Zole playing cards – Rainis’s literary characters

Zole is a Latvian national card game that was added to Latvia’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2021. A Zole deck contains 26 cards and can be played by 3–4 players. 

The first deck features characters from Rainis’s plays Fire and Night, The Golden Horse, Blow, Wind!, and Love Is Stronger Than Death, as well as ancient Latvian symbols: Māra’s Cross, Jumis, the Tree of Dawn, and the Morning Star. 

The second deck features characters from Rainis’s works Daugava, I Played, I Danced, Indulis and Ārija, and Joseph and His Brothers, as well as the symbols the Sign of God, the Sun Sign, the Grass Snake, and the Sign of Life. 

The set also includes the rules of Zole. 

ISBN  978-9934-9288-6-4

Rules of Zole:

The game uses 26 cards. Diamonds run from ace to seven; the other suits run from ace to nine. The trumps, from highest to lowest, are all the queens, then the jacks, and finally the remaining diamonds. The queens and jacks rank in this order: clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds. Diamonds rank as follows: ace, ten, king, nine, eight, and seven. Card points are counted as follows: ace – 11, ten – 10, king – 4, queen – 3, jack – 2; nine, eight, and seven – 0. Among the remaining cards, the ace is strongest, followed by the ten and then the king, regardless of suit.

The dealer shuffles the cards, offers them to the player on the dealer’s right to cut, and then deals 8 cards to each player: first 2 cards to the player on the dealer’s left, then 2 to the next player, and then 2 to the dealer or the fourth player if four are playing. This is repeated, giving each player another 2 cards; then 2 cards are placed face down on the table  and the remaining 12 cards are dealt in the same way, in two rounds of 2 cards per player. Outside tournaments, the cards may be dealt in groups of four, with 2 placed on the table between the two rounds.

The player with first priority, i.e., the player to the dealer’s left, examines their cards and announces either that they will play or that they pass, saying “Pass.” The next player does the same, followed by the third if the second also passes. A player who expects to score at least 61 card points with their hand takes the two extra cards in the middle of the table and is called the declarer. The declarer plays alone against the other two players, called the defenders, who combine the card points won in their tricks. After picking up the two middle cards, the declarer must bury 2 cards of their choice, i.e., place them on the table.  Usually, the aim is to discard a suit in which one holds only one or two cards lower than an ace, so that cards of that suit can be trumped during play. It is also advisable, where possible, to bury cards worth more points, because these 2 cards are added to the tricks won during play. It is not advisable to bury an ace if it is the only card of its suit, as it has a good chance of winning a trick. To win, the declarer needs at least 61 card points. If the opponents have at least 30 card points between them, the declarer receives 1 game point from each; if they have fewer than 30, the declarer receives 2 from each; and if they have won no tricks, 3 from each.

If a player believes their cards are good enough to win without taking the 2 extra cards, they declare zole, meaning that they play without picking up those cards. The cards are then added to the tricks won by the opponents.

If the zole declarer scores at least 61 card points, they receive 5 game points from each opponent; if they score 91 card points, 6 from each; and if they win every trick, 7 from each.

If a declarer playing an ordinary game fails to score 61 card points, they give each opponent 2 game points. If the declarer scores fewer than 31 card points, they give each opponent 3; if they win no tricks, 4. If a zole declarer fails to score 61 card points, they give each opponent 6 game points; if they score fewer than 31, 7; and if they win no tricks, 8.

If no player wishes to declare a game and everyone passes, a pool is added; if four are playing, two pools are added, or one if a pool already exists. The cards are then shuffled and dealt again as before, but the dealer is now the player who had first priority in the previous hand. In the following hand, the next player deals, and so on.

If everyone passes repeatedly, several pools may accumulate. A player who wins a subsequent game receives the applicable number of game points from their opponents, plus one additional point from each player. This continues only while pools remain on the score sheet. If at least one pool already exists and a player loses as the declarer, they receive a personal pool. They can clear it by winning a game, but receive no additional points for doing so. If someone else clears the personal pool, they receive additional  points from its owner.