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 ...
for three or more players. It is a 'negative' game like hearts whereby the aim is to avoid taking tricks with certain cards known as ''loaders''. Ulf Martin has described it as "an early version of
Ramsch
Ramsch, formerly also called Mike in East Germany, is a card game based on the contract of the same name in the popular German card games, Skat and Schafkopf. However, thanks to its interesting mode of play it has since developed into an indepen ...
."
Names
The game is variously called lodam, loadam, losing lodam, losing lodum, loosing loadem, losing loadum or at losing, load him.
History
The earliest English record dates to 1591 where the game is referred to as "lodam", but the only description appears in
Francis Willughby
Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, ) Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithology, ornithologist, ichthyology, ichthyologist and mathematician, and an early student of linguistics an ...
's 1665 book, ''A Volume of Plaies''. It may be the game listed by Rabelais as ''coquinbert qui gaigne perd'' in 1534, although ''conquinbert'' is later equated to
, another negative game. According to Sir John Harrington it succeeded Maw in court fashion. Lewknor wrote in 1613 that
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
* James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
* James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
* James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334†...
lost 3 sets of lodam at 10 shillings a set and flew into a rage.
It is an early example of a game using a form of the ace–ten scoring system and the only English ace–ten game. It may have Dutch influence.
Rules
The following rules are based on Willughby:
Cards
A
standard 52-card pack
The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. The main feature of most playing card decks that empower their use in diverse games and other activities is their double-sided design, wh ...
is used with aces ranking high. The aim is to avoid taking tricks with certain cards known as ''loaders'' which have various penalty point values. These are the
ace
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...
11, ten 10,
king
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
3,
queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
The game is described for five players although, by adjusting the number of table cards and cards dealt other numbers may play.
At the outset, players receive 3
gaming counter
The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to bridge, hearts, poker or rummy), ...
s each. When a player goes out, he loses a counter and once he has lost all three, he is out of the game.
Players ante an agreed stake and the last player in the game sweeps 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 ...
.
Deal and play are clockwise. The cards are dealt out with everyone receiving the same number of cards, any left over being put aside, face down, as a talon.
Play
Eldest hand
Card players are those participating in a Card game#Hands, rounds and games, card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position.
Position
Games of Anglo-American origin
In games of Anglo-American origin pla ...
leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if able; otherwise may
renounce {{Short pages monitor Loadum, the Client's Game."''Stationer's Company Almanac'' (1719), p. 7, cited by Apperson (1884), p. 524.
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
* Apperson, George L. (1884). "Lodam" in ''Notes and Queries'', No. 261, 27 December 1884.
* Dodd, Charles (1861). ''Dodd's Church History of England from the Commencement of the Sixteenth Century t othe Revolution in 1688''. Vol. 4. London: Charles Dolman.
* Willughby, Francis (1665). ''A Volume of Plaies'', (ms.) published as ''Francis Willughby's Book of Games'' by David Cram and Jeffrey L. Forgeng (2003). Oxford: Routledge.
External links
* Florio, John (1591). ''Second Frutes''. London: Woodcock.
* , Chapter 1.XXII. - The games of Gargantua. Translated by Sir
Thomas Urquhart
Sir Thomas Urquhart (1611–1660) was a Scottish aristocrat, writer, and translator. He is best known for his translation of the works of French Renaissance writer François Rabelais to English.
Biography
Urquhart was born to Thomas Urquhar ...
Parlett, David
David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association.
Life
David Sidney Parlett was bo ...
pagat.com
Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been describ ...