Penneech

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Penneech
"A jolly little two hander"
French Portrait card deck - 1816 - 7 of Diamonds.jpg
The Penneech
Origin England
Type plain-trick game
Players2
Cards52
Deck English pattern, French-suited
PlayAlternate
Playing time12-15 min.
Unique feature: trumps change with each trick

Penneech or peneech, sometimes called penicth, [1] is an unusual historical English card game for two players played with hands of seven cards. English point-trick games are rare anyway, but the unique feature of this game is that the trump suit changes with each trick. Parlett describes it as a "jolly little two-hander". [2]

Contents

History

Penneech was alluded to in Pepys Ballads, II, 98 (1625-1640) by Samuel Pepys, [1] but its rules were first described by Charles Cotton in the 1674 and first edition of The Compleat Gamester , [3] and repeated in all subsequent editions until 1754. There are no other descriptions of the game, although it is mentioned in passing by Holme in 1688 [4] and described as "a game formerly in use" in 1822. [5]

Card games historian David Parlett notes that English point-trick games are rare [6] and knows of no other game in which the trump suit changes from one trick to the next. [2] He tested it extensively in order to reconstruct the rules. [2]

Cards

A standard 52-card pack of English pattern, French-suited cards is used with Aces ranking high. [2]

Rules

The following is a description based on Cotton's rules, supplemented by Parlett who tested the game extensively: [2] [3]

Deal

Players cut for the first deal, the lower card winning (Aces low for this purpose). [2] The dealer deals 7 cards each, individually, and turns the next for trumps, [3] placing the rest face down as the stock. A player with no Aces nor face cards may throw in their cards for a fresh deal. [3]

Play

Elder hand leads to the first trick. [2] The second player to a trick may either follow suit or trump, but may only discard if unable to follow. [2] [a] The trick winner turns the next card of the stock for trump [3] and pegs its value (see below) if it is a counter before leading to the next trick. The winner of the last trick turns the next card of the stock and likewise scores for it if it is a counting card. [2]

Scoring

Players score for cards won in tricks, for turning a counter as trumps and for turning a counter after the last trick is taken. An Ace is worth 5 points, a king 4, a queen 3 and a knave 2. The ♦7, called penneech, is the highest card when diamonds are trumps and is worth 14 points when turned or 7 points in the hand. [3] If diamonds are not trumps it has no scoring value, but still ranks as the highest diamond. Players also score 1 point per card taken in excess of seven. Game is 61 points. [3]

Parlett recommends using a cribbage board for scoring. [2]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ These rules of play are the same as those of its contemporary, all fours.

References

  1. 1 2 Western Folklore (1947), p. 151
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Penneech at parlettgames.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cotton (1674), pp. 148/149
  4. ↑ Holme (1688).
  5. ↑ Nares (1822), p. 371
  6. ↑ Parlett (1991), p. 261.

Bibliography

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