Clag (card game)
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.
| Alternative names | Clagg |
|---|---|
| Type | trick-taking |
| Players | 3-7 |
| Skills required | tactics, probability |
| Cards | 52 |
| Deck | French |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Card rank (highest first) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
| Related games | |
| Whist, Hearts | |
Clag originated in the British Royal Air Force and started as an acronym for Clouds Low Aircraft Grounded.[1][2]
== Gameplay == This is a game played generally with 3-7 people, ideally minimum of 4. Shuffle card deck and deal one card each to see who deals, highest card deals. Reshuffle deck then 1 card is dealt to each player and the top card turned over for the trump. Play is clockwise, and scoring is simple, if you make your call you get 10 points plus 5 points for any trick you make. So in round one if you correctly called one and made one trick you would get 15 points, any one calling zero and not gaining any tricks would receive 10 points, if you fail to make your call or get too many tricks you get no points. This continues with each player dealing in turn. After turn 3 the calling of cards cannot equal the number of cards dealt so if on round 4 there are 4 calls the last person has to call weather they want to or not. This continues up to 7 tricks just like in trumps. Round 8 is called no trumps, 7 cards are dealt, this is played in the same way but there are no trumps so you just call on your high cards. Round 9 is lose the lot or known as miss (no calling in miss rounds} again 7 cards, for every trick you make you now lose 5 points, if you get no tricks in this round you get a bonus of 10 points. Round 10 is half blind you get dealt 7 cards as usual but the trump is not turned up until everybody has called, then trumps are revealed. Again the total number of calls cannot add up to 7. Round 11 in miss with trumps, you have to lose the lot again just like miss but this time with trumps. Round 12 is Full blind you call on your hand before the cards have even been dealt and trumps have yet to be revealed, these are tough rounds. Round 13 is a final miss just like round 9. Round 14 is no trumps again like round 8. Round 15 is 7 trumps on the way down just like the first 7 rounds but in reverse until you deal one card again. Winner is highest score generally over 200 points is a very good score. This is how our family have always played the game direct from the RAF where a family member served back in the 1950s. The game is around 1 hour depending on how many play. We have played with 9-12 people where you need to start cutting in a second pack of different coloured playing cards starting with twos and threes, in this game aces are always high, and trumps always outrank any other card, but you must follow suit if you can, you can only trump in if you don't have the same suit as was led. of
Sample score card
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. Putting the dealers name or initials by the round number is a good way of keep track of the order of dealing. Below is scoring sheet, round one player B called one and no one else called, player B made their call and got an extra 5 points, all other players made their bids so after round one player B is ahead by 5 points. In the final Misaire round both player A and B both get no tricks and receive a bonus, whereas player c made 4 tricks and lost 20 points, 5 points per trick.
| Round | player 1 | player 2 | player 3 | player 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 0 | 15 1 | 10 0 | 10 0 |
| 2 | 25 1 | 25 0 | 20 0 | 25 1 |
| 3 | 35 0 | 40 1 | 35 1 | 40 1 |
| 4 | 35 1 | 55 1 | 50 1 | 60 2 |
| 5 | 55 2 | 70 1 | 70 2 | 60 3 |
| 6 | 55 2 | 85 1 | 70 2 | 80 2 |
| 7 | 55 0 | 85 2 | 70 2 | 100 2 |
| nt | 70 1 | 85 4 | 70 1 | 130 4 |
| mis | 60 2 | 80 1 | 55 3 | 125 1 |
| hb | 75 1 | 95 1 | 55 2 | 125 2 |
| mt | 65 2 | 90 1 | 45 2 | 115 2 |
| fb | 75 0 | 90 4 | 65 2 | 125 0 |
| mis | 85 B | 100 B | 45 4 | 110 3 |
| nt | 95 0 | 100 3 | 65 2 | 125 1 |
| 7 | 105 0 | 100 2 | 80 1 | 150 3 |
| 6 | 125 2 | 125 3 | 80 2 | 165 1 |
| 5 | 140 1 | 145 2 | 100 2 | 165 1 |
| 4 | 155 1 | 155 0 | 100 2 | 175 0 |
| 3 | 165 0 | 155 1 | 115 1 | 195 2 |
| 2 | 175 0 | 175 2 | 125 0 | 205 0 |
| 1 | 185 0 | 185 0 | 140 1 | 215 0 |
Royal Air Force rules
Clag was primarily played throughout the Royal Air Force[1] until the early 1990s, the rules 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.
The game is primarily played as above except the number of rounds would vary depending on the time available to play. The number of cards dealt for each round (between 3 and 7) is chosen by the dealer and there is no set structure to the rules for each round. Instead, the player who won the previous round, (referred to as the Caller) chooses the rules for the round after viewing their hand.
The Caller as well as having the option of choosing trumps or no-trumps has the option of various Precedence orders of trumps. With Precedence, the order is (hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades) with hearts being the top trump suit, trumping all other suits. Clubs will trump diamonds and spades. Diamonds just trumping spades and spades being no trump. Reverse Precedence order is (spades, diamonds, clubs, hearts). Any variation of Precedence may be called, e.g. Reverse Precedence red over black (d,h,s,c) Precedence black over red (c,s,h,d) etc.
Regardless of trumps called, players must follow suit of the first card played if possible. For example, if the first card played in a hand is a club and you have a losing club in your hand you must play that card and lose the hand rather than playing a trump to win the hand.
Another option for the caller is Nuloss (pronounced New Loss). With Nuloss the value of the cards in the pack are reversed. 2’s being the highest cards in the pack down to Ace’s being the lowest cards in the pack.
If a blind hand is called all players must shuffle their hand and place the cards face down on the table then play the round from the top of their hand.
Other options available to the caller are to alter the scoring system. As stated in the main rules above one option is misère where each winning hand will give a minus score. Another option though is Ascending or Descending Madness. With Ascending Madness the first trick is worth 2 points, the second 4 points, the third 6 points etc. With Descending Madness this is reversed the first trick having a value of twice the number of cards in the hand descending down to the last trick being worth only 2 points. When playing a round of Asc/Dsc Madness players still predict the number of tricks they will win for a bonus of 10 points as stated above, unless Asc/dsc Madness is combined with Misere when all players as stated above must predict winning no tricks.
An important rule when players predict the number of tricks they expect to win, is that the sum of predictions can not equal the number of cards in the hand. This ensures that it is impossible for all player to receive the bonus points for the round.
Any combination of these calls can be combined to create some very complex rounds. Making the right call becomes an important part of winning at clag and also increases the importance of winning rounds so as to be in the position of tailoring the round specifically to your hand. For example, may seem a bad hand, but the option of calling Nuloss Precedence Red over Black Ascending Madness could put you in a very strong position indeed.
References
- "Clag / Nominations" Pagat
- This is true, but the game described here is not the one played by aircrews during the Second World War. The game described in this article is called Klag and was devised by John Carroll during his R.A.F. service in Aden in 1961. Taylor Foss. "The Rules of Clagg". Archived from the original on 2008-03-18. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
Clagg purportedly originated in the Royal British Air Force and started as an acronym for Clouds Low Aircraft Grounded.
