Emprunt is an historical French
card game
A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...
of the
Hoc family for three to six players that dates to at least the early 18th century.
History
The earliest account of the rules of Emprunt date to 1718
[_ (1718), pp. 180–181.] and the game continues to be regularly included in French games compendia until the late 19th century but now appears obsolete. The name Emprunt means "loan" and stems from the "borrowing" feature of the game.
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Rules
The 1718 ''Académie Universelle des Jeux'' does not give a full account of the rules, describing the game as having "a lot of similarity to ''Hoc''" but named Emprunt because it contains the distinguishing feature that players are allowed to "borrow" a card they do not have.[ The following rules are based on Lacombe (1800).][Lacombe (1800), p. 74.]
Emprunt may be played by three to six players using a standard French-suited pack
French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. In ...
of 52 cards. If six play, each is dealt eight cards with four going to the talon; if five play, each receives ten and there are two in the talon. If four play, the aces and twos are removed, reducing the pack to 44 cards; each player receives ten and four are left to the talon. If three play, the threes are also removed, leaving 40 cards in the pack; each player is dealt 21 and there is a talon of four.
The cards having been dealt, each player antes one or two jeton
Jetons or jettons are tokens or coin-like medals produced across Europe from the 13th through the 18th centuries. They were produced as counters for use in calculation on a counting board, a lined board similar to an abacus. Jetons for calcul ...
s of an agreed value to the pool
Pool may refer to:
Bodies of water
* Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming
* Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings
* Tide pool, a roc ...
(''poule''). Players draw lots for first dealer
Dealer may refer to:
Film and TV
* ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film
* ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items
* ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010
* ...
, the one with the lowest having this privilege. The dealer shuffles
Shuffling is a technique used to randomization, randomize a deck of playing cards, introducing an element of chance into card games. Various shuffling methods exist, each with its own characteristics and potential for manipulation.
One of the ...
, has the cards cutting
Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force.
Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the sca ...
by the player to the left and then deals the requisite number of cards in anticlockwise order beginning with first hand, the player to the right.
First hand leads with any card from his or her hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...
. Second hand must follow this with the next card in suit sequence; if he does not hold it, he must "borrow" it from the player who has it and pay a jeton for it to that player. If no player has it, the player draws the card from the talon (wherein it must lie) and pays a jeton to the pool. Once the first suit
A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt su ...
is exhausted, the player who played the last card of that suit begins a new suit with any card held.
The first player to shed all his or her hand cards wins the game, sweeps the pool and receives from each opponent as many jetons as the opponent has cards left in hand.
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
* _ (1718). ''Académie Universelle des Jeux.'' Théodore Le Gras, Paris.
* Lacombe, Jacques (1800). ''Encyclopédie Méthodique: Dictionaire des Jeux.'' Padoue.
* Moulidars, Th. de (1888). ''Grande Encyclopédie Méthodique.'' Paris.
{{Historical card games
18th-century card games
French card games
French deck card games