they
must take all of the tricks; this is called a 30 for 60 bid. This means that if
they manage to take all of the tricks, they add 60 points to their score as opposed
to 30. If they lose their bid they still only loose 30.
Additionally, if a bidder has a poor
hand but has won the bid, he may choose to discard his entire hand and then
take the kitty before declaring trump.
Discarding
After the winner of the bid calls the
suit, players may discard. A player may discard any, all or none of his cards.
Once players have discarded, the dealer
fills each hand back up to 5, dealing no more than 3 cards at a time, as above.
Ordinal Value of Cards
TRUMP FACE CARDS
5
J
A©
A
K
Q
Note that the ace of hearts is always
trump.
NON-TRUMP FACE CARDS
K
Q
J
The lower valued cards are worth the
same in the hierarchy whether they are trump or non-trump, though their value
varies based on their colour. The "rule of thumb" is "highest in
red, lowest in black," that is to say that the Ace (considered a one) of
clubs is the best non-face club and the 10 of diamonds is the best non-face
diamond.
To simplify, here is the breakdown from
best to worst for each suit:
hearts (trump) – 5©, J©, A©, K©, Q©, 10©, 9©, 8©, 7©, 6©, 4©, 3©, 2©
hearts (non-trump) – K©, Q©, J©, 10©, 9©, 8©, 7©, 6©, 5©, 4©, 3©,2©
(remember that the A© is always a
trump))
clubs (trump) – 5§, J§, A©, A§, K§, Q§, 2§, 3§, 4§, 6§, 7§, 8§, 9§, 10§
clubs (non-trump) – K§, Q§, J§, A§, 2§, 3§, 4§, 5§, 6§, 7§, 8§, 9§, 10§
diamonds (trump) – 5¨, J¨, A©, A¨, K¨, Q¨, 10¨, 9¨, 8¨, 7¨, 6¨, 4¨, 3¨, 2¨
diamonds (non-trump) –
K¨, Q¨, J¨, 10¨, 9¨, 8¨, 7¨, 6¨, 5¨, 4¨, 3¨, 2¨, A¨
spades (trump) – 5ª, Jª, A©, Aª, Kª, Qª, 2ª, 3ª, 4ª, 6ª, 7ª, 8ª, 9ª, 10ª
spades (non-trump) – Kª, Qª, Jª, Aª, 2ª, 3ª, 4ª, 5ª, 6ª, 7ª, 8ª, 9ª, 10ª
Playing a hand
The person to the left of the dealer
plays the first card and then the person to his left plays until it reaches the
dealer. The best card laid takes the trick.
Players need only follow suit if trump
is led.
NOTES:
- trump
beats any other card regardless of value
- if no trump is played, then the suit
of the first card laid is considered trump for determining the winner of that
round
- the winner of each round leads, and
then each player lays a card in turn, going clockwise (to the left).
- if the team who took the bid doesn't
get points equal to or greater than their bid then they are "set".
This means that, regardless of the points earned in the hand, the bidding
player/team has the value of their bid deducted from their score.
- the non-bidding team gains any points
from the tricks they manage in the hand.
Winning or Losing
In order to accomplish a full round
robin in a day, each game will be played within a pre-specified time limit.
This may vary based on the number of entrants, but will be in the vicinity of
15-20 minutes per game. If a team falls below -200 they automatically lose the
game. If a team surpasses 120, they will automatically win the game.
Winners of each game receive 2 pts, 1
pt. for a tie and 0 pts. for a loss. In the event of a tie in a Medal position
at the end of the round robin, the results of the game between those two teams
during the round-robin will determine the winner. If a tie still exists because
these two teams tied, or because there are more than two teams tied for a medal
position, extra games may have to be played to determine the winner.
NOTE: A sincere thank you goes out to
Jordan O’Brien whose web site was used in assisting in putting these rules
together. Jordan is a native of Perth-Andover, New Brunswick and his website is
at www.jord.ca.