Five-suit bridge is a late 1930s variation of

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each othe ...

played with a deck of 65

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

s divided into five suits.

History

In the summer of 1937 in Vienna, Walter W. Marseille, with the help of

Paul Stern Paul Stern (4 April 1892 – 12 June 1948) was an Austrian international bridge player and lawyer, who fled to London in 1938. He was a bidding theorist and administrator who contributed to the early growth of the game. He founded the Austrian B ...

, published rules for five-suit bridge which included a fifth suit of green

Leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

, taken from German-suited William Tell cards. Printed by the local firm

Piatnik Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, commonly referred to as Piatnik, is an Austrian playing card and board game manufacturing company based in Vienna. History The company was founded in 1824 by the card manufacturer Anton Moser (1 ...

, the

court cards A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. Courts gene ...

were adapted from the diamond suit of the Vienna pattern. This set off a fad for five-suited decks which would last until the middle of 1938.

De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that produces secure digital and physical protections for goods, trade, and identities in 140 countries. It sells to governments, central banks, and businesses. Its ...

of London published packs called ''Five-Suit Bridge Playing Cards''. This deck contained cards using blue crowns called Royals as a fifth suit. In the new suit, the court cards used the Paris pattern's heart suit designs.

Waddingtons Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was changed i ...

' print was like De La Rue's with the exception of more detailed Royal crown pips. They also published several decks that used green crowns but the face cards for that suit were a duplicate of other English pattern suits. Due to unpopularity, they were withdrawn in 1939. The decks became available at

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

department stores on 21 February 1938. Three days later, the purchase of a pair of decks by King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...

and

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...

at the

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(ran from 21 February to 4 March) elevated the profile of this game. These packs arrived in the US on 7 March 1938. American manufacturers responded with a green Eagle as the fifth suit to avoid paying royalties as the Royals were copyrighted. The deck published by

United States Playing Card Company The United States Playing Card Company (USPC, though also commonly known as USPCC) is a large American producer and distributor of playing cards. It was established in 1867 as Russell, Morgan & Co. and founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in its current ...

(USPCC) had a green Eagle and the pips in the corner index were inside green circles. A second deck was by Russell Playing Cards (owned by the USPCC) used the same Eagle but in a darker shade and the pips in the corner index were devoid of the circle. These two decks reused the club courts for the new suit. A third deck was made by Arrco which had a different Eagle and reused the spade courts. At least six bridge books were subsequently published to support playing bridge with rules for this fifth suit by authors such as

Oswald Jacoby Oswald "Ozzie", "Jake" Jacoby (December 8, 1902 – June 27, 1984) was an American contract bridge player and author, considered one of the greatest bridge players of all time and a key innovator in the game, having helped popularize widely used b ...

P. Hal Sims Philip Hal Sims (November 8, 1886 – February 26, 1949) was an American contract bridge, bridge player. In 1932 he was ranked by Shepard Barclay, bridge commentator of the ''New York Herald Tribune'', the second best player in the US during the pr ...

and

Howard Schenken Howard Schenken (September 28, 1903 – February 20, 1979) was an American bridge player, writer, and long-time syndicated bridge columnist. He was from New York City. He won three Bermuda Bowl titles, and set several North American records. Most r ...

. It is more than likely the book that Arrco published was for their own deck. The title of a 1952 science-fiction novel by

James Blish James Benjamin “Jimmy” Blish () was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is best known for his ''Cities in Flight'' novels and his series of ''Star Trek'' novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel ''A Case ...

, ''Jack of Eagles'', refers to the psychic protagonist's uniqueness. Also in 1938,

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known as Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. It remained family owne ...

created a five-suit bridge deck called ''Castle Bridge'', in which the fifth suit of Castles looked like a Rook chess piece and was colored green. This pack reused the diamond courts for the new suit. The manual that came with this deck did not use Marseille's rules but Ammiel F. Decker's 1933 rules. Ultimately, the complexity of adding a new suit to the game led to it falling out of popularity by the summer of 1938.

Rules

The rules are similar to regular contract bridge but the new fifth suit is ranked higher than spades but lower than no trump in bidding. Decks usually came with one joker but this is discarded before play as it is not used. The original Piatnik deck did not have a joker but a manufacturer's name card. Sixteen cards are dealt to each player with the remaining 65th card (the ''widow'' or ''kitty'') being dealt face up on the middle of the table. This card would go to whoever made the highest bid, who would then discard a card that must be exposed.

References

{{WPCBIndex Contract bridge Card games introduced in the 1930s History of card decks