In some cases several decks are shuffled together to form a single pack or shoe.
The composition of a deck is known to each player. The faces of the cards may all be unique, or there can be duplicates. Normally the backs of the cards are indistinguishable. Each card has two sides, the face and the back. Mamluk playing card (king of cups), c.15th centuryĪ card game is played with a deck or pack of playing cards which are identical in size and shape. 1400 AD, Ming Dynasty File:Mamluk playing card 7.jpg Playing cards Main article: Playing card File:Ming Dynasty playing card, c. The distinction is that the gameplay of a card game primarily depends on the use of the cards by players (the board is simply a guide for scorekeeping or for card placement), while board games (the principal non-card game genre to use cards) generally focus on the players' positions on the board, and use the cards for some secondary purpose. Similarly, some games that are placed in the card game genre involve a board. Many games that are not generally placed in the family of card games do in fact use cards for some aspect of their gameplay. A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules, but most are folk games whose rules vary by region, culture, and person. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). The Card Players, 17th century painting by Theodoor Rombouts File:15thCenturySpanishCardDeck.jpgĪ card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. The winner of each trick leads next.Įach odd trick (a trick in excess of six) counts one point for the side winning it.File:Theodoor Rombouts - Joueurs de cartes.jpg Any trick not containing a trump is won by the person who played the highest card of the suit led. Four cards played (including the card led) constitute a trick.Ī trick is won by the person who played the highest trump. If he cannot follow suit, a player may play any card. Each player in turn plays a card, following suit if possible. The player on the dealer's left leads first and may play any card. The turn to play is in clockwise rotation. The partnership with the most points at the end of play wins the game. When it is the dealer's turn to play to the first trick, he picks up the trump card and it becomes part of the dealer's hand.Įach of the partnerships tries to score points by taking any trick in excess of six. The dealer places the last card of the pack face up on the table before him, and every card of its suit becomes a trump. The dealer gives each player one card at a time, face down, beginning with the player on his left, until he comes to the last card. (In drawing for partners and deal, however, ace is low.) While one pack is being dealt, the other can be shuffled for the next deal.Ī (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
As in many bridge games, two packs of cards of contrasting back design are recommended. So, now that you have the basics, why not learn to play and start up a whist drive yourself!įour people can play in partnerships of two against two. Whist continues to be played in Great Britain, often in local tournaments called whist drives. While bridge was played with increasing popularity into the 20th century, whist fell out of favor in the United States, although the variant bid whist is still somewhat popular. The name for bridge actually came from Russian whist, which was called biritch (pronounced ber-rich) and then was adapted by English speakers to the closest-sounding English word-bridge. Its name comes from the obsolete adjective “whist” (a root of the word “wistful”) meaning quiet, silent, and/or attentive, which is exactly the way the game is to be played.īy the early 20th century, bridge, which shares many elements with whist, began to replace whist as the most popular card game. Whist is an English trick-taking card game which grew out of the earlier game ruff and honours.