Militaire was a bespoke card game of the Rummy family for three or four players in which the playing cards depicted badges of rank of the British Army. According to the Imperial War Museum it dates to the interwar period or Second World War, [1] while other sources suggest it was made in the 1940s and 1950s. [2] [lower-alpha 1] It came in two sizes: a standard size in an ordinary box [1] and a pocket sized version in a cardboard wallet. [2] The game is no longer manufactured.
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| In 1953 the Tudor Crown (above) was replaced on rank badges by the St Edward's Crown (below) [3] |
According to the Imperial War Museum, its standard pack of cards (pictured) dates to the interwar period or Second World War [1] and may have been played in the trenches. [4] There were leather boxed sets for the officers and paper boxes for other ranks. [4] Meanwhile the pocket version dates to the 1940s. The cardmaker is unknown. [2] The design of the officers' rank badges on both versions suggests a period of 1928-1953, since the rank of brigadier was not established until 1928 and the insignia depict Tudor Crowns which were changed in 1953 to the Crown of St. Edward, when Queen Elizabeth II adopted a stylised image of the crown for use in coats of arms, badges, logos and various other insignia.. [3]
The standard game of Militaire was played with a 54-card pack comprising cards each portraying a rank badge of the British Army and a card value in points. There were 4 cards each of all the officer ranks - General (60 points), Brigadier (50), Colonel (45), Lieutenant Colonel (40), Major (35), Captain (30), Lieutenant (25) and 2nd Lieutenant (20) - and 7 cards each of the Other Ranks: Sergeant (15), Corporal (10) and Lance Corporal (5). [lower-alpha 2] In addition, there was a single card depicting the rank of Sergeant Major (5 – 60 points) which acted as a wild card or 'master card'. [1]
The pocket version of Militaire only had 40 cards: 3 of each officer rank, 5 of each other rank and 1 sergeant major wild card. The rules were the same, except that sets of 4 were only possible with the cards depicting the badges of other ranks. The patience-sized cards measure 70 x 45 mm, whereas the standard cards measure 85 x 56 mm. [2]
The game was designed for three or four players; two packs were to be used if there were five or more. Deal and play were clockwise. Players cut for first dealer and then 7 cards were dealt to each player. The remainder were stacked face down in the middle of the table and the top card turned and placed beside the stock to start the discard pile. [5]
The aim was to form sets of 3 or 4 cards of the same rank or runs of at least 3 cards in rank sequence. [5]
Eldest hand began by drawing the upcard or the top card of the stock and then discarding a card to the discard pile. On completing a valid set or run, a player could meld it to the table, face up, and score points based on the card values. The first player to expose a complete hand of 2 sets or a run and a set or a run of 6-7 cards won and scored the following bonus points in addition to the card points: [5]
If the seventh card was unused, the holder incurred penalty points to its value. Other players only scored the value of sets or runs they meld to the table. [5] Scores were kept on a cribbage-style scoring board. [4]
Players could play an agreed number of deals, known as a "rubber". [5]
The rules described a variant played for stakes by four or more players in which a discarded card not immediately picked up by the following player could be bid for by the remainder and exchanged for any hand card; the winning bidder paying the amount of the bid to the pool which was taken by the winner of the rubber. [5]
Tarocchini are point trick-taking tarot card games popular in Bologna, capital city of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and has been confined mostly to this area. They are the diminutive form of tarocchi, referring to the reduction of the Bolognese pack from 78 to 62 cards, which probably occurred in the early 16th century.
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 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.
Canasta is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 Rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with two standard decks of cards. Players attempt to make melds of seven cards of the same rank and "go out" by playing all cards in their hands. It is "the most recent card game to have achieved worldwide status as a classic".
Piquet is an early 16th-century plain-trick card game for two players that became France's national game. David Parlett calls it a "classic game of relatively great antiquity... still one of the most skill-rewarding card games for two" but one which is now only played by "aficionados and connoisseurs."
500 rum, also called pinochle rummy, Michigan rummy, Persian rummy, rummy 500 or 500 rummy, is a popular variant of rummy. The game of canasta and several other games are believed to have developed from this popular form of rummy. The distinctive feature of 500 rum is that each player scores the value of the sets or cards they meld. It may be played by 2 to 8 players, but it is best for 3 to 5.
Rummy is a group of games notable for similar gameplay based on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build melds which can be either sets or runs and either be first to go out or to amass more points than the opposition.
Pedro is an American trick-taking card game of the All Fours family based on Auction Pitch. Its most popular variant is known as Cinch, Double Pedro or High Five which was developed in Denver, Colorado around 1885 and soon regarded as the most important American member of the All Fours family. Although it went out of fashion with the rise of Auction Bridge, it is still widely played on the western coast of the United States and in its southern states, being the dominant game in some locations in Louisiana. Forms of the game have been reported from Nicaragua, the Azores, Niobe NY, Italy and Finland. The game is primarily played by four players in fixed partnerships, but can also be played by 2–6 individual players.
Liverpool rummy is a multi-player, multi-round card game similar to other variants of rummy that adds features like buying and going out. It is played the same as Contract rummy, except that if a player manages to cut the exact number of cards required to deal the hand and leave a face-up card, then the cutting player's score is reduced by 50 points.
Cinch, also known as Double Pedro or High Five, is an American trick-taking card game of the All Fours family derived from Auction Pitch via Pedro. Developed in Denver, Colorado in the 1880s, it was soon regarded as the most important member of the All Fours family in the USA, but went out of fashion with the rise of Auction Bridge. The game is primarily played by 4 players in fixed partnerships, but can also be played by 2–6 individual players.
Yaniv, also known as Jhyap, Jafar, aa’niv or Minca, is a card game popular in Israel. It is a draw and discard game in which players discard before drawing a new card and attempt to have the lowest value of cards in hand. The game is considered a backpackers game in Israel, and it's popular among soldiers and young adults returning from long backpacking trips.
Mille is a two-player card game requiring two standard 52-card decks. Mille is a rummy game similar to canasta in the respects that if a player picks up cards from the discard pile, the player picks up the entire pile, and the only legal melds are three or more cards of a same rank.
Cego is a Tarot card game for three or four players played mainly in and around the Black Forest region of Germany. It was probably derived from the three-player Badenese game of Dreierles when soldiers deployed from the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars and, based on a Spanish game they had encountered, introduced Cego's distinctive feature: a concealed hand, or blind. Cego has experienced a revival in recent years, being seen as part of the culture of the Black Forest and surrounding region. It has been called the national game of Baden and described as a "family classic".
Continental Rummy is a progressive partnership Rummy card game related to Rumino. It is considered the forerunner of the whole family of rummy games using two packs of cards as one. Its name derives from the fact that it is played throughout the continental Europe, the United States, Mexico, Canada, and also in South America. According to Albert Morehead, it was "at one time the most popular form of Rummy in women's afternoon games, until in 1950 it lost out to Canasta."
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.
Chinchón is a matching card game played in Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Cape Verde and other places. It is a close variant of gin rummy, with which it shares the same objective: making sets, groups or runs, of matching cards.
Indian Cherokee Rummy is a card game in India with little variation from original rummy. It may be considered a cross between Rummy 500 and gin rummy. Indian Rummy is a variant of the rummy game popular in India that involves making valid sets out of 13 cards that are distributed among every player on the table. Each player is dealt 13 cards initially; if the number of players is 2, then a 52 cards deck is chosen for the game and if there are 6 players, two decks of 52 cards each is combined for the game. Each player has to draw and discard cards by turns till one player melds their cards with valid sets that meet the Rummy validation rules. It could be that Indian Rummy evolved from a version of Rummy in South Asia, Celebes Rummy, also called Rhuk.
Kalooki or Kaluki is a card game popularly played in Jamaica,. It is sometimes called Jamaican Rummy for similarities in structure the game bears with Contract Rummy or Gin Rummy. The games are, however, different and not to be confused.
Marriage, Marriage Rummy, often called 21-cards rummy, is a Rummy card game, widely played in India using three or more packs of 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. For glossaries that relate primarily to one game or family of similar games, see Game-specific glossaries.
Sjavs is a Danish card game of the Schafkopf family that is played in two main variants. In Denmark, it is a 3-player game, played with a shortened pack of 20 cards; in the Faroe Islands, where it is very popular, it is a four-hand, partnership game using a standard Piquet pack of 32 cards.