A Piquet pack or, less commonly, a Piquet deck, is a pack of 32 French suited cards that is used for a wide range of card games. The name derives from the game of Piquet which was commonly played in Britain and Europe until the 20th century and is still occasionally played by connoisseurs. In the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

it is referred to as a Jass pack, a term derived from games of the Jass type. Also referred to as Piquet cards, Piquet packs are still produced as standard packs of cards today, especially in Europe, for example to play the German national game of Skat. A Piquet pack also may be formed from a standard 52-card French pack by simply removing the Deuces, Treys, Fours, Fives and Sixes.

History

The French Piquet pack originally comprised 36 cards, but was reduced to 32 cards around 1700. The 36-card packs continued to be produced in France until at least 1775, but thereafter became extinct. It is known that, in England, the game of Maw was played with a 36-card pack up to the end of the 17th century.Singer (1816), p. 259.

Games played with the Piquet pack

Well-known games played with a Piquet pack include the following: *

Belote Belote () is a 32-card, trick-taking, ace–ten game played primarily in France and certain European countries, namely Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia (country), Georgia (mainly Guria), Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Mac ...

, France's national card game, very similar to the Dutch Klaberjass. * Bête, a gambling game and descendent of

Ombre Ombre (, pronounced "omber") or l'Hombre is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players and "the most successful card game ever invented." Its history began in Spain around the end of the 16th century as a four-p ...

* Bezique, "one of the most illustrious games of European high society" for which 2 packs are needed. *

Écarté Écarté () is an old French casino game for two players that is still played today. It is a trick-taking game, similar to whist, but with a special and eponymous discarding phase; the word ''écarté'' means "discarded". Écarté was popular in ...

, a formerly popular, European two-hander. *

Euchre Euchre or eucre ( ) is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game played in Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, Upstate New York, and the Midwestern United States. It is played with a deck of 24, 25, 28, or 32 standard playing cards. There are no ...

, popular in Canada and the Midwestern United States. * Hope Deferred, a patience or solitaire game. *

Klaverjas Klaverjas () or Klaverjassen () is a Dutch four-player trick-taking card game that uses a Piquet pack of 32 playing cards. It is closely related to the game of Klaberjass (also known as Bela) and is one of the most popular card games in the Net ...

, the Dutch invented "international, classic two-hander". * Little Lots, another popular patience or solitaire game. * Piquet, one of the oldest card games still being played. *

Préférence Préférence, frequently spelt Preference, is a Central Europe, Central and Eastern European 10-card plain-trick game with bidding (cards), bidding, played by three players with a 32-card Piquet deck, and probably originating in early 19th centur ...

, a popular Austrian, Russian and Eastern European game. *

Rams In engineering, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS)gambling games of the Rams group. * Skat, Germany's national card game.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* _ (1918). ''Notes and Queries''. Oxford: OUP. * Dummett, Michael (1980). ''The Game of Tarot''. Duckworth, London. * * Singer, Samuel Weller (1816). ''Researches Into the History of Playing Cards''. London: T. Bensley & Son. Playing cards ! {{card-game-stub

History

Games played with the Piquet pack

See also

Footnotes

References

Bibliography