Somerset rules
The complete rules of Double Somerset, the 1913 version and the one almost everybody plays. Invented by Arthur J. Hodges of Carroll, Iowa; published by Parker Brothers from about 1934 to 1960.
Never played before? Start with the beginner’s walkthrough instead.
The idea
Somerset is a bidding and trick-taking game for four, in partnerships sitting opposite. You bid how many of the 24 points in a deal you think you and your partner can take. Take at least that many and you score them. Fall short and you are set: the name comes from the fact that in bidding, zeal to win sometimes outweighs judgment, and some are set.
The cards
Fifty cards. Each card shows two numerals stacked like a fraction, but they are not fractions. The lower number is the suit; the upper is its rank in that suit. No card ever outranks its own suit number, so the 12/12 is the highest card of the 12 suit and the 0/12 the lowest.
The suits are unequal, which is the whole character of the game:
- the /0 suit is a single card, the 0/0
- /2 has 3 cards, /4 has 5, /6 has 7, /8 has 9, /10 has 11, /12 has 13
- plus the S/S card, which belongs to no printed suit
Count cards — 12 points
Seven cards are printed in red and carry a value in a circle. Everything else is worth nothing on its own.
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| 1/2 | 1 |
| 2/4 | 1 |
| 3/6 | 1 |
| 4/8 | 2 |
| 5/10 | 2 |
| 6/12 | 2 |
| S/S | 3 |
Twelve points of count cards, plus one point for each of the twelve tricks, makes 24 points in every deal. Sixty-six wins the game.
Bidding
Each player in turn bids or passes, starting at the dealer’s left. Passing is not final: if someone raises, you may come back in when the turn reaches you again. The auction ends when a bid stands and everyone else has passed. If nobody bids at all, the hand is thrown in and the deal moves left.
The suit is not named while bidding. Only after winning does the high bidder name trump, choosing any one of the seven suits or No Trump.
Play
The high bidder leads first, then whoever takes a trick leads the next. You must follow the suit led if you hold it. If you cannot, play anything — a trump to take it, or a discard.
The highest card of the suit led takes the trick, unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump takes it.
The S/S card
The S/S joins whatever suit is named trump, as its lowest card — below even the 0/8 if eights are trumps. That makes it a trump like any other: if a trump is led and it is your only one, you must play it. It is worth 3 points, the most of any single card.
Under No Trump it has no capturing power at all and may be discarded on any suit at any time. That is the only exemption from following suit in the whole game. Try to throw it on a trick your partner is winning.
The 0/0, the “Rover”
The 0/0 may be played at any time, even when you hold the suit led. When it hits a trick where no trump has been played, it turns every double on that trick — 2/2, 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12 — into a trump for that trick only, and the highest double takes it. Once the Rover is down, other players holding the led suit may break suit too, but only to play a double.
The Rover is a double itself, so it takes the trick if no other double appears. But it ranks below every other double, and any real trump — the S/S included — beats it and cancels the promotion entirely.
You may also name the 0/0 as trump. Then the trump suit is just the 0/0 and the S/S, the 0/0 becomes the highest card in the pack, and doubles lose their power.
Scoring
Make your bid and your side scores every point it took; the other side scores nothing.
Miss it and you are set: double the shortfall comes off your score, and the other side banks double what they took. Scores can and do go negative. This is why the game is called Somerset, and why a greedy bid is expensive.
House rules
Somerset has been printed by several publishers over a century and they disagree. Settings lets you switch between the somersetgame.com, Parker Brothers 1947 and Minden Senior Center rulesets — chiefly whether the two spare cards are a kitty for the bidder or sit face up for whoever wins the first trick.
The full provenance, including which source says what, is in docs/RULES-SOURCES.md in the repository. The original rules and card decks are at somersetgame.com, maintained by the Childs and Wiersma families.