The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (27 page)

the Cards…

Anon., The Game of Quadril e (1726)

This four-handed adaptation of Ombre originated in France and

spread to other countries in various forms, giving rise to related

games with dif erent names. In England it was regarded as a ladies’

game as opposed to the relatively spartan rigours of partnership

Whist. Whist eventual y won out, partly by virtue of its formal

simplicity and universal standardization, but probably more on

patriotic grounds. Quadril e remained, by any standard of

judgement, one of the great European games of the eighteenth

century, but by the start of the nineteenth was rapidly declining in

favour of Boston, its own relatively simplified descendant.

Preliminaries Four players use a 40-card pack consisting of

AKQJ765432 in each suit. Each player starts with at least 40 chips

or counters. A game is any number of deals divisible by four. Deal,

bid and play to the right. Before each deal, each player stakes one

chip to the pot. (Or the dealer stakes four, if preferred.) Deal ten

each in batches of 4-3-3, 3-4-3, or 3-3-4.

Rank of cards The rank of cards varies with the colour of each suit

and whether it is plain or trump. Cards run, from highest to lowest:

black suits (plain)

K Q J 7 6 5 4 3 2

black trumps

A +2 A K Q J 7 6 5 4 3

red suits (plain)

K Q J A 2 3 4 5 6 7

red trumps

A +7 A A K Q J 2 3 4 5 6

Matadors The top three trumps are cal ed Spadil e ( A), Manil e

(the nominal y lowest trump), and Basta ( A). They are

col ectively cal ed matadors and have special powers. In a red

trump suit the fourth highest is its Ace, cal ed Punto, but it is not a

matador.

Auction Eldest, the player at the dealer’s right, speaks first, and each

in turn may pass, make an opening bid, or overcal a previous bid.

A player who passes may not bid later. The bids are:

1. Al iance. Announced as ‘I beg’ or ‘Propose’, this bids to win at

least six tricks after naming trumps and cal ing as partner the

holder of a specific King.

2. Solo. To win at least six tricks after naming trumps and

playing alone against the other three.

3. The vole (slam). To win al ten tricks after naming trumps

and playing alone against the other three.

If a proposal is not overcal ed, Hombre (the declarer) names

trumps and nominates the King of any non-trump suit lacking from

his own hand. If he holds al three, he cal s a Queen instead. The

holder of the cal ed card automatical y becomes the other partner,

but says nothing. The partnership may be revealed only when the

cal ed card is played to a trick, or when its holder makes some

other play that obviously favours the cal er.

If al four pass, the game is forced Spadil e. Whoever holds A

must play an al iance by cal ing a King, or Queen if necessary. In

this case, however, he may (but need not) invite his partner to

name trumps.

A Sources do not remark on the conflict of this rule with that forbidding

partner’s self-declaration. But it is a nice point – perhaps intentional – that the caller should either name trumps, or know his partner immediately, but not both.

Play Eldest leads first. Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

may play any card. 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.

Reneging A player holding a matador need not play it to a trump

Reneging A player holding a matador need not play it to a trump

lead, but may, if lacking lower trumps, instead renege by playing

from another suit. However, if a higher matador is led, a player

with a lower matador may not renege but must play either it or

another trump.

Premiers and the vole If Hombre in a solo bid wins the first six

tricks straight of , he gains a bonus for premiers, and wins without

further play. If, however, he leads to the seventh trick, this

automatical y raises his bid to the vole. If unsuccessful, it reduces

but does not entirely cancel his basic win. In an al iance, the same

rule applies to the partnership if they take the first six between

them, and they must (obviously) discuss whether or not to lead to

the seventh.

Set lements if contract won For a successful solo, Hombre wins the

stake. If, in addition, any of the fol owing bonuses apply, they are

paid to him by each opponent. A unit means one quarter of the

current stake. The stake may be greater than four chips, as it is

carried forward when a game is lost.

Hombre held three matadors

1 unit

Hombre held all three and Punto 2 units

Hombre won premiers

1 unit

(Punto, or Ace, only applies when a red suit is trump.)

Set lements for the vole vary enormously. The fol owing is

suggested. Having won the game and premiers, and gone for the

vole, Hombre receives an additional 2 units from each opponent if

successful, otherwise he pays 2 units to each for the loss.

In an al iance or forced Spadil e, the stake is divided between the

al ies, and each opponent pays each partner any of the relevant

bonuses listed above. In this case ‘matadors held’ means ‘held

between the al ies’, not necessarily in one hand.

Set lements if contract lost If Hombre wins only five tricks, the loss

Set lements if contract lost If Hombre wins only five tricks, the loss

is cal ed a remise; if four or fewer, it is a codil e, and the same

applies to an al iance.

For a remise, Hombre doubles the stake – which is carried

forward to the next deal – and, if applicable, pays the opposing

side for any matadors held by the contracting side.

Given codil e, the stake is won by and divided between the two

or three opponents of the contracting side (unless there are three

and the stake is not exactly divisible). Hombre also puts up double

the stake to be carried forward to the next deal.

In an ordinary al iance, the loss is borne entirely by the player

who cal ed a partner, as the lat er had no say in joining the

partnership. In forced Spadil e, however, it is shared, as both

played on equal y involuntary terms.

Point-score The fol owing is a suggestion. Points for matadors are

ignored. If Hombre has an al y, the appropriate winning score is

credited to each, but a losing score is deducted only from the al y’s

in a forced Spadil e:

Forced Alliance Solo

Won

3

5 10

Won with premiers 6

10 20

won with vole won 12

20 40

Won with vole lost 1

2 5

Lost remise

-6

-10 -20

Lost codille

-12

-20 -40

If a game is lost, whether by remise or codil e, the fol owing

game is won or lost double. If two are lost in succession, the next is

trebled in value; if three, the next quadrupled; and so on, until a

game is won, when the next counts singly again.

Optional extras Countless non-standard variations were played on

this basic theme. The commonest, cal ed Preference, establishes a

preferred trump suit, typical y that entrumped in the first deal,

which subsequently overcal s a bid at the same level in a dif erent

which subsequently overcal s a bid at the same level in a dif erent

suit, and wins or loses double.

One comprehensive list of additional bids (in ‘Q. Quanti’,

Quadril e Elucidated, 1822), runs:

1. Forced Spadil e

2. Al iance

3. Mediateur, or Dimidiator. Soloist plays after cal ing for a King

(or Queen if four held) and taking it into his own hand in