The items in the elder hand thus being counted, the holder lays down one
card, thus beginning the "play." The dealer plays to this; but, immediately
before doing so, he calls and counts all _he_ has to score in his hand.
The play, the object of which is to gain tricks, follows the ordinary Whist
rule; the second player being obliged to follow suit, if he can, and the
best card winning. If he cannot follow suit, he loses the trick, throwing
away any card he pleases.
The scoring of the play is peculiar. The first player to every trick counts
one for the card he so plays; but if the second player wins the trick, he
{108} also counts one. The player who takes the last trick counts an extra
one for it.
If either player wins more than six tricks, he scores _ten_ "for the
cards," as it is called. If the two players win six tricks each, there is
no score "for the cards" on either side.