Bidding, from 30 to two marks
Rules
After everybody has drawn their seven dominoes, the bidding goes around the table once. The bid is a promise: "my partner and I will catch at least this many of the 42 points in this hand." Whoever bids highest names trump and leads the first trick.
How it goes around:
- The person who shuffled is the shaker. The player to the shaker's left bids first, and it goes clockwise. The shaker bids last.
- Each player gets one turn. You bid or you pass. There is no second lap.
- The lowest bid is 30. Each bid after that has to be higher than the one before it.
What the numbers mean:
- 30 to 41. Your side has to catch at least that many points. Remember the hand is 7 points for tricks and 35 in count. If you bid 34, you can afford to let the other side have 8 points, and no more.
- 42. You have to catch every point. Since every trick is worth 1 point, that means you have to win all seven tricks.
- 84. This is two marks. A mark is one game unit when you keep score by marks, usually the first side to seven marks wins. A made bid of 30 to 42 is worth one mark. A bid of 84 still means taking all seven tricks, but it pays two marks if you make it, and the other side gets two if you do not.
What happens after:
If you keep score by points, a side that makes its bid scores the points it actually caught. If it falls short, it is set: it scores nothing for the hand, and the other side scores the amount of the bid plus whatever they caught. Bid 30, catch only 26, and the other side gets 30 plus their 16, for 46. Game is 250.
If you keep score by marks, a made bid is a mark for the bidders and a set is a mark (or two, for 84) for the other side.
If all four players pass, tables differ. Some throw the hand in and the next player shakes. Some make the shaker bid 30. Settle that one before you start.
Bids higher than 84 exist in tournament rules, but only to top somebody else's 84, one mark at a time. And there are special bids, like nello, where the bidder tries to lose every trick, that some tables play and some do not. Those are house rules, and we will leave them for another day.