Table Of ContentPENGUIN BOOKS
The Penguin Book of Card Games
A former language-teacher and technical journalist, David Parlett began
freelancing in 1975 as a games inventor and author of books on games, a field in
which he has built up an impressive international reputation. He is an accredited
consultant on gaming terminology to the Oxford English Dictionary and
regularly advises on the staging of card games in films and television
productions. His many books include The Oxford History of Board Games, The
Oxford History of Card Games, The Penguin Book of Word Games, The Penguin
Book of Card Games and the The Penguin Book of Patience. His board game
Hare and Tortoise has been in print since 1974, was the first ever winner of the
prestigious German Game of the Year Award in 1979, and has recently appeared
in a new edition. His website at http://www.davpar.com is a rich source of
information about games and other interests. David Parlett is a native of south
London, where he still resides with his wife Barbara.
The Penguin Book of
Card Games
David Parlett
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
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(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
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(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
www.penguin.com
The Penguin Book of Card Games first published by Allen Lane 1979
Second edition, entitled The Penguin Encyclopedia of Card Games, first published by Penguin Books 2000
This updated edition, entitled The Penguin Book of Card Games, first published 2008
1
Copyright © David Parlett, 1979, 2000, 2008
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of
trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent
in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
978-0-14-191610-1
To Dan Glimne…Ace of Swedes
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Cards by nature Plan of attack Playing the game What shall we play? You must remember this…
1 Bridge-Whist family
Contract Bridge, Bridge: partnership variants, Non-partnership Bridge, Three-handed Bridge, Two-handed
Bridge, Whist, Whist variants, Bid whist, Spades, Kaiser, Forty-One, Vint, Quinto, Whist for three players,
Whist for two players, Calypso
2 Solo family
Solo whist, Belgian whist, Solo variants, Boston, Ombre, Quadrille, Related games, Preference (Austrian),
Preference (Russian), Asszorti, Vira, Oh Hell!, Ninety-Nine
3 Euchre family
Euchre, Pepper, Five Hundred, Ecarté, Twenty-Five, Auction Forty-Fives, Nap, Brandle, Redbeard,
Bourré, Julep, Five-card Loo, Norrlandsknack, Femkort, Three-card Loo, Tomato, Zwicken, Toepen,
Cucumber, Truc, Put, Aluette,
4 Hearts family
Hearts, Related to Hearts…, Barbu, Tëtka, Reversis, Schieberamsch, Bassadewitz, Coteccio
5 Piquet and others
Piquet, Piquet for three and more, Imperial, Gleek
6 High-low-Jack family
All fours, Pitch, Smear, Cinch, Don
7 Pointtrick games
Manille, Spanish Solo, Fifteens, Forty for Kings, Tressette, Terziglio, Stovkahra, Roque, Da Bai Fen,
Zheng Fen
8 Ace-Ten games
Skat, Schafkopf, Doppelkopf, Avinas, Owcy Glowa, Six-Bid, Bavarian Tarock, Einwerfen, Yukon, Catch-
the-Ten, Reunion, Madrasso, Briscola, Bohemian Schneider, Bura, Sedma
9 King-Queen games
Sixty-Six, Bondtolva, Tute, Gaigel, Tysiacha, Mariás, Ulti, Pip-Pip!, Zetema
10 Queen-Jack games
Bezique, Marjolet, Pinochle
11 Jack-Nine games
Klaberjass, Belote, Coinche, Jo-Jotte, Klaverjas, Handjass, Schieber, Pandour, Grevjass
12 Karnöffel family
Karnöffel, Watten, Brus, Stýrivolt, Alkort, Voormsi
13 Tarots and tarocks
Scarto, Ottocento, French Tarot, Tapp Tarock, Paskievics, Cego
14 Catch and collect games
Card-catching games, Gops, Thirty-One, Other collecting games
15 Fishing games
Cassino, Zwicker, Cuarenta, Scopa, Scopone, Varieties of Scopa/Scopone, Basra, Other fishing games
16 Cribbage and other adders
Cribbage, Cribbage variants, Noddy, Costly Colours, Counting games (Adders)
17 First out wins
Newmarket, Domino, Crazy Eights, Switch, Eleusis, Arsehole, Zheng Shàngyóu, Tieng Len
18 Last in loses
Rolling Stone, Sift Smoke, Durak, Challenge, Dudak, Mustamaija, Kitumaija, Hörri, Skitgubbe, NLK,
Shithead, Scapegoat games, Cheat, Paskahousu
19 Rummy family
Rummy, Basic Rummy variants, Loba, Gin, Thirty-One Rum, Wushiyi Fen, Conquian, Kaluki, Contract
Rummy, Push, Vatican
20 Canasta family
Canasta, Canasta variants, Hand and Foot, 500 Rum, Arlington, Continental Rummy, Pináculo
21 CompetitivePatiences
Spite and Malice, Racing Demon, Spit, Grabbage, Pirate, Conjugal Patience, Progressive Patience,
Dictation, Poker Squares, Cribbage Squares
22 Vying games
Poker basics, Draw Poker, Stud Poker, Flop Poker, Wildcard Poker, Short-pack Poker, Freak-hand Poker,
Dealer’s Choice games, Brag, Mus, Primiera, Poch, Bouillotte, Related vying games
23 Banking games
Twenty-One/Pontoon, Blackjack, Baccara, Pai Gow Poker, Yablon, Speculation, Other notable banking
games
24 Original card games
Abstrac, Caterpillar, Counterbluff, Dracula, Duck Soup, Galapagos, Garbo, Get Stuck, Over the Top,
Parity, Cross Purposes, Throps, Gooseberry Fool, Bugami, Collusion, Mismatch, Seconds, Concerto,
Tantony, Anarchy, Minimisère, Squint, Sex
Technical terms
Index of games
Preface
This book aims to provide a working description of as many card games as
possible that are or have been played in the western world with the traditional
four-suited pack. It is based on my Penguin Book of Card Games, which first
appeared in 1979 and is widely regarded as a standard authority, but which, for
several reasons listed below, needs to be revised. For instance:
1. Some standard games played at tournament level, such as Bridge and Skat,
have undergone revisions to the official rules published by the appropriate
authorities.
2. Popular or ‘folk’ games that are not subject to official rules (but which
account for well over 95 per cent of all card games played) are in a constant
state of flux, and it is obviously desirable to keep abreast of developments.
3. Many previously unrecorded games have come to light in the past 30 years
– some relatively new, some previously thought to be extinct, and some
actually extinct but whose rules have now been recovered.
Two modern developments have boosted the discovery, or recovery, of many
more games than might have been thought possible a few years ago.
One is a growing awareness that a society’s indoor games are as distinctive of
its culture as its arts, cuisine, or social customs, and are worth recording for the
light they throw on that community’s personality. The exploration of card games
has become a particular pursuit of the International PlayingCard Society,
founded in the late 1960s originally as a forum for playingcard collectors. Many
field researchers are members of the Society, and report their findings in its bi-
monthly Journal, now known as The PlayingCard.
Another has been a growth in the popularity of card-play itself, and that,
paradoxically, through the very medium which might have been expected to
have led to its decline – namely, computers. A quick trawl though the murky
water sof the Internet will soon throwu pop portunities to indulge in live play
with physically remote opponents, news of clubs and tournaments devoted to an
increasing variety of games, newsgroups seeking information as to the
availability of cards themselves or rules of obscure games, and websites devoted
to a miscellany of cartophilic enthusiasms.
The most important of these is the Pagat website, <http://www.pagat.com>,
conducted by John McLeod, a prominent member of the IPCS and himself a
well-travelled field researcher. Its intrinsic authority is constantly enhanced by
the contributions of interested and knowledgeable players from all over the
world, making of it a living, growing, interactive encyclopedia of the
cybersphere. This links directly to the home page of the Society via
<www.netlink.co.uk/users/pagat/ipcs>. Other useful sites include my historic
card games pages <http://www.davpar.com/histocs/>, and that of Roderick
Somerville, <http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk>, for the purchase of national,
regional and other specialist playingcards. The various sets of national suit
symbols used throughout this book were taken from a font designed by Gyula
Szigri which can be downloaded from
<http://www.pagat.com/com/cardsttf.html>. The designer makes no charge for
their use beyond the normal courtesy of acknowledgement.
Many thanks are due, and are duly tendered, to John McLeod and Andrew
Pennycook, with whom I have shared much information and discussion over the
years, and both of whom read various drafts of the text and rescued me from a
number of errors. (I regret to record that Andrew Pennycook died in 2006.)
Further embarrassments have been saved me by Roger Wells, my eagle-eyed
copy editor, with whom I have shared mutually rewarding discussions on matters
of grammar and punctuation. My brother Graham has, as usual, been invaluable
as a foreign language consultant.
Additional thanks are due to all who have variously sent me games, answered
queries, allowed me to quote from their reports, or checked portions of the text
from an expert’s point of view, in particular: Bob Abbott, Mike Arnautov, David
Bernazzani, Thierry Depaulis, Dan Glimne, Lynn King, Veikko Lahdesmaki,
Noel Leaver, David Levy (US), Matthew Macfadyen, Babak Mozaffari, Robert
Reid, Pamela Shandel, Elon Shlosberg, Anthony Smith, Gyula Szigri, Butch
Thomas, Nick Wedd and Jude Wudarczyk.
