Quadrille (card game)

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Spanish playing cards may originally have been used in Quadrille
This article is about the four-hand game. For the one-player game, see Quadrille (patience).

Quadrille is a card game that was highly popular in the 18th century at the French court and among the British nobility, especially women. A variant of the three-player, Spanish card game Ombre, it is played by four players, both in varying alliances and solo games, using a pack of 40 cards (the 8's, 9's and 10's being removed). Developed in southern France in the late 17th century, it took off in Paris and London in the early 19th century, it being "to the good taste of the French nation" and to women, principally of the middle and upper classes, among whom it became their favourite game.[1] Having become "one of the great European games for about a hundred years" by the mid-19th century, Quadrille had fallen out of fashion, superseded by Whist and Boston.[2]

History and culture

Quadrille was introduced to the "southern provinces of France" around 1685 and, "several years later...into Paris and most of the provinces of the Kingdom."[3] The jeu de Quadrille quickly caught on, appearing in a French dictionary in 1715 which explained that a remise is the declarer only takes five tricks and the current stake is played for in the next hand.[4] Having been established in Paris, the game evidently travelled quickly to Britain for its first rules in English appear in a 1720 treatise called The Game of Quadrille; or Ombre by Four which, nevertheless, suggests it is translated from the French, has been around for about two years and is "the favourite game at the French Court".[5] Meanwhile a French counterpart, Les Jeux de Quadrille et de Quintille, appeared in 1724 and notes with surprise that "in the last few years that Quadrille has been played, no one has taken the trouble to publish its rules."[6]

The 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen includes four references to Quadrille being played by an upper class character, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and her guests.[7] In the Diary of Thomas Vernon,[8] which was written by a loyalist from Newport, Rhode Island, during the American Revolution in 1776, the author mentions playing quadrille frequently during the war while exiled in Glocester, Rhode Island. It is also frequently mentioned in The Diary of a Country Parson 1758-1802 kept by James Woodforde, edited by John Beresford. In Ireland, it was extremely popular in the 1730s. A pamphlet written in Dublin in 1736, supposedly proposing new rules for the game, caused uproar when it became clear that it was simply a pretext for a vicious attack by the author, Archbishop Josiah Hort, on his enemy Richard Bettesworth MP.

Rules

The following rules are summarised from "Quanti" (1822).[9]

Players and cards

Quadrille is played by four players using a pack of 40 Quadrille cards made by removing the 8s, 9s and 10s from a

Whist pack
. Thus the ranking of the cards in the black suits is K > Q > Kn > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2. However, in the red suits, for historical reasons, the order of the pip cards is reversed: K > Q > Kn > A > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7.

The

black suit is entrumped, eleven. The second highest trump, Manille, is always the lowest card of its suit, a Deuce
in the black suits and a 7 in the red suits. The fourth highest trump is called Ponto and is the Ace in red suits or the King in black suits.

Aim

The player who wins the auction becomes the Hombre ("The Man") or

declarer
, names the trump suit and aims to make six of the ten tricks.

Stakes

Originally, each player

dealer
alone. If successful, Hombre wins the pool; if unsuccessful Hombre becomes the Beast, is said to be beasted, must double the pool and pay what would have been earned by winning.

Deal

The dealer shuffles the pack and places it down in front of the player to the left for

cutting
. After the cut, the dealer deals the whole pack around to the right and in 3 rounds of 3, 3 and 4 cards, being free to deal the 4-card round first, second or last. The deal rotates to the right during the game.

Auction

There is then an auction in which players bid for the following contracts in ascending order:

If all pass a Forced Spadille is played in which the player holding Spadille becomes the Hombre and nominates a partner by calling a King. Hombre may name trumps or leave that privilege to the partner. The declarer's team aims to make six tricks. They may not go for a

vole.[c]

Eldest opens the auction by saying "I pass" or bidding a contract.


Quanti mentions that, in some circles, the additional contracts of Grandissimo and Nemo are added, "forming a pleasing diversity". Another recent addition was the concept of a

favourite suit.[10] Parlett sees these, along with Dimidiator and Casco, as forming the elaboration of Quadrille known as Mediateur.[2]

Play

suit led
if no trumps are played.

An exception is that Spadille, Manille and Basta have the privilege that they may be held back when trumps are led, even if they are the only trump a player has in hand; this privilege is only waived if a higher trump is led. Thus if Spadille is led, neither Manille nor Basta may be withheld.

Settlement

The following rates assume the basic stake is four units.

Hombre wins

  • Alliance: the declaring team divide the pool and earn any honours due. The opponents receive nothing. There is no premium.
  • Dimidiator is paid at half the Solo rate i.e. one unit.
  • Casco: both players share the winnings or losses and the premium is the same as for Solo, one opponent paying the Hombre and the other paying Hombre's partner. A vole is not excluded.

Solo: the declarer sweeps the pool and is paid the Solo premium as well as honours, matadors and premiers where applicable. The Solo premium is usually equivalent to a double stake and is paid by each opponent to the declarer if he wins.

  • Forced Spadille: the declaring team divide the pool and the opponents receive nothing. If lost, they share the penalty. There is no premium.

In addition to the game payments there are three bonus payments:

  • Matadors. If the three highest
    matadors
    (trumps) are held by the same side at the start, one unit is earned.
  • Double Matadors. If the four highest matadors are held by the same side at the start, two units are paid.
  • Premiers. If Hombre or Hombre's team make six tricks before the opponents take one, they are paid for Premiers at the same rate as Matadors.

Hombre loses

If Hombre loses with five tricks, this is Remise; the loser(s) double the pool which becomes a triple stake in the next deal. If Hombre makes four or fewer tricks, it is Codille; The opponents share the pool if it contains a triple stake and the penalty for Hombre is double that of Remise.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Dimidiator was also called Commutation and, erroneously, Mediator.
  2. ^ Solo was also called Sans Prendre.
  3. ^ Forced Spadille was also called Spadille by Compulsion or Spadille Compelled.

References

  1. ^ M.V.D. (1752), p. iv.
  2. ^ a b Quadrille at parlettgames.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  3. ^ Jordan et al. (1722), pp. 398–399.
  4. ^ Diderot (1715), p. 96.
  5. ^ The Game of Quadrille (1720).
  6. ^ Les Jeux de Quadrille et de Quintille (1724), pp. 1–2.
  7. ^ "Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice - Notes on Random Topics". Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  8. ^ Vernon, Thomas (1879). "Diary of Thomas Vernon". Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  9. ^ "Quanti" (1822).
  10. ^ "Quanti" (1822), p. 35.

Bibliography

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