The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (58 page)

alehouses and ‘below stairs’ (in servants’ quarters), as wel as

‘below decks’ in the British navy. Its great mark of distinction is

having bequeathed us the proper name ‘Jack’ for the card

previously known as ‘Knave’. In Great Expectations, Dickens has Pip

betray his social status in Estel a’s snooty complaint, ‘He cal s the

knaves Jacks, this boy!’

Al Fours underwent its greatest expansion in the United States,

becoming the foremost card game by the beginning of the

nineteenth century. Subsequently chal enged by Poker and Euchre,

it responded not by disappearing but by developing novel

it responded not by disappearing but by developing novel

elaborations to compete with them for interest.

The modern British descendant of Al Fours is an equal y lively

folk-game cal ed Don. Its relations with mid-nineteenth-century

American games are unclear.

Al Fours (Seven Up)

2-4 players, 52 cards

All Fours is a game very much play’d in Kent… and I have known Kentish

Gentlemen and others of very considerable note, who have play’d great sums of

money at It

Charles Cotton, The Compleat Gamester (1674)

We have played together,

Many atime and oft, at Put and Crib,

And at All-Fours have cheated with the best.

‘Captain Crawley’ (G. F. Pardon), The Card-Player’s Manual (1876)

An old English game of possible Dutch origin, All Fours has been so long played

in England and in former Caribbean slave states as to have given rise to many

variants and derivative games, notably Don (p. 186). r further details and an

account of the modern Trinidadian game, e

.

Preliminaries From two to four play, four either cut-throat or in

fixed partnerships.

Deal From a 52-card pack deal six cards each in threes, and turn the

next as a prospective trump. If it’s a Jack, dealer scores 1 point.

Object To win as many as possible of the four points for high

(playing the highest trump), low (winning the trick containing the

lowest trump in play), Jack (winning a trick with or containing †

J), and game (winning the greatest value of cards in tricks).

Cards The rank of cards in descending order, and the value they

count towards the point for ‘game’ when taken in tricks, is:

A K Q J 10 98765432

4 3 2 1 10 0each

The total value of cards in the pack is therefore 80, but not al of

them are likely to be in play.

Choosing trumps Eldest may accept the turn-up as trumps by saying

‘(I) stand’, in which case play begins, or refuse it by saying ‘Beg’. If

he begs, dealer may accept by saying ‘(I) give you one’, in which

case eldest scores 1 point and play begins, or ‘Refuse the gift’, in

which case the turn-up is turned down and the cards are ‘run’.

Running the cards If the first turn-up is turned down, three more

cards are dealt to each player and the next is turned up. If it is the

same suit as before, the cards are run again, and so on until a

dif erent suit appears. When a new suit appears, it is automatical y

entrumped and, if it is a Jack, the dealer scores 1 point. If none

appears before the cards run out, the hands are thrown in and the

same dealer deals again.

Discard If the cards were run, everyone reduces their hand to six by

discarding the extras face down before play begins. (Variant: This is

usual y ignored if the first run produced a new trump, so there are

nine tricks instead of six.)

Play Eldest leads first. Players may freely fol ow suit or trump, but

may renounce only if unable to fol ow suit. The trick is taken by

may renounce only if unable to fol ow suit. The trick is taken by

the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any are

played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

Score Up to 6 points may be scored in al : 1 for ‘gift’, 1 for turning

a Jack, if applicable, and thereafter 1 each for high, low, Jack, and

game. If two or more players or sides tie for ‘game’, by taking the

same number of card-points, that point is not scored.

Game Play up to 7 points. If tied, the winner is the first to reach 7

as the result of counting high, low, Jack, game, in that order of

priority.

Revoke If a player renounces when able to fol ow suit, he may not

score for Jack or game, and each opponent scores 1 point, or 2 if

the Jack is in play.

Al Fives

(2p, 52c) As Al Fours, but with additional scoring features. Upon

winning a trick with or containing the trump Ace, a player

immediately scores 4 points, the King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1, Ten 10,

Five 5. Add 1 point each for high, low, Jack, and the game. In

assessing the point for game, the trump Five counts 5, and al Aces,

Kings, Queens, Jacks and Tens count respectively 4, 3, 2, 1, and 10

each. Game is 61 up, and is best scored on a cribbage board.

California Jack

(2p, 52c) Deal six each in threes and stack the rest, face up. The suit

of the top card is trump for the whole of the deal. Non-dealer leads.

Second to a trick must fol ow suit if he can, otherwise may play

anything. The winner of a trick draws the top card of stock; the

loser draws the next. When the stock is finished the last six tricks

are played out as usual. At the end of play either player scores 1

are played out as usual. At the end of play either player scores 1

point for high, low, Jack and the game. Game is 10 up.

Shasta Sam

(2p, 52c) As California Jack, but with the stock set face down

instead of up. This removes the desirable feature of playing to win

or cede the top card of stock, which, in California Jack, is the best

part of the game.

Troeven (‘Trump’)

(4pp, 32c) This simple partnership game, played in southern

Limburg, reinforces my suspicion of a Dutch origin for Al Fours.

Virtual y identical is Couil on, or Couyon, played in Normandy on a

tournament basis.

Deal a batch of four cards each from a 32-card pack ranking and

counting as fol ows: Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1, T-9-8-7 zero,

total 40 card-points. Eldest announces trumps on the basis of the

first four cards, then the rest are dealt out in fours. Eldest leads to

the first of eight tricks. Players may freely fol ow suit or play a

trump, but may renounce only if unable to fol ow suit. The trick is

taken by the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if

any are played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. If the

trump-makers take more card-points, they score 1 game point. If

not, they lose 1 game point and their opponents score 1 plus. If

tied, the game point is held in abeyance and goes to the winners of

the next deal. Play up to 7 game points. (There are versions for two

or three players.) [Troeven from: Harry Tiggelovend, The Playing

Card (XXIV, 6); Couil on from Daynes, Le Livre de la Belote (Paris

1996).]

Pitch(Auction Pitch, Setback)

2-7 players (4 best), 52 cards

Pitch is a variety of Al Fours characterized by the fact that, instead

of turning a card for trump, that suit is fixed by whoever bids to

win a minimum number of the points available. Furthermore, the

trump suit is not announced verbal y, but is indicated by ‘pitching’

– that is, leading a card of that suit to the first trick.

Preliminaries From two to seven play with a 52-card pack ranking

AKQJT98765432.

Deal Deal six each in batches of three and stack the rest, face down,

out of play.

Object Up to four points are played for in each deal, one each for

high, low, Jack and game (see Al Fours).

Bidding Each in turn bids to win from 1 to 4 of the points available,

without naming a trump (yet). Each bid must be higher than the

last. No one may bid more than once.

Dealer’s right An optional but common rule permits the dealer to

take the previous bid over at the same level. For example, if the

bidding goes ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’, the dealer may also bid ‘three’. But

if the first three pass, dealer is obliged to bid at least one.

Play The highest bidder declares trumps by ‘pitching’ one of them

as the lead to the first trick. Players may freely fol ow suit or trump,

but may renounce only if unable to fol ow suit. The trick is taken

by the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any

are played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

Score The points for high, low, Jack, and the game go to whoever

earns each of them, except that there is no point for game if two

players tie for counters. If the pitcher fails to make what he bid, he

is set back by the amount of his bid, which can result in a minus

score.

Game The game is won by the first player or side to reach an

agreed target (e.g. 7, 11, or 21 points, depending on the number of

optional scoring features included). If two players reach the target

in the same deal, the pitcher wins; or, if neither is the pitcher, the

winner is the one who reached it first, counting strictly in order the

points for high, low, Jack, and the game. Anyone with zero or a

minus score pays a double stake.

Sample deal

North bids two, hoping to win for ‘high’ and ‘game’. East bids three

for the same reasons plus the hope of either winning ‘low’ with his

Three or, more desperately, catching the Jack if it is in play. South

and West pass. East pitches the Ace, making spades trump.