Slovenian Tarok: Expansions

The rules above are enough for a full evening of play.

Even more expansions When your group wants more, start with these.

• Radli
• Kontra
• More contracts
• Open Beggar
• No-Trump Valat
• Grand Valat
• The knock
• Compulsory Dodge Round
• The quick session
• The Traditional Scoring

Radliradlci

The word radl means little wheel. Each one is a small circle under a player’s name on the score sheet.

When the Declarer has an open circle, the hand counts double for the Declarer and the Partner. A win lets the Declarer fill in one circle. After a loss the circle stays open.

In a Dodge Round, each player with an open circle doubles their own result. Taking no trick then earns plus 28 Victory Points instead of plus 14 Victory Points and fills in one circle.

All players draw a new circle after a Dodge Round (the hand nobody bid, where everyone plays alone and tries to take as few Card Points as possible), after a Beggar (14 Victory Points) or any higher contract, and after any Valat (one side wins all twelve tricks), won or lost. They draw it once that hand is scored, so it first counts in the next hand.

The Moon penalty (minus 4 Victory Points for the player who loses the Moon, the Tarok XXI) is never doubled. Each circle still open when the session ends costs its owner 20 Victory Points.

Kontra

Kontra doubles a score, and each answer doubles it again.

Announcement	On the contract, said by	Multiplier
Kontra	A Defender	×2
Rekontra	The Declarer’s side	×4
Subkontra	The Defenders	×8
Mordkontra	The Declarer’s side	×16

It is said in the round of announcements, after the talon exchange and before the first card. A Defender starts with “Kontra on the contract” (kontra igri). This doubles the contract value and the distance (1 Victory Point for every 5 Card Points between the result and 35 Card Points), as plus for the Declarer’s side if it wins and as minus if it loses. Example: a Two won with 45 Card Points scores 4 Victory Points for the contract and 2 Victory Points for the distance, so 6 Victory Points, and 12 Victory Points with Kontra.

Each announced bonus is doubled on its own by the side that did not announce it, so name what you double. Example: the Declarer announces the Trull, worth 4 Victory Points. A Defender answers “Kontra on the Trull“, and it is now worth 8 Victory Points: plus 8 if the Declarer’s side captures the Skus, the Moon and the Pagat, minus 8 if it does not.

You may never double your own Partner, so double an announcement only when you are certain its maker is on the other side. The Moon penalty (minus 4 Victory Points for losing the Tarok XXI) is never doubled.

More contracts

These are contracts your group can add.

Any player may bid them in the open bidding. Standing works as usual: when the bidding comes back to you, you may say “I hold” and take over a bid made by a player who sits after you in the seat order. They rank above Solo without (16 Victory Points), in the order of the table.

In each of them you play alone, take no talon card and lead the first trick yourself. Each scores its flat value, plus if won and minus if lost. There is no distance (the extra Victory Points for every 5 Card Points above or below 35 Card Points), there are no bonuses, and there is no Moon penalty (the minus 4 Victory Points for losing the Tarok XXI).

In the Talon column, 0 means that the Declarer takes no talon cards.

Open Beggarodprti berač

It is worth 18 Victory Points and is played like the Beggar: you play alone, you take no talon card, and you promise to win not a single trick.

The Rising Rule is on (see The Three Ground Rules in Core Concepts). The Pagat (the Tarok I) may only be played when nothing else is legal. After the first trick you lay your cards face-up on the table. The Defenders may look, but they may not talk about the play.

No-Trump Valatbarvni valat

It is worth 25 Victory Points: you must win all twelve tricks alone, and the Taroks do not trump.

The highest card of the led suit wins every trick. The Tarok Rule still holds, so a player who cannot follow suit must play a Tarok, but it wins nothing. When a Tarok is led, the others follow with Taroks and the highest Tarok wins.

There are two ways to reach it. You can bid it in the open bidding, and then you take no talon card. The table above lists this form under its own native name, barvni valat brez, which means a No-Trump Valat without the talon. Or you win the bidding with a solo that takes talon cards, exchange with the talon, and then raise your contract to No-Trump Valat. It cannot be bid with the talon directly. Both ways score 25 Victory Points, with no distance and no bonuses, and in both the Declarer leads the first trick.

The Emperor’s Trick (see The Fairy Tale Trick in Core Concepts) has one exception here: if a suit card was led to that trick, the led card wins.

Grand Valatvalat brez

It is the highest contract, worth 100 Victory Points.

You must win all twelve tricks alone, with no talon card, and the Taroks trump as usual. If you want to use the talon, play one of the contracts from Three to Solo one and announce the Valat bonus there. The announced Valat bonus also scores 100 Victory Points, and when it is won, nothing else is scored in that hand.

The knock

In a knocked deal each player chooses a packet of twelve cards, in turn counter-clockwise from the Forehand. A deal is knocked when the player opposite the Dealer knocks on the deck instead of cutting. The talon still gets six cards.

A Forehand who takes the first packet ends the choosing, and the other players get the remaining packets in seat order. That Forehand also decides whether the talon is dealt first, right after the Forehand’s packet, or last.

Compulsory Dodge Round

Agree before you start whether your group plays this rule.

In a compulsory hand no bid from Three up to Beggar is allowed, so the lowest bid is Solo without (16 Victory Points). If the three players other than the Forehand all pass, the Forehand names Solo without or a higher contract, or chooses a Dodge Round (everyone plays alone and tries to take as few Card Points as possible).

A compulsory hand follows any hand that leaves a player’s total at exactly zero Victory Points. A deal that gives a player no Taroks also leads to one: that player shows the cards at once, everyone gives their cards back, and the same Dealer deals the compulsory hand.

The quick session

Play to 100 Victory Points instead of 200 Victory Points, or agree on a closing time.

Either way, end with the Skus round: once the score or the time is reached, watch who is dealt the Skus, the highest Tarok, in the next hand. When the deal next comes round to that player, their deal is the last hand.

The Traditional Scoring

The main rules already score the Slovenian way.

The native numbers are five times bigger: Two is 20 Victory Points instead of 4 Victory Points, the Beggar is 70 Victory Points instead of 14 Victory Points, and a session usually runs to 1000 Victory Points. When the group plays for money, each player pays or receives by how far their total is from the group’s average. The native tables are on the Traditional Scoring Tables page.