Starsailor (band) Formation, signed by EMI (1999-2000) who was it signed by? The band signed with EMI, the label that a relative of one band member worked for, in 2000. who did he work with? EMI, Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? The band met whilst studying Music at the Parsons Walk Campus of Wigan and Leigh College. where did they perform? Their performance at the Glastonbury Festival what year? I don't know. anything big happen between 1999 and 2000? Their performance at the Glastonbury Festival added to the band's reputation and led to a bidding war amongst UK record companies.
did they win the bidding war?
Did EMI win the bidding war?
Despite being known as a Wigan band, only one member of Starsailor is actually from the town. The band met whilst studying Music at the Parsons Walk Campus of Wigan and Leigh College. Bassist James Stelfox and drummer Ben Byrne had been playing together in Warrington, Cheshire for a number of years. When their regular singer fell ill, they recruited young Chorley singer and songwriter James Walsh from a school choir. He was influenced by Jeff Buckley and his 1994 album Grace in his singing style. Comparing it to Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory? album, which Walsh says sums up a unique moment, Grace captures every moment.  The band, then named Waterface, had tried a number of guitarists before they asked long-time friend Barry Westhead to join the band in 2000 on keyboards. He had been teaching judo and playing organ for a church near his home town. His arrival has been heralded as the most significant event in the band's formation. Walsh also took up the guitar, following frustration over not finding a musician right for the group. The band started to build up a reputation, and their name changed to Starsailor after the 1970 album Starsailor by Tim Buckley.  A journalist from NME saw a gig in 2000 and gave the band a glowing review. "One live encounter was enough to convince many sceptics that here was a band who were genuinely special, blessed with a singer whose voice thrummed like an emotional telegraph wire, that swerved the pitfalls of indie melancholia and were clearly in love with rock 'n' roll and all its possibilities." Their performance at the Glastonbury Festival added to the band's reputation and led to a bidding war amongst UK record companies.  The band signed with EMI, the label that a relative of one band member worked for, in 2000. In 2008, in a re-organisation, Starsailor were moved to Virgin Records, a division of EMI. CANNOTANSWER
The band signed with EMI,
Starsailor are an English post-Britpop band, formed in 2000. Since their formation the band has included guitarist and vocalist James Walsh, drummer Ben Byrne, bassist James Stelfox and keyboardist Barry Westhead. They are best known for their 2003 single "Silence Is Easy" which reached number 9 in the UK.

The band has released five studio albums, and have scored ten Top 40 hit singles in the UK. Their first album Love Is Here was released in 2001, followed by Silence Is Easy (2003) and On the Outside (2005). After the release of its fourth album All the Plans (2009), the band entered into extended hiatus until 2014, during which its members were involved in individual projects.

Starsailor announced their reunion on 23 May 2014 and began performing worldwide. Good Souls: The Greatest Hits was released in September 2015, and featured two new songs. A fifth studio album All This Life was released in 2017.

History

Formation, signed by EMI (1999–2000)
Despite claiming to be a Wigan band, only one member of Starsailor is actually from the town. Bassist James Stelfox and drummer Ben Byrne had been playing together in Warrington, Cheshire for a number of years. The band members met whilst studying a Music course at Wigan and Leigh College. When their regular singer fell ill, they recruited young Chorley singer and songwriter James Walsh from a school choir. He was influenced by Jeff Buckley and his 1994 album Grace in his singing style.  Comparing it to Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory? album, which Walsh says sums up a unique moment, Grace captures every moment.  

The band, then named Waterface, had tried a number of guitarists before they asked long-time friend Barry Westhead to join the band in 2000 on keyboards. He had been teaching judo and playing organ for a church near his home town. His arrival has been heralded as the most significant event in the band's formation. Walsh also took up the guitar, following frustration over not finding a musician right for the group. The band started to build up a reputation, and their name changed to Starsailor after the 1970 album Starsailor by Tim Buckley.

A journalist from NME saw a gig in 2000 and gave the band a glowing review. "One live encounter was enough to convince many sceptics that here was a band who were genuinely special, blessed with a singer whose voice thrummed like an emotional telegraph wire, that swerved the pitfalls of indie melancholia and were clearly in love with rock 'n' roll and all its possibilities." Their performance at the Glastonbury Festival added to the band's reputation and led to a bidding war amongst UK record companies.

A relative of one band member worked for EMI, and the label then signed them in 2000. In 2008, in a re-organisation, Starsailor were moved to Virgin Records, a division of EMI.

Love Is Here, critical acclaim (2000–2002) 
"Fever", the band's first single, was released in early 2001. The song, and its two B-Sides "Love Is Here" and "Coming Down" were cut from a demo recording session in mid-2000. All three tracks went on to feature on Starsailor's first album Love Is Here, but were re-recorded.

In March 2001 the band sold out its first UK Tour, which consisted of eleven dates in England. Their second single, "Good Souls", was released in April and featured a cover of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do" as a B-Side. During this period, the band were recording their debut album in Rockfield Studios, Wales. By this time, the band were already previewing many of the album's tracks in their concerts, most notably "Poor Misguided Fool", "Lullaby" and "Way To Fall", which would appear as the ending theme of the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater in 2004. An acoustic version of "Alcoholic" appeared on a promotional CD for NME magazine earlier in 2001. The original release date for the album was August 2001.

Further live dates came supporting the Manic Street Preachers in Glasgow, as well as Doves on their North American tour. The band also marked their first festival appearances, playing at events such as V Festival and Germany's Rock im Park. "Alcoholic" appeared as the third single to be taken off their debut album, and its number ten chart position remains the band's second highest placing to date. The single version was actually an extended version of the album track.

Their album Love Is Here reached number 2 in the UK album charts in October 2001, after receiving great critical acclaim. Combining a mix of acoustic guitar and Walsh's vocals, critics said the songs leave the "hairs on the back of your neck standing."

The year ended with the band winning the "Brightest New Hope" award at the NME Awards, and the release of their fourth single, "Lullaby", which reached number thirty-six. Some fans complained about the difficulty in obtaining copies of the single.

Peter Kay joined the band on stage at their 2002 Christmas Concert held in Warrington's Parr Hall.

Silence Is Easy (2002–2005)
For their second album, Silence Is Easy, which was recorded in Los Angeles, Starsailor teamed up with Phil Spector (in what ended up being his final production work before his conviction of murder in 2009 and his death in 2021). The collaboration came about following Spector's daughter Nicole attending one of the band's American concerts in the winter of 2002. Spector was reported to have been fascinated by "Lullaby", the band's fourth single. After meeting the producer, the band agreed to work with him on their second album. However, the collaboration was short-lived; sessions at London's Abbey Road proved difficult. Spector is said to have proved difficult to work with. Only two tracks made the band's second album: the title track, "Silence Is Easy", and "White Dove".

The band co-produced seven of the other tracks with Danton Supple and former The Stone Roses and Radiohead producer John Leckie was brought in to oversee the recording of "Shark Food".

The first single was "Silence Is Easy", which made the Top Ten (No. 9, the band's highest placing). The album spawned just three singles; the second of which, "Born Again" had evolved from a B-side to "Poor Misguided Fool", released in early 2002. The song was re-recorded for the album, and cut down for a radio edit. "Four to the Floor", which was remixed by Thin White Duke, became a popular club hit. Walsh wanted the track to become the band's "I Am the Resurrection", something to be played in "indie discos everywhere".

The album charted well, but sales were sluggish in comparison to the band's first album. The release dropped out of the Top 40 soon thereafter.

A full UK tour began in autumn 2003 shortly after the release of the album, culminating at London's Brixton Academy. The show featured the only performance before their American tour in 2006 of "Restless Heart", the closing track on the Silence Is Easy album. Mark Collins, from The Charlatans joined Starsailor for all dates between August 2003 to December 2004, playing additional and lead guitar.

On the Outside, return to form (2005–2007)
EMI allowed the band plenty of time to record their follow-up album; having targeted producer Rob Schnapf to produce it, the group relocated to Los Angeles to record. Five possible titles appeared; ("Faith, Hope, Love"/"Here I Go"/"Ashes" or "In the Crossfire"/"I Do Not Know"/"Counterfeit Life"), but the band settled for On the Outside, a statement of their position in the music industry. The sound was different from the previous two releases; it was far heavier than its predecessors. Starsailor had always received praise for their live sound, but the releases seemed "puny" in comparison, admitted Stelfox. The recording was all done to tape, and the band did not use editing software such as Pro Tools to "perfect" the recording. Byrne later remarked that his drum track on "White Light" took a long time to nail; highlighting the band's desire to make the record they were truly happy with.

Starsailor released their third album, On the Outside, in the UK on 17 October 2005 from which the first single from the album, "In the Crossfire" was taken. It was released by Artists Addiction Records in the USA on 22 August. Critics raved about the release, with many citing it as a return to form. Despite this, promotional appearances including a short live set and signing at London's HMV Oxford Street did not aid sales – the album charted at number 13.

Since September 2005, Richard Warren joined the band when playing live, aiding Walsh with additional guitar, vocals and also harmonica parts. Again, the band's UK tour ended at Brixton Academy. Following that, the band toured Europe, playing several dates in France, where "Four to the Floor" was a number one hit in 2004. Following the Paris concert on 3 April, Walsh and Warren were the DJ's at the after-show party.

The album has spawned three singles; "This Time" and "Keep Us Together" followed "In The Crossfire". Despite promoting the single with appearances in London and Leeds, "Keep Us Together" was the first single not to reach the UK Top 40. The promotional video for "This Time" appears to be a cultural reference to the film Run Lola Run, but may not be intentional.

Starsailor played numerous festivals in the Summer of 2006; most notably "Hyde Park Calling" on 1 July 2006, alongside Roger Waters, and the V Festival, which is held in Stafford and Chelmsford. They also supported the Rolling Stones on their "Bigger Bang" Tour in Munich, Hamburg in 2006 and again in Frankfurt, Paris and Lyon in 2007.

In the autumn of 2006, Starsailor toured North America, playing both headlining shows and supporting James Blunt, in January 2007 they undertook their first trip to Russia, playing in the B2 Club of Moscow. According to the band's official website Barry Westhead's partner Kelly gave birth to a baby boy on 12 April 2007. The baby was named Joseph.  Bass player James Stelfox became a father again in 2008, when his partner gave birth to a girl, named Ella, in November while the rest of the band were doing their first trip to Korea.

Starsailor was named the replacement for Amy Winehouse as the support act for The Rolling Stones on the German leg of their tour. 
They were opening for the rock legends for the first time in Hamburg. Front man James Walsh told BBC 6 Music: "We heard on Sunday evening, our agent gave us a frantic call, and asked what we were doing this week, fortunately we had a week off!"

All the Plans, beginning of hiatus (2007–2009)
In 2007, Starsailor began recording demos for the follow-up to 2005's On the Outside.

Starsailor started to play in various gigs during the months recording their fourth album.  James Walsh also played at several events in 2007, like the SXSW festival in Texas in March 2007, and an acoustic show in London on 12 March. The show is notable for not having a set list; rarities such as the hardly played "Restless Heart" was played, due to a request from the front row. In addition to this he played the song "Tell Me It's Not Over", the track from the work-in-progress fourth album (early arrivals saw Walsh sound check half the song).

Walsh and Stelfox played an unplugged set on 13 April 2007 in Switzerland with Mark Collins of The Charlatans.

Further support in Europe for The Rolling Stones took place in mid-June; these were late additions, and fitted in with the band's festival schedule. The previous concert before the Stones' support was in Den Haag, the Netherlands; the band debuted the first full-band version of "Tell Me It's Not Over". Starsailor had embarked on a tour of the UK during October 2007 in support of Fairtrade. They have debuted a number of new songs during the tour as "Boy in Waiting" and "All the Plans".  The lyrics for "Tell Me It's Not Over" had changed considerably since the first time they had sung it. Their first travel to Latin America was confirmed after a long period of speculation. Starsailor supported The Killers on November 2007 on their dates in Argentina and Chile. Starsailor played on June at the Isle of Wight Festival on the last day, with The Police headlining on that date. They also performed at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park the same month with The Police as headliners. They also confirmed that they would play at "Rockin" Park' in the Netherlands on Saturday 28 June, on the third day of the 2008 Cactus Festival at Minnewaterpark, Brugge, Belgium on Saturday 12 July, and the Open Air Gampel Festival in Switzerland on Saturday 16 August.

On 20 March 2008, front man James posted on the official Starsailor forum announcing the album had been completed.

On 16 October 2008 it was officially confirmed that the new album would be called All the Plans and was to be released in March 2009.
On 3 December, the Boy in Waiting EP was released as a free digital download for those who pre-order the deluxe edition of All the Plans. It contained three tracks that did not make the album.

The album debuted at Number 26 in the UK Album Charts on 14 March 2009, while "Tell Me It's Not Over" spent one week in the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 73, and peaking at No. 5 in the Belgian Charts, becoming Starsailor's most successful single in that country.

On 26 April 2009, the band performed at The Tavern pub in Wigan, as part of Channel 4 television's "Grassroot Gigs" series. They had never played a concert in the town before, and have played there only once since then.

Lead singer, James Walsh began to work on a solo project at the end of 2009.  On 13 November 2009 it was officially announced by The Lancashire Evening Post that Starsailor was on hold and that James Walsh was concentrating on his solo career.

Reunion, touring and Greatest Hits album (2014–2015)
Starsailor have reformed, playing support slots at Summer in the City festival in 10 and 11 July at Castlefield Bowl, headlined by Pixies and James. Starsailor performed on Rock Zottegem festival in Belgium on 14 July 2014. On 3 August 2014 the band performed at the Pentaport Rock Festival held in Incheon, South Korea. Their support tour continued in November 2014, supporting them in England at venues like Parr Hall, National Indoor Arena and Royal Albert Hall. They returned to the stage in June 2015, when they co-headlined several concerts with Embrace in the USA.

Starsailor's first greatest hits album, called Good Souls: The Greatest Hits, was released on 18 September 2015. The album contained 19 tracks, including all of band's singles to date and two brand new songs "Give Up the Ghost" and "Hold on", recorded with producer Harry Rutherford.

Starsailor played a second gig in Wigan in 2016, supported by a local band who shared the same management agency.

All This Life (2017–present) 
In 2017, the band released "Listen To Your Heart", their first release in almost two years. Their fifth album, All This Life, was released on  1 September 2017 through the band's new record label, Cooking Vinyl. Flick of the Finger gave the album an overwhelmingly positive 5 star review, with the publication praising the song "Sunday Best", saying that 'the album is best summarised by this one melancholic and emotional track.' The album entered the UK album chart at No. 23.

In December 2021, the band were to release an expanded 20th anniversary edition of their album Love Is Here, as well as going out on tour to support it. The release was delayed until January 2022 due to pressing delays of the vinyl edition.

Charity
The band played the London Astoria on 4 and 8 February 2002. The first date was a concert in aid of Warchild, and also included Travis and Ryan Adams on the bill. The 8th saw the debut of "Born Again", which would eventually be released as a single. The concert is notable since the band were joined on stage by two backing singers and a cellist. James Walsh told NME.COM after the show that he thought the gig was "amazing, something really special" while bassist James Stelfox said it was "one of the greatest ever." This flirtation with these additional voices and a cello only lasted a brief period of time.

On 19 September 2008 Starsailor performed in the second edition of the "Stars of Europe" concert at Brussels in support of UNICEF, where they covered U2's single "All I Want Is You"

On 20 May 2009, the band was named Hard Rock's "Philanthropic Artist of the Year" in recognition of the work they'd done in support of the Caron Keating Foundation, the AECC of Barcelona and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, as well as having contributed an exclusive cover of Graham Nash's "Military Madness" to the World Hunger Year Serve3 charity album.

Band members
Current members
 James Walsh – guitar and lead vocals
 James Stelfox – bass
 Barry Westhead – keyboards
 Ben Byrne – drums

Session and touring members
 Mark Collins – guitar and vocals (2003–2004, 2006, 2014)
 Richard "Echoboy" Warren – guitar, vocals and harmonica (2005–2006)
 Pete Greenwood – guitar (2008–2009)

Discography

Studio albums
Love Is Here (2001)
Silence Is Easy (2003)
On the Outside (2005)
All the Plans (2009)
All This Life (2017)

References

External links

 
 Official Starsailor Fansite

Musical groups from Lancashire
English rock music groups
Musical groups established in 2000
People from Chorley
English alternative rock groups
Post-Britpop groups
Parlophone artists
Musical quartets
Virgin Records artists
A bid price is the highest price that a buyer (i.e., bidder) is willing to pay for a goods. It is usually referred to simply as the "bid".  In bid and ask, the bid price stands in contrast to the ask price or "offer", and the difference between the two is called the bid–ask spread.  An unsolicited bid or purchase offer is when a person or company receives a bid even though they are not looking to sell.

Bidding war
A bidding war is said to occur when a large number of competing bids are placed in rapid succession by two or more entities, especially when the price paid is much greater than the ask price, or greater than the first bid in the case of unsolicited bidding.

In other words, a bidding war is a situation where two or more buyers are so interested in an item (such as a house or a business) that they make increasingly higher-priced offers in attempts to outbid others and win the ownership of the item.

In real estate, a potential buyer can increase their bid in a number of different ways. Some common ways a bidder can increase their bid include: offering a higher purchase price, reduce the number of contingencies, pay with cash or even write a letter to appeal to the seller. These are all strategies that are proven to increase the odds of the buyer winning the bidding war.

In the markets
In the context of stock trading on a stock exchange, the bid price is the highest price a buyer of a stock is willing to pay for a share of that given stock. The bid price displayed in most quote services is the highest bid price in the market.
The ask or offer price on the other hand is the lowest price a seller of a particular stock is willing to sell a share of that given stock. The ask or offer price displayed is the lowest ask/offer price in the market (Stock market).

See also
Ask price
Bidding fee auction
Call for bids
Unique bid auction

References

External links
Securities and Exchange Commission definition of "bid price"

Financial economics
Financial markets Russian Schnapsen, Thousand Schnapsen, 1000 or Tysiacha is a trick-taking game of the Ace-Ten family for three players, the aim of which is to score over 1000 points to win the game. It is a variant of the popular Austrian game of Schnapsen. Like its parent, Russian Schnapsen features "marriages" (pairs of a King and Ober/Queen of the same suit) which are worth extra points.

Cards 

Russian Schnapsen is usually played with a 24-card Schnapsen pack using the normal William Tell cards. In Russia it is played with French-suited cards, using a 24 card deck where all cards lower than a nine have been removed.

There are the usual four suits: Hearts (Herz or Rot), Bells (Schelle), Leaves (Grün, Laub or Blatt) and Acorns (Eichel). In each suit the cards rank and score as follows: Ace (Ass) - 11 points, Ten (Zehner) - 10 points, King (König) - 4 points, Ober (Ober) - 3 points, Unter (Unter) - 2 points and Nine (Neuner) - 0 points. If French-suited cards are used, the Queen replaces the Ober and the Jack, the Unter.

Dealing cards 
The first dealer is chosen either by drawing lots or by mutual agreement. The dealer rotates clockwise with each hand.
Before dealing (after shuffling), the deck is cut by the player on the dealer's right. After cutting, the top part is placed on the table and bottom card is checked by the dealer. In case bottom card is Nine, serving player shows it to all player announcing that it is a Nine and asks same player sitting by his right hand to split / cut the deck again. In case the deck is split third time in a row by the same player in the same round and bottom card is Nine - player who cut / split the deck (the one who is sitting by right hand from serving player) gets minus 120 points and this round is skipped, serving turn goes to next player.

Dealing cards is made clockwise, with one card per iteration, starting from the player sitting by left hand from dealer. During dealing three cards out of deck are put to the stock: top (first) card, bottom card and any other card. Dealing cards is very delicate and typically dealer can be charged with -120 scores fine if not agreed beforehand otherwise. Dealing cards is counted as failed in next circumstances:
 If any card is flipped during dealing
 If lock or any number of players has wrong number of cards after dealing is done
 If deck was not split / cut before dealing started
 With four players dealer accidentally or not, but discloses any information related to stock

Usually, if dealer is not charged with fine, then same dealer re-deals the deck, otherwise - dealing goes to a next player clockwise.

When playing with four player dealer only serves the deck and holds the stock until bidding is over. Dealer in this case is allowed to see the stock before bidding is over but is strictly disallowed to share whatsoever he knows about its contents. When bidding is over and two out of three players taking part in bidding have passed / opted out / lost bidding - stock is flipped over so that every player can see it and afterwards given to player who won bidding.

All three players get seven cards during dealing. The player who won the bidding gets stock (+3 cards), and temporarily has 10 cards. In order to make number of cards even, winner of bidding has to give away by one card to both of the opponent players out of his full hand (10 cards), which cards to give away - is the decision up to the bidding winner. After this every player has eight cards in hand.

Re-dealing cards 

In particular cases players can demand re-dealing after the cards were dealt:
 all four nines in one player's hand (player who has this hand can demand re-dealing)
 two nines in the stock (player who won the bidding and got stock can demand re-dealing)
 in case bidding-winner player gives away nine and as a result another player has four nines in his hand, latter one can demand re-dealing

Bidding 

Bid is number of scores player states he can achieve in this round. Every game round there has to be a player who has an obligation to get 100 or more scores, the player is determined by bidding round - the player who made the bigger bid wins the bidding round. In order to support / give this player advantage - stock will be given to the player who wins the bidding round.
After cards are dealt, player next clock-wise after the dealer starts the bidding with 100 points, this player is often called "first hand". Players after observing their hand cards are taking part in bidding one-by-one strictly clock-wise in order. Only after previous player stated his bid or passed his turn, next player can bid. When both of opponent player will pass (will not make bigger bid), the player who make biggest bid wins the bidding round. It is possible that after first hand player said initial bid of 100 points - both of the opponent players can pass, in this case first hand player has no options and wins the bidding round.
If a player passes their bidding turn, he passes it permanently for this game round and cannot make bid even if the bidding turn comes back again to him, thus he is not taking part in bidding for this round anymore.
Minimum bid increment is 5 points, all bids have to be divisible by 5. (100 / 105 / 155 / etc.)

Notice: The final declaration of points the bidding-winner player is obliged to score during game round can be increased after the stock is observed and cards are given away.

Bidding limitation 

During bidding round players are not allowed to increase the bid over 120 points unless they have a marriage in their hand. If this rule is broken, the player who broke the rule gets a negative number of declared bid and the current game round is skipped.

Gameplay

Taking tricks 

Player who won bidding starts the game by making move, usually with highest card that guarantees the trick, every other players in a clockwise order one-by-one responds to the move by placing a single card from own hand according to rules:
 top priority: card of the same suit: mandatory to use if available on hand
 second priority: trump: mandatory to use if available on hand and prohibited to use if card of the same suit available
 any card

For deliberately breaking the rules player is charged with 120 points fine, it is deducted from the current sum-up number of points available for that player. Every next move is made by a player who took last trick. All tricks are saved until the round is finished, then the scores are counted and summed-up to previous round results. If the player who won bidding did not achieve their declared number of scores, he gets a negative number of declared scores.
Number of scores achieved is calculated from the tricks-taken and marriages.

Taking a trick is done by placing a highest card in the turn. E.g.:
 Diamonds suit has been declared as trump suit: Player #1 makes a move with Ten of Spades, Player #2 responds with Ace of Spades, Player #3 responds with Nine of Diamonds - this trick is taken by Player #3, because his Nine of Diamonds is a Trump card and it is higher than Ace of Spades. Next move is done by Player #3.
 No trump suit declared: Player #1 makes a move with Ten of Spades, Player #2 responds with Ace of Spades, Player #3 responds with Nine of Diamonds - this trick is taken by player #2, his Ace of Spades is higher than Ten of Spades. Next move is done by Player #2.

Game scores — rank values 
Number of cards in the deck — 24, 4 suits. Order of hierarchy (top to bottom):Ace, Ten, King, Ober/Queen, Unter/Jack, Nine.

Different cards give different numbers of points:

Total number of points / scores in deck : 120
Total number of points / scores in one suit: 30

Trumps 

In the beginning of every round there is no trump suit, all suits are equal. The player who has at least one trick taken and still has a marriage in his hand can declare a suit of the Marriage to be a trump suit by making a move with either King or Ober/Queen card from available marriage and declaring it out loud by saying that suit X (X corresponds to the marriage suit) becomes a trump, or saying number of scores he gets by declaring a marriage suit a trump. The suit that just became a trump stays a trump until a new suit becomes appointed to be trump or until game round ends.

Marriage 

Marriage is a feature of the game and consists of King and Ober/Queen of the same suit in one player's hand. When used in the game it allows the setting of the trump suit for the round and gives an instant number of score points depending on the suit it belongs to. The only two conditions to use it are:
 player has to have at least one trick taken before he / she can use marriage
 player has to have full marriage set - both King and Ober/Queen in the hand for the moment when marriage is used

To use a marriage, player has to make a move with either Ober/Queen or King of the marriage pair and declare out loud about assigning a suit of the marriage just used to be a trump. If player failed to declare in any way a marriage when he used either of the two marriage cards (King or Ober/Queen), then the card is treated as regular and no trump change, no score addition takes place.

If one of the players declares a trump suit, another players have a chance to declare a new trump suit (provided that they have a marriage of different suit) as soon as they will get a move chance (they will take trick). When new suit is appointed to be a trump instead of existing, previous trump becomes a regular suit immediately.

There is no limit on how many marriages can be used by any player during game round.

Different marriages give different numbers of points (King and Ober/Queen):

Score Points counting 

After game round ends - players count their scores.
Every player counts how many scores he achieved in the round by summing up all scores each card he got as tricks has and marriages scores if there were any. Scores for players who did not win bidding round are rounded up or down to closest divisible by 5, e.g. 63 points is counted as 65; 62 points are counted as 60
Scores for player who won the bidding round is compared with the number of scores he declared before first move:
 in case he got more or equal number of scores - this player managed to achieve his goal and gets as many points as he declared, not more, even if number of achieved scores is significantly bigger than declared;
 in case he got less (even by 1 point), then player failed to achieve the bid he declared and gets the negative number of points he declared, meaning that the number of points he declared will be deducted from his previous result.

A sum of scores all players achieved from tricks (excluding additional scores from marriages) should correspond to a number of scores available in the deck : 120.

During Golden round the number of scores is doubled, even if it's negative.

When playing with four players, dealer gets number points that was in the Stock, including marriages, if there was one full marriage in the Stock, meaning that both Ober or Queen and King of the same suit are among the three Stock cards.

In case player who did not win bidding has got 0 tricks, he gets special remark for that round - "bolt".

Bolt 

In case player who did not win bidding gets zero tricks by the end of the game round, in addition to zero points he gets special mark, called bolt or strike-through. There marks are stored in the game table until player gets third such mark, when third time player gets zero points in the round when he did not win bidding, previous two marks are removed (crossed-out) and player gets minus 120 points for this round.

The player who won bidding cannot be assigned a bolt for the round even if he had no tricks, hence he gets a negative number of declared scores.

During Golden round all points are double, even bolts, player who did not win bidding and got zero points gets two bolts / strike-throughs.

The only exception is when a player gets one trick with a number of scores less than 3 (three Nines, or two Nines and a Jack/Unter) which is rounded down to zero, in this case bolt is not assigned to this player.

The Barrel / 880 points 

The game goes in regular mode until any of the players gets to 880 or more points. At that moment the player is said to "climb onto the barrel" and his scores are fixed at 880.

Scores counting 

Player on the barrel has an advantage: no scores is counted for this player except three special cases:
 if player who is on the barrel did not win bidding and got zero tricks - he gets a bolt / strike-through: in case it's a third time, previous two are discarded / crossed-out and player gets minus 120 points, this forces player to climb down from barrel, throwing him back to 760 points;
 if player won bidding and declared to achieve more than 120 points: in this case player either wins the game or gets down to 880 minus X points, where X was declared by this player
 player who is on the barrel played three consecutive game rounds and did not win - gets minus 120 points and "climbs down from barrel"

If a player who is on the barrel claims to achieve 120 points (which is the maximum allowed to claim without having a marriage), and wins the bidding, then this player gets Stock and considers to increase the number of claimed scores in order to win the game. In case player who is on the barrel has won bidding, declared only 120 points, then regardless of how much scores he manages to achieve - they are not counted.

When third time player climbs down from the barrel, his scores are reset to zero.

Winning the game 

Only a player sitting on a barrel can win the game. In order to do so, he has three attempts (three game rounds) to:
 win the bidding
 declare to achieve more than 120 points (this effectively means that he has to have a marriage)
 achieve declared number of scores
When all three conditions are met, player gets more than 1000 points and becomes winner of the game.

If player failed to win in three attempts - he is charged with 125 points fine.

Several players on Barrel 

When playing with three players - there can be only one player on barrel, When second player gets to 880 points, the player who on the barrel "gets down from it" and is charged with fine of 125 points (down to 755 points). If there are two players simultaneously achieving 880 scores - both of them are thrown back to 755 points.
When playing with four players - two players are allowed to be on the barrel, the first one to get, first gets down from it.

Golden tour 

During first circle of game rounds (number of game rounds equals to number of players, in other words until serving turn comes back first time to player who first served cards in the game) if agreed beforehand Golden Tour can take place. During golden tour there is no bidding for Stock, the first hand player has an obligation to achieve 120 points and is automatically a bidding winner. In this tour all points for all players are doubled, even negative, even bolts, even charges with fines.

Variants for 2 and 4 players 
In a two-player variant, the game is played with two stocks, and the player who wins bidding can choose either one, and discards a card to the other stock. The other stock is given to the player who takes the last trick.

The game can be played with four players by using a sit out dealer, who scores cards in the stock.

References

Three-player card games
Schnapsen
Russian card games
King-Queen games
German deck card games
Point-trick games