Black Maria (card game)

Black Maria is a British trick-taking card game belonging to the Hearts family, played by three to six people and generally regarded as one of the strongest games for exactly three players. It is an elaboration of the earlier game Black Lady, itself descended from the American game Hearts. English economist and games writer Hubert Phillips claimed to have devised Black Maria during the First World War, and its rules were first published in 1939 in The Complete Book of Card Games, written by Phillips with B.C. Westall, who called it the best of the three-handed card games. Players use a standard fifty-two card deck, though certain low cards are removed depending on the number of players: the two of clubs for three players, both black twos for five, and all four twos for six. Before trick-taking begins, each player passes three cards to a neighbor. During play, participants try to avoid winning tricks that contain penalty cards, meaning every heart plus the ace, king and queen of spades, the queen being the Black Maria of the title. Points accumulate from captured penalty cards over several hands, and the player with the lowest total score at the end wins.