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Piquet
 Piquet (/pɪˈkɛt/; French pronunciation: [pikɛ]) is an early 16th-century plain-trick card game for two players that became France's national game.[1] David Parlett calls it a "classic game of relatively great antiquity... still one of the most skill-rewarding card games for two" but one which is now only played by "aficionados and connoisseurs."[2] Historically also known as Sant or Saunt from the French Cent. HistoryPiquet is one of the oldest card games still being played.[2] It is first mentioned, as Le Cent, in a written reference dating to 1535, in Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais.[3] Although legend attributes the game's creation to Stephen de Vignolles, also known as La Hire, a knight in the service of Charles VII during the Hundred Years' War, it may possibly have come into France from Spain because the words "pique" and "repique", the main features of the game, are of Spanish origin. The earliest clear mention of the game – leaving aside various predecessors – is in 1585 by Jacques Perrache, described as a "Provençal gentleman",[4] who refers to two unusual games, "premieres, & piquets".[5][1] The game was introduced in Germany during the Thirty Years' War, and texts of that period provide substantial evidence of its vogue, like the metaphorical use of the word "repique" in the 1634–8 political poem Allamodisch Picket Spiel ("Piquet Game à la mode"), which reflects the growing popularity of the game at that time. As with other games like Bête, the substantive form of the word "piquet" was turned into a verb and this is used substantially by Rist's 1640 Spiele, die man Picquetten heißet,[6] who gives the word his grudging assent. Historical sources also distinguish between Rummel-Piquet, the normal game in which Rummel referred to the feature of point, and Offenherziges Piquet (lit.: "Open-hearted Piquet"), which was played ouverte.[7] Mizka states that the former was known as Ronfelspiel (French: Ronfler) until 1664.[8] Until the early twentieth century, piquet was perhaps the most popular card game in France, occupying a similar position to cribbage in England. It first became popular in England after the marriage of Mary I of England to Philip II of Spain in 1554.[2] During this period the game was known as cent, after the Spanish game cientos, referring to the fact that one of the chief goals of piquet is to reach 100 points. Following the marriage of King Charles I of England to Henrietta Maria of France in 1625, the British adopted the French name for the game.[2] It went in and out of fashion among the upper classes in Britain between the 17th and early 20th centuries, its demise from the end of the First World War being put down to the rise of Gin Rummy "and other lowbrow games that are easier to learn and faster to play."[2] Rules Piquet is played with a 32-card pack, normally referred to as a piquet pack or piquet deck. The pack comprises the 7s through to 10s, the face cards, and the aces in each suit, and can be created by removing all 2–6 values from a 52-card poker pack. Each game consists of a partie of six deals (partie meaning match in French). The player scoring the most points wins (see the scoring section for further details). CardsIn Piquet cards rank as follows (from highest to lowest) :
CutThe player who cuts the higher card has to deal, and the dealer has the choice of cards at the commencement of each partie.[9]: 1 A partie consists of six deals.[9]: 14 The players deal alternately[9]: 3 for each hand in the partie. It is preferable to deal first so as not to deal the last hand. Dealing puts a player at a disadvantage. DealTwelve cards are dealt to each player, with the remaining eight forming the talon, which is placed face-down between the players. The talon may be split by the dealer into two piles of five and three cards, respectively. The dealer is referred to as the younger hand and the non-dealer as the elder hand. Exchanging cardsThe goal of exchanging cards is to improve one's hand before the declaration and the play. The elder hand exchanges first. This is done by taking one to five cards from the hand and placing them face down. An equal number is then drawn from the talon. At least one card must be exchanged. The player must state how many cards he intends to exchange if fewer than the maximum. If the elder chooses to take fewer than the maximum, he may then look at the remainder from the five (which are the first ones that the younger will take). The younger hand exchanges next. Again, at least one card must be exchanged. The younger may also exchange up to five cards, depending on how many the elder exchanged. If the elder exchanged all five, then the younger may only exchange up to the three remaining in the talon. Carte blancheAfter the deal, players sort their cards in their hands. A player with no court cards (J, Q, K) may declare "carte blanche," which is worth 10 points. Carte blanche should be declared immediately. Either player declaring carte blanche must show their hand to the other. However, to preserve fairness, a formal protocol should be followed: Elder has carte blanche
Younger has carte blanche
A hand of this type is fairly rare, appearing roughly once every 1,800 hands. Although it often scores poorly, it is usually advantageous to declare it to prevent the opponent from scoring pique or repique, despite the tactical disadvantage of giving information to the opponent. Note: It is impossible for both players to hold carte blanche, so it will never happen that both players declare carte blanche. (There are 12 face cards in the pack (J,Q,K x 4). There are only 8 cards in the talon, so at least one player's hand must hold some face cards.) Declaration phaseIn the declaration phase, the players ascertain who has the better hand in each of three categories: point, sequence, and set. This is done in an oblique sort of way that leads to some of the intrigue of piquet. Elder hand declares first always, with younger responding. In each part of the declaration, the younger hand may choose to contest the elder's claim. By doing so, the younger may reveal information that would be useful during the trick-taking phase, called the play. Likewise, the elder may choose not to reveal information in one or more parts of the declaration. PointIf the elder has at least four cards in a suit, he may make a declaration: for example, "Point of four". The younger would then respond indicating that he has more, fewer, or the same number of cards in a suit. This is done by saying "Good" (the elder has more and wins the point), "Not good" (the elder has fewer), or "Making?" or "How many?", indicating that the younger has the same number of cards in a suit, which requires clarification. If both players have the same number of cards in a suit, then they must tally the value of the cards. The values of the cards are as follows: ace = 11, face cards = 10, and face value for the rest. After adding the values of the cards, the elder calls out the number. The younger may then say "Good", if the elder's value is greater, or "Not good" and the number that wins the point. For example: "Not good: 39" or "Not good, I have 39". If the values are the same, younger says "Equal". The player with the better point scores the number of cards in the suit, not their value. If the values are the same, neither player scores. Note that younger does not actually score for any declarations until elder has led to the first trick in the play (see below). SequenceThe next part of the declaration is the sequence, in which the longest consecutive run of cards is valued. A sequence must have at least three cards and they must all be in the same suit. Again, the elder hand starts. For example, "Run of three" or "Sequence of four". The younger than responds with "Good" or "Not good", in the same way as before, or by contesting. To contest, the younger says "How high?", to which the elder responds with the highest card in the sequence. For example, "To the queen". Younger replies with "Good", "Not good" or "Equal". In keeping with the game's ancestry, one may utilize the historical names for sequences in this part of the declaration, instead of the prosaic "Run of three", for example. The following are the proper names and their associated values; those from 6 up are obsolete in English:
The person winning the sequence may declare any additional sequences that he has, if desired. If both players' best sequences are equal then neither player may score for any sequences. SetA set is three or four of a kind, ten or greater (7s, 8s, and 9s don't count, and aces are highest). Sets of three are called trios or brelans and are worth 3 points, and sets of four, quatorzes ("cat-orz"), are worth 14 points. The declarations take place in the same manner as "point" and "sequence", with elder stating his best set (for example, "Three kings"), to which younger replies "Good" or "Not good". The player with the best set may declare any additional sets that he has if desired. Carte rougeA variation is sometimes played in which 20 points are received if every card in a player's hand is used at some point while making up one or more "good" declarations, carte blanche excluded. The points are scored at the time this occurs and are not subject to the order of point counting, below. The following example should illustrate one way carte rouge may apply during a hand. Six cards were good in points, and the other six were good in sequences. The 20 points would then be awarded at that stage of the counting towards a repique. Pique and repiqueIf a player scores 30 points during the declaration phase prior to his opponent scoring anything, that player gains a repique, which is worth an additional 60 points. If elder scores 30 points in declarations and play combined, before younger scores any points, then elder gains a pique and scores an additional 30 points. A player can only score either repique or pique, not both. All declaration scoring must be evaluated in the following order, after the play of the first card by elder:
If a player were to score more than 30 points in points and sequences before the other might score in sets, then the player would receive a repique. For example: elder has a quatorze of aces for 14 points; younger has a point of 7 and two quints for a total of 37 points. According to the order of scoring, above, younger would receive the repique bonus. Note that younger can never gain a pique because elder always scores one point for leading to the first trick (see below). By the end of the declaration, each player will have a pretty good idea of the other's hand (to the degree that each chooses to claim their points). Additionally, should elder achieve "cards"—more than 6 tricks—prior to younger winning any tricks, then the 10 points for "cards" may immediately be applied to a pique. If elder subsequently wins all the tricks, elder only receives the remaining 30 of the 40 points awarded for capot. The capot does not count towards a pique. Equality has no effect on pique or repique. Carte rouge is applied as soon as it occurs, and is not subject to the ordering, above; however, a common variation is that a "pique" or "repique" cannot be scored as the result of a "Carte Rouge" by the younger hand, once elder has played a first card. PlayThe play is the trick-taking part of the game. Players must follow suits with the elder hand placing a card face up and scoring one point. The younger than scores for their declarations and plays a card that follows suit, if possible. If not, he may discard anything he chooses. The winner of the trick (the player with the highest card in the suit led), takes the trick, placing it face-down (usually; see variations) in front of themself. The winner of the trick leads the next. When forced to discard, it is important to choose the right card. See tactics. The score is usually kept verbally as play progresses. Trick score counts as follows:
CardsThe player with the greater number of tricks won at the end of play scores 10 for cards. If there is a tie, then neither player scores the additional points. CapotIf all 12 tricks are won by one player, that player scores 40 points for capot ("capot" is the origin of the word kaput). Scoring
E.g. 105 to 101 = 4 + 100 = 104 to the winner; 97 to 89 = 97 + 89 + 100 = 286 to the winner
Variations
TacticsPlayers discard low cards (nine or lower) even if this means getting rid of four or more of one suit. This diminishes the chances of winning the point round, but this round is the lowest scoring one. Getting rid of these lower cards to get straights of five or more is very beneficial and will increase one's score greatly. Players may attempt to hold "stop" cards (usually queens or kings in their opponent's strong suit) for the last stage of play, in order to block their opponent's run of tricks with their long sequences. Background
In The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims author Andrew Steinmetz (1816–1877) describes how the game is played:
He also describes a "card telegraphy" signalling system used by cheaters. The 32 cards used in the game can be described using a combination of twelve signals—eight for the value of the card and four for its color. Steinmetz lists some signals and their meaning:[10]
Should a cheater wish to announce the knave and ace of hearts, he would glance at the stake and then to the opposite side, whilst keeping his mouth slightly open. Steinmetz adds:
See alsoReferences
Bibliography
External links
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