Misère
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Misere or Misère (from the French word meaning "poverty") is a bid in various card games, particularly the game 500. The word is first recorded in this sense in the rules for the game "Boston" in the early 19th century.[1]
A player who bids Misere undertakes to win no tricks at all in the round to be played. A Misere bid usually indicates an extremely poor hand, hence the name. An Open or Lay Down Misere is a 500 bid where the player is so sure of losing every trick that they undertake to do so with their cards placed face-up on the table. Consequently, 'Lay Down Misere' is Australian gambling slang for a "dead cert"; a predicted easy victory.
[edit] Misere game
A misere game is a game that is played according to its conventional rules, except that it is "played to lose"; that is, the winner is the one who loses according to the normal game rules.
In combinatorial game theory, a misere game is one played according to the "misere play condition", namely that a player unable to move wins. (This is opposed to the "normal play condition" in which a player unable to move loses.) For most games this is the same as the ordinary use of the word, but a very few games are actually misere games according to their standard rules, for example sylver coinage.
[edit] References
 This game-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
