David Parlett - The Penguin Book of Card Games

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS
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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 publishers 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

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 societys 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 communitys personality. The exploration of card games has become a particular pursuit of the International Playing-Card Society, founded in the late 1960s originally as a forum for playing-card collectors. Many field researchers are members of the Society, and report their findings in its bi-monthly Journal, now known as The Playing-Card .

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, , 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 . Other useful sites include my historic card games pages , and that of Roderick Somerville, , for the purchase of national, regional and other specialist playing-cards. 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 . 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 experts 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.