All competitors must be at least 55 years of age by December 31 of the year of the games.

AGE CATEGORIES / EVENTS: 

Background

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 right here 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.

The Rules

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 others 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 loose 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 loose 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.