Black

These conventions apply to any variant with a black (one of each) suit.

Black 2 & Black 5 Saves

• Players should save black 2's and black 5's with a number clue instead of a color clue. (This helps narrow down what card is being clued.)
• There are four exceptions to this:
  • if the black clue touched two or more previously unclued black cards or critical Rainbow cards
  • if the black clue was required to avoid violating Good Touch Principle
  • if the black clue "filled in" an ancillary card
  • if the black clue gave important negative information to one or more cards in the hand
• Subsequently, if a black clue is used to touch a black 2 or a black 5 (and the above exceptions are not applicable), then it implies a Finesse.

Black 3 & Black 4 Saves

• Players should save black 3's and black 4's with a color clue instead of a number clue. (This helps narrow down what card is being clued.)
• There is one exception to this:
  • if the number clue also touched another critical card (this is called a Florrat Save)
• Subsequently, if a number clue is used to touch a black 3 or a black 4 (and the above exception is not applicable), then it implies a Finesse.

The Black Save Bluff

• Normally, if a black 1 is on chop, it is clued with number 1 instead of black. This is because a black color clue would make it look like a Save Clue on either black 3 or black 4, and then it would sit there, not being played.
• Furthermore, if a black 1 is on chop and it was clued as black and the clue touched other new black cards in the hand, then the clue could also be a Save Clue on black 2 (as per the Save Clue rules outlined in the Black 2 Saves section).
• Thus, if another player intentionally clues a black 1 on chop with a black color clue and it touched other new black cards, this would be quite strange, as it would not get the black 1 to play, so they must be trying to communicate something extra.
• This is a sneaky signal that the next player has a playable card on their Finesse Position. By blind-playing it, they can show that a Bluff is happening.
• In a normal Bluff, the player receiving the clue would think that it is a one-away from playable card. In this case, if it was a normal Bluff, they would think that they have the black 2.
• However, as noted above, in this situation black 2's on chop are allowed to be touched as a Save Clue. So, touching a black 2 in this way would not cause a blind-play. Thus, by convention, the card should be black 1, and they can play it.
• It is also possible to use this convention to perform a Black Save Bluff on cards other than the black 1. For example, in a 3-player game:
  • All of the 1's are played on the stacks.
  • Cathy has a black 3 on slot 3 and a black 2 on slot 5. (The black 2 is on chop.)
  • Cathy has no other 2's in her hand, so a number 2 clue is available for Alice to use and would clearly communicate a Play Clue on the black 2 (since all of the 2's are currently playable).
  • Alice clues black to Cathy.
  • Bob knows that this will be treated as either a black 3 or a black 4 save, and the black 2 will never play.
  • Bob also sees that there is nothing special going on.
  • There must be a reason for this bad clue, so Bob knows that this is the Black Save Bluff, and he blind-plays his slot 1. It is a red 2.
  • Cathy knows that Alice's black clue touched two new cards, it is a legal save on any black cards in the game, which means that Bob should never have blind-played anything.
  • Thus, Cathy knows that it was a Black Save Bluff and she has exactly black 2 on her slot 5. Cathy plays black 2.