Thursday session: Tarot, Jass

First game today was Jass. Since there are at least 70 variations of Jass, it's probably best to be more precise: we played Molotow Jass. Molotow is the four-player variant of Mittlere Jass. Plus-Minus Jass is another variant of Mittlere Jass and Cosmic Eidex is a variant of Plus-Minus Jass. Still with me?

So, it's a point-trick game of the Jass variety and the goal is to avoid the middle: either you need to score most points or the least points. Oh, and if you go over 100 (of the 157 possible points), you lose big time. It's a nice game, and offers possibilities with almost any hand. We played a quick one, just four rounds. Despite the tricky rules of Jass, I like the game, but probably prefer it with three.

Of the other Jass variants, I don't know... some sound good, in some the Weis and other rules bug me a bit. I'm definitely going to try Coiffeur-Schieber Jass as soon as I have time for a 30-round game...

Slovenian Tarok was played, two very short games. Too bad I rarely get the opportunity for a good, full game. Still, few rounds of Tarot is better than no Tarot... It's just that in Tarot you do have bad hands and good hands and you need to play several rounds to let your skill shine as you pass with inferior hands.

Two mandatory rounds of Fairy Tale were played and few more people converted. What an excellent game! I was finally able to actually win the game.