Pope Joan or Pope, a once popular Victorian family game, is an 18th-century

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

round game of

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for three to eight players derived from the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

game of Matrimony and Comete and ancestor to Spinado and the less elaborate Newmarket. The game is related to the German

Poch Poch, Pochen or Pochspiel () is a very old card game that is considered one of the forerunners of poker, a game that developed in America in the 19th century. An etymological relationship between the game names is also assumed. Games related to P ...

and French

Nain Jaune The game of Nain Jaune or Yellow Dwarf (, ), also formerly called Lindor, is an "attractive and unique traditional French card game" using a board comprising five compartments or boxes. It is a reasoned game of chance because it combines the haza ...

. Although its first published rules appeared in Hoyle's Games edition of 1814, an earlier reference to the game, originally called

Pope Julius Pope Julius could refer to: *Pope Julius I (saint; 337–352) *Pope Julius II (1503–1513) ** Pope Julius (game), a card game thought to be named after Pope Julius II *Pope Julius III Pope Julius III (; ; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1 ...

, appeared in ''

The Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editi ...

'' in 1732.

Etymology

The name is a corruption of ''

nain jaune The game of Nain Jaune or Yellow Dwarf (, ), also formerly called Lindor, is an "attractive and unique traditional French card game" using a board comprising five compartments or boxes. It is a reasoned game of chance because it combines the haza ...

'' ("yellow dwarf"), the name of in France where the game originated."Pope Joan", accessed 2017-11-09, http://www.parlettgames.uk/histocs/popejoan.html

Pope Joan Pope Joan (''Ioannes Anglicus'', 855–857) is a woman who purportedly reigned as popess (female pope) for two years during the Middle Ages. Her story first appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and subsequently spread throughout Europe. ...

refers to the legend that

Pope John VIII Pope John VIII (; died 16 December 882) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the most able popes of the 9th century. John devoted much of his papacy to attempting ...

was actually a woman. As the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

denies a female pope, the legend was used as Protestant propaganda in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

, which also explains the popularity of the game in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The is sometimes called the

Curse of Scotland The Curse of Scotland is a nickname used for the nine of diamonds playing card.The Oxford English Dictionary (1971) and Chambers 20th Century Dictionary (1983) give similar definitions The expression has been used at least since the early 18th c ...

Setup

A staking board is required, with eight compartments labelled Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Game, Pope (), Matrimony (K Q of trumps) and Intrigue (Q J of trumps). Each player receives a number of counters, or chips, whose value is determined by the players involved in the game. The is then removed from the pack to form a stop sequence, which classifies the game as a sub-group of the stop family of games. The aim of the game is to run out of cards before anyone else.

Play

The dealer "dresses the board" by placing a stake of six counters in the compartment labelled Pope, two each to Matrimony and Intrigue, and one to each of the others. He then deals the 51 cards among the players as far as they go, but to one more hand than there are players, with the last card dealt to the dead hand turned for trump. Cards in excess may be dealt to "stops," or an agreed number may be left for that purpose, so that all players have an equal number of cards. If it is Pope (), or the Ace, King, Queen or Jack, the dealer wins the contents of the appropriate compartment outright. Eldest leads first playing a card face up to the table. It may be of any suit, as long as it is his lowest card. For this purpose, cards rank A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K. If he has the next higher card of the same suit, he plays it too, and so on until he can go no further. The sequence is then continued by the player who holds the next card up, and if no one can play the next card up because it is in the dead hand, or because a King has been reached, a new sequence is started by the player who played the last card ("stop card"). As before, it may be of any suit, but must be the lowest he has of it. All Kings are of course stops, also the ; also the cards next below the table cards, as well as the cards next below the played cards. The content (if any) staked to the Ace, King, Queen and Jack compartment goes to the player playing the said trump card, as does that for Pope. That for Intrigue can only be won if the same player is able to play Queen and Jack, as does Matrimony for King and Queen, if all three, those in the two compartments, and if they are in different hands these counters are sometimes divided. If any stake is not won, it is then carried forward to the next deal. The first to play out all of his cards wins the stake for Game, plus one counter from each other player for each card remaining in his hand, except the player holding the Pope who is excused payment.

Strategy

The game only requires minimal attention in order to know what stops have been made in the course of play. The Pope card is sometimes considered a universal "stop."

References

External links

Pope-Joan
at Trussel.com {{Historical card games 18th-century card games Stops group English card games