Huutopussi is a four-player point-trick game played in southern Finland. It is based on Marjapussi, but with the extra feature that the players bid for the right to exchange some cards with their partner. Huutopussi means something like "bidding bag", while Marjapussi means "bag of berries". The main description on this page is of a version played by maths students at the University of Helsinki, as recorded by Tuomas Korppi. This is followed by other variations, including one which was described under the name Marjapussi in an anonymous account from the mathematics department at Erlangen, Germany, which was supplied to me by Frank Sven Nestel.
There are four players in two fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite each other.
A 36-card pack is used, the cards ranking from highest to lowest A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7, 6 in each of the four suits hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. The values of the cards are as follows:
In addition, winning the last trick is worth an extra 20 points, for a total of 160 points in the pack. Extra points are awarded for declaring marriages - see below.
Deal, bidding and play are clockwise. The first dealer is chosen at random. The dealer shuffles the cards and the player to dealer's right cuts. The cards are dealt one at a time, nine cards to each player. The turn to deal passes to the left after each hand.
All bids are numbers that are multiples of five. The first player (the one left to the dealer) must bid at least 50. After that players in turn can either bid or pass. Each bid must be higher than the preceding one. A player who has passed cannot bid at a later turn. The bidding continues for as many circuits of the table as necessary until three players have passed. The person who made the final bid becomes the declarer.
A player who has at least three sixes, or who has no card higher than a jack is allowed to (but is not required to) demand a redeal. This demand can only be made at the player's first opportunity to bid. In this case the hand is not played. The cards are thrown in and there is a new deal by the next dealer.
The highest bid allowed is 440, since this is the highest attainable score (160 + 40 + 60 + 80 + 100 as explained below).
The partner of the declarer chooses three cards and passes them face down across the table to the declarer. The declarer adds these cards to his or her hand, and then sets the contract by announcing a number which must be at least as high as the declarer's final bid (and must be a multiple of 5). This commits the declarer's team to try to take at least this number of points. Then the declarer passes three cards face down to partner, which may include some of the cards the partner originally passed. These are added to partner's hand so that everyone has nine cards again.
The declarer leads to the first trick. At the start of the play there are no trumps, but a trump suit may be declared (or changed) during the course of play.
Players must always follow suit if able to. If there are trumps, a player who does not have any cards of the suit that was led must play a trump. Subject always to the requirement to follow suit, a player who is able to beat the highest card already played to the trick must do so (even if the card to be beaten belongs to the player's partner). A player who does not have the led suit nor any trumps can play any card. The trick is won by the highest trump in it, or if no trumps were played, by the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner of the trick leads to the next trick.
A player who leads to a trick and wins it (no one beats the card that was led) is allowed to try to declare trumps before leading to the next trick. The declarer can therefore attempt a trump declaration if he or she wins the first trick. Other players need to win two successive tricks - one trick to obtain the lead and the following trick to qualify for a trump declaration. Only one attempt to declare trumps can be made after each trick won. There are three ways to declare trumps:
Note that marriages can never include cards that have already been played - the cards must be in the players' hands at the time of the declaration.
It is possible for several trump declarations to occur in the course of one hand. The conditions for subsequent declarations are the same as for the first one: you must win a trick to which you yourself have led. You can then attempt a declaration by any of the three methods above. If the declaration is successful the newly declared suit becomes trumps and the previous trump suit is cancelled and reverts to being just an ordinary non-trump suit for the rest of the hand.
Each suit can be declared trumps only once during a hand - it is not possible to redeclare a marriage that was declared previously in order to restore an old trump suit.
At the end of the hand, each side counts the value of the cards it took in tricks, and the winners of the last trick add 20 points. The two sides' totals should add up to 160. To this amount each side adds further points for any trump declarations they made during the hand as follows:
If the declarer's team's total is at least as high as the contract, then they score the amount of the contract. Otherwise they score minus the amount of the contract. In either case the opposing team scores however many points they took for cards and declarations.
Note that the declarer's team cannot score more than the contract value that the declarer set - points taken in excess of the contract are not scored.
If the declarer's opponents take no tricks at all, then instead of scoring zero they score minus the amount of the final bid. This is known as "läpäri".
A team whose cumulative score reaches 500 or more points wins the game. If both teams reach 500 or more on the same hand, the team with the higher score wins. [If both teams have over 500 and the scores are equal, the game could be considered a draw or a further hand could be played to decide the result.]
A team that has a negative score of -500 points or worse is not allowed to bid, except for the compulsory initial bid of 50 if a member of that team is first to bid. This situation is known as "huutokielto".
Since the declarer's partnership scores only for points contracted and made, and nothing for points in excess of the contract, after receiving cards the declarer should set the contract as high as is safely possible.
The basic strategy is to collect good cards in the declarer's hand. If you're the declarer's partner, it's often best to give the declarer your best three cards (aces, tens, kings, queens).
Usually the declarer's side is in a very advantageous position because their hands are improved hands by the exchange of cards, and also because of the control of the game given by the right to lead to the first trick.
Normally the game is played simply to win. The margin of victory makes no difference. This often leads to special strategies when either side is close to the 500 point target. The losing side may desperately try for läpäri. Note that in case of läpäri, the amount lost by the opponents is only the amount of the final bid, not the amount of the contract. Sometimes it becomes clear only after the exchange of cards that a high contract with läpäri is possible, but raising the contract at this stage only increases the amount the declaring side can win: it does not cause the opponents to lose more if the läpäri succeeds. The partnership close to 500 may bid very conservatively and try to pass the 500 target with the points collected while defending against the opponents' contract.
Bidding conventions are normally not used. When they are used, however, players do not reveal their conventions to their opponents.
High contracts (210 points or more) are made by declaring red trumps and/or declaring trumps several times during the same hand. However, because of the "lapari"-rule, a partnership with the possibility of winning all the tricks may deliberately bid a contract that they cannot make, and hope that both sides get a score of minus the contract value (the declarer's team wins every trick but do not have enough points for the contract).
Some play with the original card values: ace=11, ten=10, king=4, queen=3, jack=2, other cards zero. Some value the last trick at 10 points rather than 20. Both variations of course change the total number of points available without marriages.
The values of marriages vary. Nowadays some players rank the suits in Bridge order - spades: 100, hearts: 80, diamonds: 60 and clubs: 40.
Instead of the "läpäri rule, some play that a side that takes no tricks is "sent to Porvoo" and loses the amount of the contract. If the contract fails, and the opponents take no tricks, they score nothing.
There are probably many different versions of Huutopussi. An anonymous text left by a Finnish visitor to the maths department at Erlangen, Germany, describes a variant which differs from the above game as follows.
When played by three people, Huutopussi becomes strikingly similar to the Russian, Polish and Baltic game 1000. Indeed it is possible that Huutopussi was originally derived from 1000, and that the three-player form was the earlier version, which was later expanded to four players. In three-player Huutopussi each player is dealt 11 cards and there are three undealt cards known as the "devils pack". The highest bidder takes these three cards and discards any three. I am told that the remaining rules are the same as in 4-player Huutopussi, which I take to mean that: