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Faro ( ), pharaoh, pharao, or farobank is a late 17th-century French
gambling game Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...
using
cards {{Redirect, CARDS, other uses, Cards (disambiguation){{!Cards The CARDS programme, of Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation, is the EU's main instrument of financial assistance to the Western Balkans, covering spec ...
. It is descended from
basset Bassets are a sub-type of scenthound deliberately bred with short legs, that are used for hunting where the hunters accompany the hunting hounds on foot. History Bassets were originally developed in France from where they spread throughout Europe ...
, and belongs to the lansquenet and monte bank family of games due to the use of a banker and several players. Winning or losing occurs when cards turned up by the banker match those already exposed. It is not a direct relative of
poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...
, but faro was often just as popular due to its fast action, easy-to-learn rules, and better odds than most games of chance. The game of faro is played with only one deck of cards and admits any number of players. Popular in North America during the 19th century, Faro was eventually overtaken by poker as the preferred card game of gamblers in the early 20th century. Variants include German faro, Jewish faro, and ladies' faro.


History

The earliest references to a card game named (French for '
pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
') are found in Southwestern France during the reign of
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
. Basset was outlawed in 1691, and pharaoh emerged several years later as a derivative of basset, before it too was outlawed. After the French ban, pharaoh and basset continued to be widely played in England during the 18th century, where it was known as ''pharo'', an English alternate spelling of ''pharaoh''.Scarne, Joh
Scarne on Card Games: How to Play and Win at Poker, Pinochle, Blackjack, Gin and Other Popular Card Games
pg. 163 Dover Publications (2004)
The game was easy to learn, quick, and when played honestly, the odds for a player were considered by some to be the best of all gambling games, as Gilly Williams records in a letter to George Selwyn in 1752. With its name shortened to ''faro'', it spread to the United States in the 19th century to become the most widespread and popularly favored gambling game. It was played in almost every gambling hall in the
Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
from 1825 to 1915. Faro could be played in over 150 places in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
alone during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. An 1882 study considered faro to be the most popular form of gambling, surpassing all others forms combined in terms of money wagered each year. It was also widespread in the German states during the 19th century, where it was known as or . A simplified version played with 32
German-suited cards German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suits of Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (''Grün'', ''Blatt'', ''Lau ...
was known as ('German pharo') or ('sweet milk'). It is recorded in card game compendia from at least 1810 to 1975. In
Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...
the game was also referred to as ('money' + 'small heaps'). In the US, faro was also called "bucking the tiger" or "twisting the tiger's tail", a reference to early card backs that featured a drawing of a Bengal tiger. By the mid 19th century, the tiger was so commonly associated with the game that gambling districts where faro was popular became known as "tiger town", or in the case of smaller venues, "tiger alley". Some gambling houses would simply hang a picture of a tiger in their windows to advertise that a game could be played there. Faro's detractors regarded it as a dangerous scam that destroyed families and reduced men to poverty because of rampant rigging of the dealing box. Crooked faro equipment was so popular that many sporting-house companies began to supply ''gaffed'' dealing boxes specially designed so that the bankers could cheat their players; methods of cheating in faro are detailed below. Cheating was so prevalent that editions of ''Hoyle's Rules of Games'' began their faro section by warning readers that not a single honest faro bank could be found in the United States. Criminal prosecutions of faro were involved in the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
cases of '' United States v. Simms'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 252 (1803), and '' Ex parte Milburn'', 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 704 (1835). Although the game became scarce after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, it continued to be played at a few
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
and
Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...
casinos through 1985.


Etymology

Historians have suggested that the name comes from Louis XIV's royal gamblers, who chose the name from the motif that commonly adorned one of the French-made
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 ...
.


Rules


Description

A game of faro was often called a "faro bank". It was played with an entire deck of playing cards. One person was designated the "banker" and an indeterminate number of players, known as "punters", could be admitted. Chips (called "checks") were purchased by the punter from the banker (or house) from which the game originated. Bet values and limits were set by the house. Usual check values in the US were 50 cents to $10 each. The faro table was typically oval, covered with green
baize Baize is a coarse woollen (or in cheaper variants cotton) cloth, similar in texture to felt, but more durable. History A mid-17th-century English wikt:ditty, ditty – much quoted in histories of ale and beer brewing in England – r ...
, and had a cutout for the banker. A board was placed on top of the table with one
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 ...
of cards (traditionally spades) pasted to it in numerical order, representing a standardized betting "layout". Each player laid his stake on one of the 13 cards on the layout. Players could place multiple bets and could bet on multiple cards simultaneously by placing their bet between cards or on specific card edges. A player could reverse the intent of his bet by placing a
hexagonal In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is d ...
(6-sided) token called a "copper" on it. Some histories said a penny was sometimes used in place of a copper. This was known as "coppering" the bet, and reversed the meaning of the win/loss piles for that particular bet. Players also had the choice of betting on the "high card" bar located at the top of the layout.


Procedure

* A typical 52-card deck was shuffled and placed inside a "dealing box", a mechanical device also known as a "
shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...
", which was used to prevent manipulations of the draw by the banker and to assure players of a fair game. * The first card in the dealing box was called the "soda" and was "burned off", leaving 51 cards in play. * The dealer then drew two cards: the first was called the "banker's card" and was placed on the right side of the dealing box. The next card after the banker's card was called the ''carte anglaise'' (the English card) or simply the "player's card", and it was placed on the left of the shoe. * The banker's card was the bettor's "losing card"; regardless of its suit, all bets placed on the layout's card that had the same denomination as the banker's card were lost by the players and won by the bank. * The player's card was the "winning card". All bets placed on the card that had that denomination were returned to the players with a 1 to 1 (even money) payout by the bank (e.g., a dollar bet won a dollar). A "high card" bet won if the player's card had a higher value than the banker's card. * The dealer settled all bets after each pair of cards were drawn. This allowed players to bet before drawing the next two cards. Bets that neither won nor lost remained on the table, or they could be picked up or changed by the player prior to the next draw. * When only three cards remained in the dealing box, the dealer would "call the turn", which was a special type of bet that occurred at the end of each round. The object now was to predict the exact order that the three remaining cards, Bankers, Players, and the final card–called the Hock–would be drawn. The player's odds here were 5 to 1, while a successful bet paid off at 4 to 1 (or paid 1 to 1 with odds of 2 to 1 if there were a pair among the three, known as a "cat-hop"). This provided one of the dealer's few advantages in faro. If it happened that the three remaining cards were all the same, there would be no final bet, as the outcome was not in question. Certain advantages were reserved to the banker: if he drew a doublet, that is, two equal cards, he won half of the stakes placed upon the card equal to the doublet. These and the advantage from the odds on the turn bet provided a slight financial advantage to the dealer or the house. A device, called a "casekeep" was employed to assist the players and prevent dealer cheating by counting cards. The casekeep resembled an
abacus An abacus ( abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a hand-operated calculating tool which was used from ancient times in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, until the adoption of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. A ...
, with one spindle for each card denomination, with four counters on each spindle. As a card was played, either winning or losing, one of four counters would be moved to indicate that a card of that denomination had been played. This allowed players to plan their bets by keeping track of what cards remained available in the dealing box. The operator of the case keep is called the "casekeeper" or, colloquially in the American West, the "coffin driver".


Cheating

To give themselves more of an advantage, and to counter the losses from players cheating, dealers would also often cheat. In a fair game the house's edge was low, so dealers increasingly resorted to cheating the players to increase the profitability of the game for the house. This, too, was acknowledged by ''Hoyle'' editors when describing how faro banks were opened and operated: "To justify the initial expenditure, a dealer must have some permanent advantage."


By dealers

Dealers employed several methods of cheating: * Stacked or rigged decks: A stacked deck would consist of many paired cards, allowing the dealer to claim half of the bets on that card, as per the rules. A rigged deck would contain textured cards that allowed dealers to create paired cards in the deck while giving the illusion of thorough shuffling. * Rigged dealing boxes: Rigged, or "gaffed", dealing boxes came in several variants. Typically, they allowed the dealer to see the next card prior to the deal, by use of a small mirror or prism visible only to the dealer. If the next card was heavily bet, the box could also allow the dealer to draw two cards in one draw, thus hiding the card that would have paid. This would result in the casekeep not accounting for the hidden card, however. If the casekeeper were employed by the house, though, he could take the blame for "accidentally" not logging that card when it was drawn. *
Sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' () comprises fine motor skills used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card fl ...
: In concert with the rigged dealing box, the dealer could, when he knew the next card to win, surreptitiously slide a player's bet off of the winning card if it was on the dealer's side of the layout. At a hectic faro table he could often get away with this, though it was obviously a risky move.


By players

Players would routinely cheat as well. Their techniques employed distraction and sleight-of-hand, and usually involved moving their stake to a winning card, or at the very least off the losing card, without being detected. Their methods ranged from crude to creative, and worked best at a busy, fast-paced table: * Simple move of their bet: The most basic cheat was simply to move one's bet to the adjacent card on the layout while avoiding the banker noticing. While the simplest, it also carried the greatest risk of detection. * Moving with a thread: A silk thread or single horse hair would be affixed to the bottom check in the bet, and allowed the stack to be pulled across the table to another card on the layout. This was less risky, as the cheating player would not have to make an overt action. * Removing the copper: A variant on the use of the thread was to affix it to the copper token used to reverse the bet. If the losing card matched the player's bet, the copper made it a winning bet and no cheat was needed. If, however, the winning card, dealt second, were to match the player's bet the copper would ordinarily make it a loser, but quickly snatching the copper from the stack with the invisible thread turned it into a winner. This held the least risk, as once the copper was yanked from the stack, there was no thread left attached to the bet. Being caught cheating often resulted in a fight, or even gunfire.


In culture


Etymology

* The old phrase "from soda to hock", meaning "from beginning to end" derives from the first and last cards dealt in a round of faro. The phrase evolved from the better known "
from soup to nuts ''From Soup to Nuts'' is a silent short subject directed by E. Livingston Kennedy starring comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. It was released on March 24, 1928, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Go ...
". In turn, "soda" and "hock" are probably themselves derived from "hock and soda", a popular nineteenth-century drink consisting of
hock Hock may refer to: * Hock (wine), a type of wine * Hock (anatomy), part of an animal's leg * To leave an item with a pawnbroker * Hock (surname) * Richard "Hock" Walsh (1948-1999), Canadian blues singer * A type of wine bottle A wine bottl ...
(a sweet German wine) combined with
soda water Carbonated water is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, either artificially injected under pressure, or occurring due to natural geological processes. Carbonation causes small bubbles to form, giving the water an effervescent quali ...
.


Geography

* The town of
Faro, Yukon Faro is a town in central Yukon, Canada, the home of the now abandoned Faro Mine. It was the largest open-pit lead– zinc mine in the world as well as a significant producer of silver and other natural resources. The mine was built by the ...
, Canada was named after the game.


History

* The 18th-century adventurer and author Casanova was known to be a great player of faro. He mentions the game frequently in his autobiography. * The 18th-century Prussian officer, adventurer, and author Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck makes mention of playing faro in his memoirs (February 1726 – 25 July 1794). * The 18th-century Dutch cavalry commander Casimir Abraham von Schlippenbach (1682–1755) also mentions the game (as ''Pharaon'') in his memoirs. Apparently, he was able to win considerable sums of money with the game. * The 18th century Whig radical
Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...
preferred faro to any other game. * The 19th-century American con man
Soapy Smith Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II (November 2, 1860 – July 8, 1898) was an American con artist and gangster in the American frontier and the Klondike. Smith operated confidence schemes across the Western United States, and had a large hand ...
was a faro dealer. It was said that every faro table in Soapy's Tivoli Club in
Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, in 1889 was gaffed (made to cheat). * The 19th-century scam artist
Canada Bill Jones William "Canada Bill" Jones (1877) was an English-born Romanichal confidence artist, riverboat gambler and card sharp in Canada and the United States. He has been described by historians, news reporters and others who have written about his life ...
loved the game so much that, when he was asked why he played at one game that was known to be rigged, he replied, "It's the only game in town." * The 19th-century lawman
Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman in the American West, including Dodge City, Kansas, Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, and Tombstone, Arizona, Tombstone. Earp was involved in the gunfight ...
dealt faro for a short time after arriving in
Tombstone, Arizona Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Prospecting, prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona, Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last ...
, having acquired controlling interest in a game out of the Oriental Saloon. * The 19th-century dentist and gambler John "Doc" Holliday dealt faro in the Bird Cage Theater as an additional source of income while living in
Tombstone, Arizona Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Prospecting, prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona, Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last ...
.Wesley Treat, Mark Moran, Mark Sceurma
''Weird Arizona: Your Travel Guide to Arizona's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets''
p. 190. Sterling (2007), .


In popular culture

;Literature and its adaptations * The well-known author of Regency romances
Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story conceived for her ail ...
wrote a novel entitled '' Faro's Daughter''; it tells of a young lady forced to deal faro to support her family and her ensuing romance with one of the gaming hall's patrons. * In
Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), '' Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Cima ...
's novel ''
Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 Show Boat (novel), novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the per ...
'', the gambler Gaylord Ravenal specializes in the game of faro. * Faro is mentioned extensively in John D. Fitzgerald's semi-autobiographical Silverlode/Adenville trilogy, which consists of the books ''Papa Married a Mormon'', ''Mama's Boarding House'', and ''Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse''. It is one of the primary games played at the Whitehorse Saloon, owned by the character Uncle Will. In ''Mama's Boarding House'' the character Floyd Thompson, one of the tenants in the boarding house, is a faro dealer. Faro is also occasionally mentioned in Fitzgerald's corresponding Great Brain series, which focuses on the children of Adenville. * In Oliver La Farge's story "Spud and Cochise" (1935), the cowboy Spud plays faro when he is in a very good mood. Aware of the widespread dishonesty of American faro dealers in his time, he nevertheless bets heavily, viewing his gambling losses as a form of charity. * In
Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...
's novel ''
White Fang ''White Fang'' is a novel by American author Jack London (1876–1916) about a wild wolfdog's journey to domestication in Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. First serialized in ''Outing'' magazin ...
'', the owner of the bulldog, Tim Keenan, is a faro dealer. * In the Giulietta act of
Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...
's opera ''
The Tales of Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...
'' (based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann), Giulietta invites Schlemil to take his place at the table of pharaoh. * In
Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...
's opera ''
Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was f ...
'', the game at the Hotel Transylvania is faro, and Guillot accuses des Grieux and Manon of cheating at it. * Lord Ruthven in
John William Polidori John William Polidori (7 September 1795 – 24 August 1821) was a British writer and physician. He is known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. His most su ...
's "
The Vampyre "The Vampyre" is a short work of prose fiction written in 1819 by John William Polidori, taken from the story told by Lord Byron as part of a contest among Polidori, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelley. The same contest produced the n ...
" plays faro in Brussels. * The miners in
Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...
's opera '' La fanciulla del West'' (''The Girl of the Golden West''), based on
David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of ...
's play '' The Girl of the Golden West'', play a contentious game of faro in Act One. * Faro is central to the plot of
Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...
's story " The Queen of Spades" and Tchaikovsky's opera adaptation, '' The Queen of Spades''. * In
Wesley Stace Wesley Stace (born 22 October 1965) is an English folk/pop singer-songwriter and author who has used the stage name John Wesley Harding. Under his legal name, he has written four novels. He is also an occasional university teacher and the cura ...
's ''Misfortune'', the character "Pharaoh" is named after his father's profession, a faro dealer. * In Thackeray's novel ''
The Luck of Barry Lyndon ''The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' is a picaresque novel by English author William Makepeace Thackeray, first published as a serial in '' Fraser's Magazine'' in 1844, about a member of the Irish gentry trying to become a member of the English ari ...
'', the main character runs a crooked faro bank, alternatively to his great fortune or ruin. In its film adaptation, ''
Barry Lyndon ''Barry Lyndon'' is a 1975 epic historical drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel '' The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' by William Makepeace Thackeray. Narrated by Michael Hordern, and starring Ryan O'N ...
'', one of the famous candlelit scenes shows Barry and his employer cheating at faro. In the background a
Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...
servant holds a casekeep showing which cards have been played. * In a famous scene from
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
's book ''
War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...
'', Nicholas Rostov loses 43,000 rubles to Dolokhov playing faro. *In
Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...
's novel "
The Brothers Karamazov ''The Brothers Karamazov'' ( rus, Братья Карамазовы, Brat'ya Karamazovy, ˈbratʲjə kərɐˈmazəvɨ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly ...
", Dmitri Karamazov is cheated out of 200 rubles by two Polish officers in a game of faro when they switch an unopened deck of cards for a marked set. ;Games * In the video game ''
Assassin's Creed Unity ''Assassin's Creed Unity'' is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in December 2020 for Stadia. It is the eighth majo ...
'' (2014), the main character
Arno Dorian Arno Victor Dorian is a fictional character in Ubisoft's ''Assassin's Creed'' video game franchise. He serves as the protagonist of the 2014 game ''Assassin's Creed Unity'', in which he is portrayed by Canadian actor Dan Jeannotte through perform ...
, in the early stages of the game, plays a game of faro with a blacksmith but loses after the blacksmith cheats. Arno loses his deceased father's pocket watch and breaks into the blacksmith's house to steal it back. ;Radio and motion pictures * In the HBO TV series ''
Deadwood Deadwood may refer to: Places Canada * Deadwood, Alberta * Deadwood, British Columbia * Deadwood River, a tributary of the Dease River in northern British Columbia United States * Deadwood, California (disambiguation), several communit ...
'', Al Swearengen mentions Faro, rather than poker, is played in his Gem Saloon, and the game is referred to frequently throughout the series. * Numerous references to Faro are made in both the
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
drama ''
Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...
'', starring
William Conrad William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...
, and the television drama ''Gunsmoke'' starring
James Arness James Arness (born James King Aurness; May 26, 1923 – June 3, 2011) was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years in the series ''Gunsmoke''. He has the distinction of having played the role of Dillon in f ...
. * The ''
Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...
'' episode "Staircase to Heaven" involves a murder during a game of Faro. * In the American western ''
The Shootist ''The Shootist'' is a 1976 American Western film directed by Don Siegel and based on Glendon Swarthout's 1975 novel of the same name,Swarthout, Glendon (1975). ''The Shootist'', New York, New York: Doubleday. and written by Miles Hood Swart ...
'' (1976), Jack Pulford (
Hugh O'Brian Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC Western (genre), Western television series ' ...
) is a professional gambler and a faro dealer at the Metropole Saloon. * When planning ''
The Sting ''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film. Set in 1936, it involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw). The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had dir ...
'' (1973) on New York gangster Doyle Lonnegan ( Robert Shaw), one of the conmen researching their mark mentions that he "only goes out to play faro", making him a hard target for the big con. * In the film ''
Tombstone A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The us ...
'' (1993),
Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman in the American West, including Dodge City, Kansas, Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, and Tombstone, Arizona, Tombstone. Earp was involved in the gunfight ...
, played by
Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...
, becomes a faro dealer after arriving in Tombstone. * In the Australian TV series ''
Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...
'', the episode "Alea lacta est" features a murder plot centered around the fictional ''Brisbane Faro Society.''


See also

*
Cassino (card game) Cassino, sometimes spelt Casino, is an English card game for two to four players using a standard, 52-card, French-suited pack.Parlett (2008), p. 401. It is the only fishing game to have penetrated the English-speaking world. It is similar to th ...
* Commerce (card game) *
Phat (card game) Phat is an English trick-taking partnership card game descended from the 17th century game of all fours. It is closely related to the British and Irish game of Don and may have been derived from it during the First World War. Phat is still playe ...
*
Va banque ''Va banque'' or ''Vabanque'' is a gambling term from the card game of Pharo or Faro, which was popular in the 18th and 19th century. It is similar to the decision to "go bank" (or "''banco''") in '' chemin de fer'', a form of baccarat. It ...


References


Further reading

* Boussac, Jean
''The Faro: Gameplay and Rules''
(1896) Transl. from French, 2017. * Dawson, Tom and Dawson, Judy. ''The Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards'', Stamford, Connecticut: US Games Systems Inc., 2000. (Gives historical account of Faro cards in the US, extensively illustrated.) * Lehmann, Th. and Dr Handelmann (1858)
''Jahrbücher für die Landeskunde''
Volume 12. Kiel: Akademische Buchhandlung. * Maskelyne, John Nevil

(London: 1894; reprint, Las Vegas: GBC). * Russell, Gillian. "'Faro's Daughters': Female Gamesters, Politics, and the Discourse of Finance in 1790s Britain", ''Eighteenth-Century Studies'' 33.4 (2000): 481–504
Online
* Sanders, J. R

'' Wild West Magazine'', October 1996.


External links

* —Demonstration of how the game is played. {{DEFAULTSORT:Faro (Card Game) 17th-century gambling games Banking games French gambling games Wyatt Earp American frontier