Ninety-Nine Solo

Three Discards. Nine Tricks. Zero Margin for Error. In Ninety-Nine your bid is three cards you set aside, face down. Their suits spell your number, and you must take exactly that many tricks with the nine cards you have left. One trick too many is as bad as one too few. - Your bid costs you cards: the three that set it leave your hand, so every bid reshapes the hand you play. - Nobody knows your number: bids stay face down, so you read each other from the play. - Show it for more: Declare your bid for 30 points, or Reveal your whole hand for 60. Miss, and your opponents collect. - Make them miss: hitting your bid pays 30 if you're the only one, and just 10 if everyone does. - The perfect hand scores 99: all nine tricks, the only bid made, and a Reveal. The Coach: - Practise a skill: short drills on setting aside, Pass or Declare, and taking your tricks, at Easy, Medium and Hard. 209…