Pedro (card game)

'Pedro Mendez Gonzalez is a card game is very similar to 63, a variant played in Atlantic Canada, with origins from Scandinavia.

In Pedro, the following point values are assigned to the following cards of the trump suit:

• Ace - 1 Point
• Jack - 1 Point
• Ten - 1 Point
• Five - 5 Points
• Pedro ("Off-Suit Five") - 5 Points
• Two (the Keeper) - 1 point

Thus there are fourteen points in each hand.

The Pedro is the five of the suit with the same color as the trump. For example, if Spades are being played, the five of Clubs is the Pedro.

The Pedro is trump, ranking below the five of the trump suit and above the four; the rank of cards in the trump suit is:

A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,Pedro,4,3,2.

The first team to reach 62 points wins. If both teams reach 62 points in the same hand, the team that bid is the winner. This rule is called "bidder goes out".

THE DEAL

The four players are divided into two teams, with partners sitting opposite each other at the table. The dealer shuffles the card and has the preceding player cut the deck. The dealer deals out nine cards, three at a time, beginning with the player to the immediate left.

THE BID

Beginning with the first player to the left of the dealer, the players bid in turn as to how many of the 14 possible points they believe their team can take in play. The minimum bid is 6. Each successive player must bid at least one point higher or pass. Once a player passes he may not bid again. Players may outbid their partner. If no other player bids, the dealer takes the bid for 6. Total points in any hand are 14. One may double the total points to 28 with a "14 for 28" bid. The player must have the Ace and two of trump to make the bid, and must finish with all points to get 28 points.

THE SECOND DEAL

Whichever player bids the highest point value, that player then declares the suit of play for that hand, the trump suit. All players retain the on-suit cards in their hand (including the Pedro "off-suit five") and place all other cards in the middle of the table.

The dealer than takes the remaining cards and deals each player up to six cards, beginning with the player to the immediate left. For example, if the player has 4 trump cards, he will receive 2 cards from the dealer.

In many variations, a player may retain more than 6 cards in their hand, provided they are all trump. In the event that a player has more than 6 trump, he must play all but 5 of those cards on the first play. Only one of the cards played in this manner can be a point card.

After the second deal to the other three players, the dealer may view all remaining cards in the deck. They may retain more than 6 cards, provided they are trump.

If the remaining deck does not have enough cards to give the dealer six cards for the play, then the dealer must take enough cards from the "wash" to make a six-card hand.

THE PLAY

Winner of the bid starts play. If trump is led, players must follow with trump. Trump or highest trump takes the book (the trick) for that team. Winner of each book starts the next book. If nontrump (off suit) is led, any other nontrump can be followed, it does not need to be the same suit. If non-trump is led and all other players play non-trump cards, then the same player must lead again. Highest trump played in a round led off suit will take the lead on the next round. If nontrump is led, a player can play any card in their hand. It is not necessary to follow the suit led in an off suit round.

Trump must be followed. If trump is led, and a player does not have trump, they must fold. The Two Card (Keeper) stays with the team that has it, i.e., if it’s thrown in a book and that book is lost, it still just goes right back to the team that had it in the first place.

At the end of the hand the point cards won in the books are counted for each team. Both teams receive the points they win in a hand, unless the bidding team didn’t reach their bid, then they will lose the amount they bid.

Variations

Louisiana Variation

Played primarily in South Louisiana, this variation uses a 52 card deck (no jokers). The trump order is as follows: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, on-suit 5, off-suit 5, 4, 3, 2. The point cards are A, J, 10, 2 (1 point apiece) and the two pedros (5 points apiece). Whoever plays the 2 keeps that point for their team; no player may 'win' the 2. The most points a team can make in one hand is 14. A player may wish to bid 14-28 (often called 14 in the dark), but he or she must bid this before the cards are dealt. If the team makes all 14 points, they are rewarded with 28 points. The minimum bid is 7, and if no one bids, the dealer is allowed to bid 6 (commonly called the force bid) although in Southeastern Louisiana the force bid is often 7. Also, in this variation, "cut-throat" may be played. "Cut Throat" rules state that if a non-trump card is led, then the others must follow with the same suit first if they have any. If the player does not have this suit, then any suit is acceptable.

Most variations involve differences in the point assignments.

One Canadian Variation

Here is a popular system of points played in Canada:

• Ace - 1 point
• King - 25 points
• Jack - 1 point
• Ten - 1 point
• Nine - 9 points
• Five - 5 points
• Five of other color - 5 points
• Two (keeper) - 1 point

Total of 48 points.

Isle Madame Variation

In Isle Madame and surrounding areas on Cape Breton Island (Province of Nova Scotia, Canada) the game is called Pede and is played in both French and English.

The point system is as follows:

• Ace (High) - 1 point
• King - 25 points
• Jack - 1 point
• Ten - 1 point
• 'Good' Pede - 5 points
• Pede - 5 points
• Two (called 'The Low') - 1 point

Total of 39 points.

The Isle Madame version is generally played with the following variations:

• The Joker is not used.
• Bidding is from 25 to 39.
• Sometimes players will bid without a King to lure the other team into bidding higher. This can be costly since the King is required to make any bid.
• The dealer has an advantage since he/she does not discard. After all other players have received their second fill, the dealer mixes the remaining cards into his own nine cards and then sorts through all the cards. Thus, no one knows how many trump the dealer had in his original nine cards.
• No one can ever have more than six cards. If someone has more than six trump, they must discard non-scoring cards. Should they have all seven point scoring cards, they must discard a card worth 1 point, usually the Ten.
• Winner of the bid must lead trump on the first trick (book). If they have no trump, they can play anything (rare).
• When a nontrump ('offsuit') card is led, players must follow suit, unless they wish to play a trump. If they cannot follow suit, they may play anything. The rank of nontrump is exactly the same as trump, with the Pede as the only exception. Although the trick is worth nothing, it decides who leads the next card. Thus, the nontrump cards that the dealer decides to keep might influence the outcome of the play. Note that trump cards always take any nontrump cards.
• When players run out of trump they may fold their hand by throwing it face down on the table. They are out of play for all remaining tricks of this round.
• If the winners of the bid lose the King, this is referred to as the 'death' of the King since the score of the team that won the bid goes down significantly and the score of the other team goes up significantly.
• Winner of the game is the first team to reach 221. Once a team reaches any score over 199, their score is locked in place. The only way that their score will change (including winning the game) is if they take the bid OR make the other team's bid. If they make the other team's bid this is an automatic win at any score above 199.

Railroad Pedro

This variation follows the same general rules as regular Pedro only with five players and six cards per player dealt on the first deal. After the bidding process and the second deal, the winning bidder must lead trump and call for a trump card that he or she does not have. The player holding that card must play it on the first trick. That player becomes partners with the bidder and the remaining three players are partners against the bidder and his or her partner. At the conclusion of the hand, each player is given the total amount of points that their team won. The winning bidder may also choose to "go alone" on any bid after the second deal. In this case no card is called for and the other four players become partners against the bidder. If the "alone" bid is successful, the point totals for the hand are doubled for both sides. If the "alone" bid is not successful, the bidder loses double the points that were bid while the opposition gains double their point total for the hand. The first player to reach 62 wins. In the event that both the bidder and his or her partner reach 62 on the same hand, the bidder wins. If two members of the team opposing the bidder on the final hand pass 62, the player with the highest score wins. If they are tied the game will continue until the tie is broken.