Musta Maija
 | |
| Origin | Finland |
|---|---|
| Alternative names | Black Maria |
| Type | Shedding-type |
| Players | 3-6 |
| Age range | Primarily for children, but interesting to adults, as well |
| Cards | 52 |
| Deck | Anglo-American |
| Rank (high→low) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
| Play | Clockwise |
Musta Maija is a Finnish card game. It is primarily a children's game, but due to tactical possibilities, it can be enjoyed by adults as well.
The Rules
The game suits to 3-5 players, and it uses the standard deck of 52 cards. Ace is the highest. Everyone is dealt five cards, and the rest of the cards forms a face-down stock. The top card of the stock is placed face up under the stock, and it determines the trump suit. If it is spades, the card is returned into the middle of the stock, and a new card is turned to determine the trumps.
The queen of spades is a special card, and it is called Maija (Black Maria).
Whenever, during the play, a player has less than five cards in their hand and there are cards left in the stock, the player must take cards from the stock so that they have five cards.
In each turn the player in turn plays one or more cards from their hand onto the table with the following restrictions: The cards must all be of a same suit (in this purpose, Maija counts as a spade). Their number must not exceed the number of cards that the player left to the one in turn has in their hand. Playing cards onto the table is one action, and the player is not allowed to take cards from the stock in the middle of playing cards onto the table.
After that the player left to the player in turn tries to beat the cards on the table. A card can be beaten with a higher card of the same suit. A non-trump card can be beaten with any trump. A card can beat only one card. Musta Maija cannot be beaten, and it cannot beat any cards. Beating cards is one action, and the player is not allowed to take cards from the stock in the middle of beating.
Beaten cards, and the cards that were used to beat cards, are removed from the play.
If the player in the left beat all the cards on the table, it is their turn to play cards to the table. If the player could not or did not want to beat all the cards on the table, they must pick up the remaining cards into their hand, and the turn passes to the player on the left.
When a player gets rid of all their cards after the stock has exhausted, they are out and do not participate in the game. The last player to have cards in their hand (including Maija) is the loser.
References
- McLeod, John, ed., Mustamaija, Card Games Website
- www.korttipelit.net (Finnish)
- Kurki-Suonio, Ilmo, MMM Korttipelikirja, Otava, 1962
- Parlett, David (2004), "Mustamaija", The A–Z of card games (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, pp. 228f, ISBN 978-0-19-860870-7.
- Parlett, David (2008), "Mustamaija", The Penguin Book of Card Games (3rd ed.), Penguin Books, pp. 473f, ISBN 978-0-14-103787-5.