Flume Rules

Introduction

Flume is a virtually unknown card game of the All Fours group, similar to Smear Pitch or Setback. It is a variation of one of the point-trick games such as Skat for the technique of discarding a high-value card on a trick which your partner is winning. The purpose of this site is to make the rules available to all so that the game that those of us have come to love will pass it on to future generations.

  1. Two jokers are added to the deck; these rank as lowest trumps, and are worth a point to the side that takes them.
  2. The point for low is always for the holder of the lowest trump (apart from a joker), not the winner of the trick which contains it.
  3. The other jack of the same color as the trump suit is an extra trump ranking immediately below the normal jack of trumps, and scoring a point to the side that takes it. This extra jack is called the left bower, as in Euchre.
  4. After the bidding, either the bidder or all the players may be allowed to discard cards to improve their hands. This ensures that most or all of the good cards are in play.

Deck

46 cards are used. The 2 jokers (one marked as high) are added and the 3’s and 4′ are taken out.

Rankings

In the Trump suit: A, K, Q, Jack of Trump (called right bower), Jack of same color (called left bower), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 2, High Joker, Low Joker.

In the off (non-trump) suits: A, K, Q, (J), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 2

Object

Scoring is based on bringing cards home. There are a total of 7 points per hand:

  • Highest trump for bringing home the ace of trumps *
  • Lowest trump for the player who plays the two of trumps (even though this is not in fact the lowest trump) *
  • Right Bower for winning a trick containing the jack of the trump suit
  • Left Bower for winning a trick containing the other jack of the same color as the trump suit
  • Joker for winning a trick containing a joker (there are 2 jokers with one mark as high)
  • Game calculated as in auction pitch. That is, each card has a value, and each team counts the total value of the cards in the tricks they have taken. The side with the greater total wins the game point (not awarded in case of a tie). There are 81 card points in total. the card values are:
    • Each Ace – 4 points
    • Each King – 3 points
    • Each Queen – 2 points
    • Each Jack – 1 point
    • Each Ten – 10 points (important for game)

    * Note that the highest trump and the lowest trump may be in the un-used card pile. In that case the next highest trump and/or next lowest trump count as point cards.

Seating

4 people, in two teams of 2, in alternating positions

First Deal

6 cards to each person. 22 cards remain with the dealer until the second deal.

Bidding

Each bid is a number, representing the number of points that team will try to take. The minimum bid is 3; the highest bid is 6. The bidding begins on dealer’s left goes around table 1 time. Each player can pass or bid a number of points higher than the previous bid if any. The person winning the bid names the trump suit.

If no one bids 3, the cards are thrown in and re-dealt by the same dealer.

Second Deal

Once the trump suit is named, each person may discard all unwanted (non-trump) cards  from his hand. The dealer deals enough cards to each other player to bring their total hands up to six cards each.

The Play

The player to the left of the dealer leads. Each player must follow suit until he is void (note that you are not allowed to trump while you still have a card of the led suit). A player with no card of the suit led may play any card.

The object is to win tricks and bring home the Jokers, and the two bowers (worth a point each), and the tens & face cards for the game point. In addition whoever played the ace of trumps gets a point for his team, and the player of the two of trumps gets a point for his team even if the other team takes the trick.

The Scoring

If the bidding side take at least as many points as they bid, they score all the points they made (which may be more than the bid). If the bidding side take fewer points than they bid, they lose the amount of their bid (which may make their score negative). In either case, the opponents of the bidding side score the points they made.

The winners are the first team to reach 21 or more points, or if both reach 21 on the same deal, the side with more points. If both sides reach 21 or more points on the same deal and the scores are then equal, the bidding side wins.

Five Handed Flume

The first deal and the bidding are as in the six player game, and the high bidder names trump. After the second deal, the winner of the bid is allowed to call a partner by naming a desired card. The holder of the called card is the partner of the bidder but does not announce who he is – the teams are not known until the called card is played.

If the called card turns out to have been discarded, the bidder plays and scores alone, and the other four play as a team and score equally. The bidder may also choose to play alone voluntarily, and in this case does not call a partner. It is illegal for the bidder to call a card which is in his own hand.

Each player keeps an individual score because the teams shift on each hand. The winner is the first individual player to reach 21 points.