Trump & Marriages
Thousand has a unique trump mechanism: trump is not chosen up front. There is no trump at all until a player declares a marriage. The trump suit then changes every time a different marriage is declared.
What is a marriage?
A marriage is the King + Queen of the same suit held in one player's hand. The reference book also calls a marriage a boast (and the declaration of a second one in the same deal an overboast).
- ♥ Hearts marriage — 100 points
- ♦ Diamonds marriage — 80 points
- ♣ Clubs marriage — 60 points
- ♠ Spades marriage — 40 points
How to declare a marriage
A marriage is declared by leading either the King or the Queen of that suit at the start of a trick, and announcing the marriage.
- The player must be on lead (winning the previous trick).
- They lead the K or Q of the suit.
- They announce: "Marriage in hearts" (or whatever the suit is).
- The marriage value is immediately added to that player's score for the deal.
- The trump suit becomes the suit of the marriage, effective from the next trick onward.
The marriage card itself is then played as a normal lead in the current trick — it is not a free declaration.
Holding K + Q is not enough. The marriage is only scored when one of the two cards is led from the player's hand on the lead. Cards captured in tricks do not count.
The trick-required precondition
The reference book treats marriage declaration as conditional on having already taken at least one trick in the current deal. The canonical Russian template ships with this gate on: a seat may not declare a K-Q (or four-aces) marriage until they have captured a trick.
The trickless variant — declarations legal at any phase including the first lead — is selectable as the Marriage trick required house rule.
Multiple marriages
A player may hold and declare several marriages in a single deal. Each new declaration replaces the trump suit. A player who holds, say, the ♦K-Q and ♣K-Q can declare diamonds (80 + trump becomes ♦), then later declare clubs (60 + trump becomes ♣).
No trump until a marriage
Until the first marriage of the deal is declared, there is no trump suit. Tricks are won by the highest card of the led suit; a player who cannot follow suit simply discards a low card (it cannot win).
If no marriage is ever declared during a deal, the entire hand is played without trump.
Marriage in the talon
If the declarer picks up a King or Queen from the talon that completes a marriage, that marriage is legal and may be declared in the usual way (by leading the K or Q). Many strong bids depend exactly on this scenario.
Following suit and trumping
Once trump exists, the standard trick-taking rules apply with two Thousand-specific quirks documented next: see Trick-taking.