This week has been a bit busier than anticipated, but here's my best shot.
1.) The chips are supposed to be a rarity, you may squirrel them away for as long as you like and for as broken of a play as you can imagine. A Wodehousian story should have a sense of gay abandon after all.
You ALWAYS get the bonuses to your character's suits, they're a bit like the stats in a Powered by the Apocalypse game, if you've ever played one of those.
2.)Ack! I apologize for being unclear on that. Pick two abilities as you need them, but you may not have more than two, unless you somehow invent a campaign version of this.
3.) The loop is vague because every group might have it's own sense of timing, but tricks put a hard limit on actions. If there is any confusion, the Matriarch may simply announce that a trick will or will not happen.
4.) The game is indeed players vs. the Matriarch, but only in the most gentle of ways. You are her heirs after all, even if she doesn't care for you, she must keep up the side. Otherwise you've got it. The matriarch is best played from the perspective that the players are wayward children and idiots who must be led to gainful roles in the family structure. The players are best thought of as wanting to avoid anything other than immediate enjoyment.
5.) That's a good point, perhaps we could call it "enfrazzlement" or some such?
6.) That's a fine point, I wonder if perhaps Jeeves could be rotating role for the players, and allow themselves into the story. It would be fun for everyone to be the deus ex machina.
This is exciting to revisit! I'd let this one fall off my radar, but you are asking good design questions, and I do love trick taking games as a possibility in the RPG space. I'll try to get back to this one in 2022!