 A marjolet when Diamonds are trumps | |
| Origin | France |
|---|---|
| Type | Trick-taking |
| Players | 2 |
| Cards | 32 |
| Deck | Piquet |
| Rank (high→low) | A 10 K Q J 9 8 7 |
| Related games | |
| Bezique • Binokel • Pinochle | |
Marjolet (French pronunciation: [maʁʒɔlɛ] ) is a French 6-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack. It is of the Queen-Jack type, and thus a relative of Bezique and Pinochle, albeit simpler. The trump Jack is called the Marjolet from which the name of the game derives.
The game is an offshoot of Bezique which appeared in Paris in 1847 as a "new game". Marjolet itself is first recorded as a game in 1878, but the term is older and meant "a young beau; a foppish youth." [1] [2]
Each player receives 6 cards in batches of 2 or 3. The next card is turned face-up to determine the trump suit and put crosswise under the stock. If it happens to be a seven, the dealer scores 10 points. [3] [4]
Eldest hand leads to the first trick. While the stock contains cards, players can play any card they want. Once the stock is depleted they must follow suit, if possible, and win the trick, if possible. A player who cannot follow suit after the stock is depleted must trump if possible. While the stock lasts, the winner of a trick, followed by the other player, takes a card from the stock before leading to the next trick. [3] [4]
Upon winning a trick and before drawing a card, a player may declare one or more melds. Cards used for melding are displayed openly on the table but can still be used as hand cards and can be used for further melds. The only restriction is that one may not meld exactly the same set of cards more than once. Apart from royal marriages, there are also the marjolet marriages involving the marjolet (jack of trumps) and any queen. [3] [4]
The player who holds the seven of trumps (the dix) may trade it for the turn-up card, prior to the exhaustion of the stock, only after winning a trick. Doing this is worth 10 points. If there is no exchange, playing the dix to a trick scores 10 points. If the initial upcard happens to be the dix, the dealer scores 10 points.
The player who loses the tenth trick, exhausting the stock and drawing the turned up trump, scores 10 points. [3] [5] At that point melding is over. Both players take up their melded cards and hold them normally. The winner of the final trick of the hand also scores 10 points, unless that player wins all six tricks after the exhaustion of the stock, in which case 60 points are scored. [3] [4]
To the various bonus points accrued so far, the card-points in tricks won are added: each ace and each 10 taken in a trick is worth 10 points, with other taken cards having no value. The objective is to score 500 points over several hands. [3] [4]
The various melds and their scores are as shown in the table below:
| Score | Meld | Score | Meld |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 4 Aces | 40 | K+Q in trumps |
| 80 | 4 Tens | 20 | K+Q in other suit |
| 60 | 4 Kings | 40 | J+Q in trumps |
| 40 | 4 Queens | 20 | trump J + other Q |
The term 'marjolet' is one of contempt, popularly said of a little young man who pretends to be a gentleman, or one who pretends to be an expert on anything. [7]
Pinochle, also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking ace–ten card game, typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by forming combinations of characters into melds. It is thus considered part of a "trick-and-meld" category which also includes the game belote. Each hand is played in three phases: bidding, melds, and tricks. The standard game today is called "partnership auction pinochle".
A trick-taking game is a card- or tile-based game in which play of a hand centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called tricks, which are each evaluated to determine a winner or taker of that trick. The object of such games then may be closely tied to the number of tricks taken, as in plain-trick games such as contract bridge, whist, and spades, or to the value of the cards contained in taken tricks, as in point-trick games such as pinochle, the tarot family, briscola, and most evasion games like hearts.
All fours is a traditional English card game, once popular in pubs and taverns as well as among the gentry, that flourished as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century. It is a trick-taking card game that was originally designed for two players, but developed variants for more players. According to Charles Cotton, the game originated in Kent, but spread to the whole of England and eventually abroad. It is the eponymous and earliest recorded game of a family that flourished most in 19th century North America and whose progeny include pitch, pedro and cinch, games that even competed with poker and euchre. Nowadays the original game is especially popular in Trinidad and Tobago, but regional variants have also survived in England. The game's "great mark of distinction" is that it gave the name 'jack' to the card previously known as the knave.
Bezique or bésigue is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players, which was imported to Britain and is still played today. The game is derived from piquet, possibly via marriage (sixty-six) and briscan, with additional scoring features, notably the peculiar liaison of the and that is also a feature of pinochle, Binokel, and similarly named games that vary by country.
Marjapussi is a traditional Finnish trick taking game for 4 players playing in 2 partnerships and is one of the Mariage family, its key feature being that the trump suit is determined in the middle of the play by declaring a marriage. There are variants of marjapussi for two and three players.
Sixty-six or 66, sometimes known as Paderbörnern, is a fast 5- or 6-card point-trick game of the marriage type for 2–4 players, played with 24 cards. It is an ace–ten game where aces are high and tens rank second. It has been described as "one of the best two-handers ever devised".
Jass is a family of trick taking, ace–ten card games and, in its key forms, a distinctive branch of the marriage family. It is popular in its native Switzerland as well as the rest of the Alemannic German-speaking area of Europe, Italian South Tyrol and in a few places in Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Oregon and Washington USA.
Brisca is a popular Spanish card game played by two teams of two with a 40-card Spanish-suited pack or two teams of three using a 48-card pack.
Klaverjas or Klaverjassen is a Dutch four-player trick-taking card game that uses a Piquet pack of 32 playing cards. It is closely related to the game of Klaberjass and is one of the most popular card games in the Netherlands, traditionally played in cafes and social clubs. It offers a considerable level of complexity and depth. It has numerous variants, but its basic rules are universal.
Smear is a North-American trick-taking card game of the all fours group, and a variant of pitch (setback). Several slightly different versions are played in Michigan, Minnesota, Northern and Central Iowa, Wisconsin and also in Ontario, Canada.
Klaberjass or Bela is a trick-taking ace–ten card game that is most popular in German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack.
Mariage or Mariagenspiel is a German 6-card trick-and-draw game for two players in which players score bonus points for the "marriage" of king and queen of the same suit. The game, first documented in 1715 in Leipzig, spawned numerous offshoots throughout continental Europe and gives its name to the marriage group of card games, the widest known of which is probably sixty-six. Many of these are still the national card games of their respective countries.
Jack–nine card games, also known as the Jass group from the German term for the jack, form a family of trick-taking games in which the jack and nine of the trump suit are the highest-ranking trumps, and the tens and aces of all suits are the next most valuable cards. Games in this family are typically played by 2 or 4 players with 32 French-suited cards.
The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific, but apply to a wide range of card games played with non-proprietary packs. It should not include terms solely related to casino or banking games. For glossaries that relate primarily to one game or family of similar games, see Game-specific glossaries.
Elfern or Elfmandeln, is a very old, German and Austrian 6-card, no-trump, trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card, French-suited Piquet pack or German-suited Skat pack. The object is to win the majority of the 20 honours: the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten in a Piquet pack or the Ace, King, Ober, Unter and Ten in a Skat pack. Elfern is at least 250 years old and a possible ancestor to the Marriage family of card games, yet it is still played by German children.
Triomphe, once known as French ruff, is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared a similar name with the pre-existing game and deck known as trionfi; probably resulting in the latter becoming renamed as Tarocchi (tarot). While trionfi has a fifth suit that acts as permanent trumps, triomphe randomly selects one of the existing four suits as trumps. Another common feature of this game is the robbing of the stock. Triomphe became so popular that during the 16th century the earlier game of trionfi was gradually renamed tarocchi, tarot, or tarock. This game is the origin of the English word "trump" and is the ancestor of many trick-taking games like Euchre and Whist. The earliest known description of Triomphe was of a point-trick game, perhaps one of the earliest of its type; later, the name was applied to a plain-trick game.
Binokel is a card game for two to eight players that originated in Switzerland as Binocle, but spread to the German state of Württemberg, where it is typically played with a Württemberg pattern pack. It is still popular in Württemberg, where it is usually played in groups of three or four as a family game rather than in the pubs. In three-hand games, each player competes for himself, while in four-hand games, known as Cross Binokel (Kreuzbinokel), two teams are formed with partners sitting opposite one another. The game was introduced to America by German immigrants in the first half of the 20th century, where it developed into the similar game of pinochle. Binocle was still played in Switzerland in 1994. In south Germany, the game is sometimes called by its Swabian name, Benoggl.
An ace–ten game is a type of card game, highly popular in Europe, in which the aces and tens are of particularly high value.
The Marriage group is a large family of point-trick card games in which the 'marriage' of two cards, usually a king and queen, plays an important role and attracts a bonus. They are believed to be descended from a German game, Mariagenspiel or Mariage, which dates back to at least 1715. Well-known games in this group include bezique and the national card games of Austria (Schnapsen), Hungary (ulti), France (belote), Switzerland (Jass) and the Netherlands (klaverjas).
Briscan is an 18th-century, French ace–ten card game for two players played with a 32-card piquet pack. It is a member of the marriage group of games in which the 'marriage' of a king and queen brings a bonus score, but briscan takes this simple concept to extraordinary lengths.