| Product: |
Piquet |
| Date: |
08/08/02 (470 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Tremendous fun, none of that messing about with partnerships!, sense of tradition
Disadvantages: Needs some time to play, not the easiest to pick up
Right, before we even start I'm going to bite the hand that feeds me by telling you that Dooyoo's intro to this category is utter rubbish. The link www.piquet.org refers to a wargame that has nothing at all to do with the card game I'm describing here - see the end of this op for some more relevant references. Oh, and the modern game of Piquet uses 32 cards, not 36 (no sixes!) - although some of the earliest forms did use 36 cards, they're completely obsolete now. Right, having got that off my chest, let's get on with it.
Piquet (sometimes, though increasingly rarely, pronounced "Picket" in English) is perhaps not the best known of two-player card games - indeed, many would consider that its neglect is bordering on the scandalous - but those who do make the effort to learn it will quickly come to understand why many judges consider it the greatest of all two-handers. Indeed, that doyen of card games, David Parlett, calls Piquet "richly varied, unfailingly exciting and demanding of the highest skills". As with my cribbage op, this piece reflects the rules I use: as with most card games, there are many slight variations.
The history of Piquet is an interesting, and somewhat disputed, one. French folklore attributes is invention to one of Charles VII's chevaliers, one Stephen de Vignoles, and Rabelais in the early 1500s referred in "Gargantua" to a game which may have been Piquet, though the evidence is not strong enough to say so conclusively. What is certain is that from the 17th century to around the time of World War One, Piquet enjoyed periodic episodes of exceptional popularity, rivalling even Whist. It has remained throughout a European game, however - as Parlett says, "American ignorance of the game is and always has been total".
The game is played with a *32*-card pack (again, whatever the Dooyoo intro might say, sixes are out!), retaining values from sevens through to a
ces in conventional order of priority (ie AKQJT987). If you can find one, there are dedicated Piquet scoring boards, but a cribbage board will do equally well. Failing that, there's always the good old pencil and paper - be thankful even for that, as traditionally scoring was done entirely verbally! The game consists of a "partie" of six hands (three dealt by each player), and - startlingly enough - the player with the higher score at the end wins!
THE DEAL
=========
The initial dealer - known as Younger (think of her as "Yvonne" if you like), non-dealer being called Elder (or "Egbert") - is decided by cutting the pack. She then deals 12 cards to each player, in batches of two or three each, placing the remaining eight cards, known as the "talon", face down in the centre of the table. Both players then look at their cards, and if either has been dealt a hand with no court cards at all (an unusual happening), they should at once claim 10 points for "carte blanche", which must be proven by laying the cards face up on the table after the discards (see later). In fact, there are slightly different rules for Elder and Younger in this (for example Younger exchanges first), but let's not get too bogged down in fine detail here - I'll give references for more detailed rules at the end.
THE DISCARDS
=============
This is more properly known as "the exchange". The purpose is for the player to improve his hand in two ways: firstly, to do better in the trick play; and secondly, to improve their scoring in the declarations. Elder (non-dealer, remember) gets first go, and may change between one and five cards (not zero), placing them face down on the table and taking a like number from the top of the talon. If fewer than five cards are exchanged, Elder is entitled to look at any cards he was entitled to but did not take - ie, if he exchanged three cards then he can
look at the next two. Then, Younger can do her exchange - she may change between one and however many are left (again, not zero). There may well be cards left, but Younger may not, *at this point*, look at them.
THE DECLARATIONS
================
This is where most of the scoring is done, though traditionally scores are not actually recorded until the start of the trick play. Aside from the carte blanche mentioned earlier, there are three ways to score, which are "point" (number of cards in any particular suit), "sequence" (consecutive cards within a suit) and "set" (three or four cards of the same value, Tens or above). In each case, Elder announces his score first (eg "point of five", meaning five cards in his best suit), then Younger replies in one of three ways:
"Good" - she cannot beat Elder's score, so Elder gets the points.
"Not good" - Younger's score is better, and she gets the points.
"Equal" or "How high?" - Younger has an equal score. In this case, a "tie-breaker" comes into effect - with "point", this is decided by the total "pip count" of the players' cards (court cards scoring 10; Aces 11); with "sequence" by the highest card in the sequence; and with "set", by the value of the highest set. (Some variants demand the declaring of the value of the set from the start, so this wouldn't apply here.)
Scoring for these three sections is as follows:
Point: one point for each card in the winner's suit.
Sequence: 3 or 4 points for a winning sequence of that length; 15 to 18 for 5 to 8-card runs respectively. As you can see, it's well worth trying to bump a 4-card run up to 5 on the exchange, but beyond that psychological value is more important than actual scoring.
Set: 3 points for a "trio" (three cards at one value); 14 for a
"quatorze" (four cards at one value). One quatorze outranks any number of trios. Remember that 9s, 8s and 7s are not eligible for this.
SINKING
=======
This is quite an advanced tactic, but one which I strongly encourage you to allow, as it greatly increases the fun. To gain an advantage in the trick play that follows the declarations, a player may "under-declare" a score - for example, say "one trio" when in fact they have a quatorze; or a sequence of six when in fact they have eight. Another good reason for doing this is that the makeup of any scoring combination declared must be disclosed to your opponent should they request it. For example, if Elder says "one quatorze", and Younger asks "how high", Elder is required to tell her which value it is. If, however, Elder has "sunk" and declared only "one trio", Younger will infer something different from her question's answer.
TRICK PLAY
==========
Elder always has the lead, and together with his advantages in both the exchange and the declarations, this gives him a sizeable benefit in terms of deducing his opponent's hand (hence the alternation of deals within a partie). That being so, it's reasonable for him to play a more attacking trick game than Younger, who will need to be rather more careful with her decisions.
Before any tricks are played, Elder (only) scores for any winning points, sequences or sets. This done, Elder leads to the first trick, and scores "one for leading". As Parlett says, "there is no reason for this: it is just a rule of the game".
*Before* Younger replies to Elder's lead, she can choose whether to look at the remaining cards in the talon. If she does so, she must reveal them to Elder as well: if she does not, they remain face down for the rest of the hand. Then, and only then, can she score for her own declarations.
We're
still not ready for Younger to reply to Elder's lead, though. If either player has reached a score of 30 on combinations alone before the other has made anything (not counting Elder's 1 for leading), then they add 60 to their score for "repique". Also, if Elder (and only Elder) reaches a score of 30, including trick scoring, before Younger has got off the mark, he gets an additional 30 for "pique". These two rules serve only to penalise players heavily for failing to score, and in a friendly game are often not used.
Off we go with the trick play then, and it will probably come as quite a relief to many of you that this part of the game is very simple. There are no trumps, and the two-player nature of the game removes the possibility of the ridiculous "coded messages" that have made bridge almost unplayable for the casual player. Suit must be followed if possible, but it is not obligatory to win - it is quite all right to play the eight of hearts to a Jack lead, even if you hold the King. One point is scored for winning a trick to which you led; two points for winning on the follow. Won tricks should be left *face up* on the table, where either player may refer to them at any time.
CARD SCORING
============
When all 12 tricks have been played, the player who has taken more receives a 10-point bonus "for the cards". Any player taking all 12 tricks (which is rather uncommon, gets a further 30 (making 40 in all) for "capot". Should both players take six tricks, no bonuses are awarded. This is the end of the hand, and the next deal is undertaken by Elder (who thus becomes Younger).
FINAL SCORING
==============
As I said at the beginning, a "partie" consists of six hands, players taking turns at being Elder. When six hands are up, the player with the larger score wins the game. This is perhaps the simplest rule in Piquet, and personally I tend to use this straig
htforward method. However, traditionally a more complex method of scoring is used, as follows:
If the loser has scored 100 points or more, then the winner scores 100 *plus* the difference between the two totals (ie, a win by 190 points to 160 would score 100 + (190-160) = 130). A loser failing to reach 100 is said to be "rubiconed", and the winner scores 100 plus the *sum* of the two totals (eg a win by 130 to 90 would score 100 + 130 + 90 = 320! Incidentally, only the loser is penalised in this way - if the winner has also scored under 100, that doesn't prevent a win via rubicon rules.
The rubicon rules seem to me to be excessively fierce, and more suitable for a gambling competition, so I never play them.
GENERAL NOTES
=============
If a tie results from a partie, two more hands are played. If the score is still tied, the game is considered a draw.
If a player leads to a trick when the other should do, their opponent should ask them to take it back (no penalty is awarded). However, if said opponent unthinkingly follows to the "invalid" trick, it becomes valid, and the hand proceeds as normal.
If a player revokes (ie fails to follow suit when able), the only penalty is to replay the trick - the score is unaffected.
If a player when about to lead to a trick holds an unbeatable series (eg AKQJ), then they may be played in one go, and the following player can play whatever (valid) cards they like in response. However, if a claim is made to win all remaining tricks is wrong, the opponent gets the lot!
A player may abandon trick play at any time by throwing in their hand, but this is an irrevocable step.
Any player holding more than 12 cards in a hand cannot score for the whole of that deal. However, if pique and repique are being played, any "good" combinations held by the infringer prevent those penalties applying, and any trick taken prevents the "ca
pot".
CONCLUSIONS
===========
The description I've given here may seem rather complicated, and indeed it's fair to say that Piquet does demand a reasonable amount of practice to achieve proficiency. However, if you're willing to put in the time and effort required, Piquet will quickly become one of your favourite two-handed card games - only cribbage and, to a lesser extent, Bezique rival it in my view. Just make sure you have big enough hands to hold twelve cards at a time - when I was little I had to retreat behind the sofa and lay them out on the floor!
REFERENCES
==========
You'll notice that I've quoted David Parlett several times in this piece, and any book written by him is likely to give an excellent description of the game, with considerably more detail than I've given here. Two in particular that I recommend - rather old, though still very handy, are:
The Penguin Book of Card Games (Penguin, 1979)
ISBN 0-14-046344-5
Teach Yourself Card Games For Two (Hodder & Stoughton, 1978)
ISBN 0-340-23485-7
The latter is particularly useful for its detailed analysis of an entire sample partie.
The best web page on Piquet is probably that which is part of the excellent pagat.com Card Games site. Here's the link to the Piquet page:
http://www.pagat.com/notrump/piquet.html
There's only one PC version of Piquet that I know of - part of the shareware (US$14.00 if purchases as a download) "Card Parade" pack, which also includes Bezique, Tertz, Debertz and Thousand:
http://www.wutich.mk.ua/cardparade
The English translation (from Russian) isn't all that good, and the display is rather garish, but it seems to be your only choice.
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aefra - 16/08/02 I have heard of this, but sounds like a game for the expert. I am not. :-) |
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