NEW CARD GAME LAUNCHED

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27472, 5 October 1954, Page 2

NEW CARD GAME LAUNCHED

Combination Of Bridge And Canasta (From the London Correspondent of ‘‘The Press”) LONDON, September 24. A new British card game, which its makers hope will soon rival contract bridge in popularity and oust canasta from the card rooms of social clubs around the world, was launched in London this week. Called "Calypso,” it has many of the basic characteristics of bridge and canasta, but is simpler than either of the two games. It is claimed that the rules can be learned in five minutes. The game was devised by an airline omcial in Trinidad. While on leave in tjTitam he submitted it to a playing card manufacturer as an idea for a partnership game. Out of the thousands of suggestions for new card that the firm receives every year, game “clicked” and bridge experts were called in to develop the game and work out its rules for popular playing. Calypso is played by four players us mg four packs of cards shuffled to- ££ t i? er as one pack. A game consists of four separate deals of 52 cards and takes about 25 minutes to complete. O ne of the intriguing points about calypso is that each player has a personal trump suit. The North player’s trumps are hearts, South’s spades, Easts diamonds, and West’s clubs. North and South are partners against East and West, and the object J* ♦ g? me . to take tricks and from Ju* t. ri cks taken build up a calypso, tnat is a sequence in the player’s own suit from ace down to two, while at :Jl e u ame t l l me hel Ping partner to build up nis or her calypso. The main scorlri u • c , om oination is a complete calypso, which counts as 500 points, but all ca £!? s taken m a trick have their value. Messrs Kenneth Konstam, Terence ee se, and Ewart Kempson, members of the British team which last week won the European bridge champion- ?“». believe calypso will appeal to bridge players. \ w iU find in it a refreshing change from the intricacies of bidding situßtions and problems of card play/* says Mr Konstam. “The skill involved Kvo S ult ? ? so high as that displayed by. a first-class bridge player, but c^ 1 ™ er u d ? es Ule learnin g of it entail so 7 >l nuc Jl tir pe and concentration.” nni, Konstam also considers that nt!??? 0 W ? U have a £ reat appeal to canasta players who may require a change from the high degree of conhaving to apply ‘ hey are continually have long been searching for a game where the ingredients of luck and skill are carefully apportioned,” he claims