The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (53 page)

Henriet a Maria of France in 1625 – to have become thoroughly

naturalized. For most of its English history its vocabulary has been

either replaced by English equivalents or at least pronounced as

English. Use of French terminology like carte blanche for ‘blank’,

and the pseudo-French pronunciation ‘P.K.’ for what was previously

pronounced ‘Picket’, date from the nineteenth century.

The game’s popularity among the literate is suggested by its

prominence in the earliest books of instruction in card-playing, an

activity previously regarded as something you just picked up, like

the common cold. It held pride of place for three centuries in

various editions of The Compleat Gamester, formed the subject of a

treatise by the real Edmond Hoyle in 1744, and stil remains a

staple component of al self-respecting card-game compendia. In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the home of intensive

Piquet play for real money, along with Whist, was at Bath. In the

late nineteenth century the game of Piquet au Cent, or Hundred-up

Piquet, was replaced by a new structure under the name Rubicon

Piquet. In the old game, play continued until one player reached

100 points, whereas the Rubicon game (or partie, equivalent to a

rubber at Bridge) consists of exactly six deals, the loser being

penalized if then short of the 100 points necessary to ‘cross the

Rubicon’.

Like Cribbage, Piquet is a game of almost continuous point-

scoring: traditional y, you recite your score as you go along and

write down the result only at the end of each round. As this

tradition is now lost, and special Piquet markers are a thing of the

past, a Cribbage board may be found helpful.

Preliminaries Two players, 32 cards (AKQJT987). A game is six

deals. The aim is to gain a majority of points for scoring

combinations and winning tricks, and, in the loser’s case, to reach at

least 100 points overal .

Deal The deal alternates. The dealer is cal ed Younger and non-

dealer Elder. Deal twelve each in twos or threes and spread the last

eight, face down. These form the talon.

Blank A player whose hand contains no court cards scores 10for

‘blank’ (carte blanche) and must prove it by playing his cards

rapidly face up on the table. Elder does so immediately, but

Younger waits until Elder has exchanged before proving it.

The exchange Elder discards up to five cards face down and

replaces them from the top of the talon. He must discard at least

one. If he discards fewer than five, he may privately peep at the

cards he would have taken had he exchanged al five. Younger may

exchange up to as many as remain (at least three), but need not

exchange any. If he draws fewer, Younger may expose those

untaken for both to see, or leave them face down for neither to see.

Players may examine their own discards at any time during the

play.

Declaring combinations The players now state what combinations

they hold in the fol owing order. In each class, Elder always

declares first. If Younger has ahigher combinationof the same class,

or any combination of a class in which Elder has none, he says ‘Not

good’ and scores it himself. If he cannot match it, he says ‘Good’,

and Elder scores. If he says ‘Equal’, neither scores.

1. Point. Whoever has the longest suit scores 1 point for each

card in it. If equal, the point goes to whichever of the matched

suits has the highest value, counting Ace 11, courts 10,

numerals at face value. If stil equal, neither scores for point.

numerals at face value. If stil equal, neither scores for point.

2. Sequences. A sequence is three or more cards in suit and

sequence. Whoever has the longest sequence scores for it and

any other sequences he may declare. If both tie for longest

sequence, it goes to the one with the higher-ranking cards. If

both stil tie, neither scores for sequences. Sequences of three

and four score 3 and 4 respectively, five to eight score 15 to

18 respectively.

3. Sets. A set is three or four cards of the same rank but not

lower than Tens. Three is a trio and scores 3, four a quatorze

and scores 14. Any quatorze beats any trio, and as between

equal sets a higher-ranking beats a lower. A tie is impossible.

Announcing the score Elder now summarizes the scores he has

made so far, leads a card to the first trick, and adds 1 point ‘for

leading’. Younger, before playing a card, then ful y identifies and

scores for any combinations he holds which enabled him to

describe Elder’s as ‘Not good’, and announces his total score for

combinations.

Repique If either player reaches 30 for combinations before the

other has scored any, he gets a bonus of 60 for repique. For this

purpose, points accrue strictly in order blank, point, sequences, sets.

Examples:

Elder scores 7 for point, sequences of 15 and 4 and 3, and 3 for a trio,

giving him 32 + 60 = 92. But if Younger had already called a blank,

Elder fails the repique, because the blank counts first.

Neither scores for point or sequence because Younger replied ‘equal’ to

both, but Younger then calls two quatorzes and a trio for 31, earning 60

more for repique. But if Elder had scored for blank, point or sequence,

Younger’s sets would not earn the repique.

Pique If Younger scores nothing for combinations, and Elder reaches

30 as the result of scoring 1 point for each card he leads to a trick

30 as the result of scoring 1 point for each card he leads to a trick

in unbroken succession, then Elder gains a bonus of 30 for pique.

Younger can’t score for pique, being prevented by Elder’s ‘1 for

leading’.

Play Elder leads first. Second to a trick must fol ow suit if possible,

otherwise may play any card. The trick is taken by the higher card

of the suit led, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. There

are no trumps.

Score A trick scores 1 point if won by the player who led to it,

otherwise 2. Winning from seven to eleven tricks earns a bonus of

10 ‘for cards’, and winning al twelve a bonus of 40 for capot.

Game If the loser reaches 100 (‘crosses the rubicon’), the winner

scores 100 plus the dif erence between their final totals. If not (the

loser is ‘rubiconed’), the winner scores 100 plus the total of their

final scores. If tied, play two more deals to break it.

Sample deal Younger deals twelve cards each as fol ows:

Elder wil keep three Queens, hoping to draw the fourth, and

retain one of the four-card suits for point. Since he wants a specific

card ( Q), he must exchange five, so out go two spades and al

diamonds below the Ace.

Younger has a good club point, but it is gappy and probably

pit ed against a bet er diamond point in Elder’s hand. His only

hope lies in drawing the fourth King (the fourth Ten would not be

good against the cards, as Elder may have four Queens to beat it), or

either of the missing clubs. A club would give him a quint, which