Hornafjarðar Manni
A popular Icelandic three-player trick-taking game. The Manni (spare pile) sits in the center; players may exchange cards with it before play. Each hand's contract is set by cutting the deck — Grand (no trump), Trump (suit of the cut), or Nullo (take as few tricks as possible, Ace low).
Objective
Be the player with the highest net score when someone reaches 10 positive points.
Players and Deck
•
Full 52-card standard deck (2s kept)
•
Ranking: Ace high down to 2, except in Nullo where Ace is lowest
Determining the Contract
Before dealing, the deck is cut. The revealed card sets the contract for the hand:
Take as many tricks as possible
Suit of the cut card is trump; take as many tricks as possible
No trump; Aces are low; take as few tricks as possible
The Deal
Player 1 deals the first hand of the first match and Player 2 the first hand of
the next, rotating to the next seat each match; within a match the deal passes
clockwise each hand.
The dealer deals in a 4-3-3-3 pattern, repeated until the deck is empty:
1.
4 cards to the center (the Manni)
2.
3 cards to each player (starting left of the dealer, clockwise)
Result: 12 cards per player and a 16-card Manni.
Exchanging with the Manni
Exchange is optional. Players may swap a limited number of cards with the top of the Manni (without looking at Manni cards first). Discarded cards go face-down out of play.
Order and limits:
1.
Left of dealer — up to 7 cards
2.
Right of dealer — up to 5 cards
3.
Dealer — whatever remains in the Manni (up to 4 if the others took the maximum)
Leftover Manni cards are set aside and are out of the hand.
Play
Standard trick-taking:
•
Eldest hand (left of dealer) leads the first trick; thereafter the trick winner leads
•
Follow suit if able; otherwise play any card
•
Highest trump wins; if none, highest card of the lead suit wins
•
In Nullo, Ace is low and the goal is to lose tricks
Scoring
Baseline is 4 tricks per player.
Grand and Trump
Nullo (reversed)
Winning
When any player reaches 10 or more points, the hand ends the match. The player with the highest net score wins (ties share the win).