Quadrille is the name of two loosely related

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 ...

s of the

Patience or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...

solitaire Solitaire may refer to: Film and television *'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film * ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film *''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa *"Solit ...

type which are often confused. Both use a pack of 52

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. The earlier one was also known as La Française ("the Frenchwoman") or Royal Quadrille, the slightly later one as Captive Queens. The name is derived from the desired outcome of the earlier game in which the four Kings and Queens are arranged in a square formation as in the European dance of

quadrille The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''Contra dance, contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of ope ...

that was fashionable in the 18th and 19th centuries.

History

In 1890,

Mary Whitmore Jones Mary Elizabeth Whitmore Jones ( 1823 – 1915) was an English author and the first female heir of Chastleton House. She was unmarried and did not have any children.First Empire First Empire may refer to: *First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 *First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes use ...

.Hapgood (1908), pp. 97–98. Meanwhile, in 1892,

Professor Hoffmann Angelo John Lewis, known pseudonymously as Professor Hoffmann (born 1839–1919), was an English-born barrister, Magic (illusion), illusionist and writer who has been described as "the most prolific and influential magic author and translator unti ...

described a different game called Quadrille in which the cards were built up in ascending sequence on Sixes and descending sequence on Fives, all laid out in a star shape.Hoffmann (1892), pp. 16–17. The Queens were removed from the pack at the outset and placed decoratively within the star. This version subsequently acquired the name Captive Queens. In this game the name describes the way the Queens are enclosed within the star formed by the foundations. Alluding to the name, Quadrille, but describing the rules for the later game, Parlett calls it as "a pleasant little pictorial which may be said to represent the dance of the cardboard court." The wagon-wheel tableau looks like a quadrille dance from 18th-19th century Europe."Quadrille" (p.73) in ''The Little Book of Solitaire'', Running Press, 2002.

Rules

Both games are called Quadrille; alternative titles have been used to distinguish them.

Royal quadrille or la Française

One pack is used, which is shuffled well and then dealt one-by-one to a rubbish heap. As Aces and Deuces appear, they are played to eight

foundations Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

arranged in the form of a quadrille (see illustration), with Hearts at the top, Diamonds at the bottom, Spades to the left and Clubs to the right. In each pair the Deuce is on the right. The foundations are

built up Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in de ...

in suit sequence by alternating numbers: the odd numbers on the Ace of the same suit and the even numbers likewise on the Deuce of the same suit as follows: The rubbish heap may be turned twice. If the patience succeeds, the Kings and Queens will form pairs as in the dance of Quadrille.

Captive queens

There are two ways of setting up the game: * The Queens are laid in the middle of the table and the Fives and Sixes laid down in a radial pattern around them as shown to form the foundations. * The Queens, Fives and Sixes are shuffled as part of the deck and laid out, as they appear, on the

tableau Tableau (French for 'little table' literally, also used to mean 'picture'; : tableaux or, rarely, tableaus) may refer to: Arts * ''Tableau'', a series of four paintings by Piet Mondrian titled '' Tableau I'' through to ''Tableau IV'' * '' Tableau ...

but in no set order. Either way, the role of the Queens is purely decorative and plays no functional role in the game. The aim is to build the Sixes upwards in the same suit as far as the Jacks, and the Fives downwards as far as the Kings (via the Aces) as follows: To play, cards are turned from the

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

and built if possible or discarded if not possible into a

waste pile Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste product may becom ...

, face up. The top card of the waste pile is always

available In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at a ...

. Once the stock runs out, the cards are gathered from the waste pile and become the new stock from which cards are to be dealt. Three re-deals are permitted. The game is won when all the cards are in the foundations with the

court card 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 ...

s (Kings and Jacks) at the top of each foundation, as shown on the right. According to Arnold a successful game takes about 6 minutes to complete and the odds are 2 in 5.Arnold (2011), pp. 29–30. Morehead & Mott-Smith give the playing time as 4 minutes and odds of 1 in 2.Morehead & Mott-Smith (1949), p. 96.

Variants

Contradance Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a form of folk dance, folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in ...

(cotillion) works in the same way as Captive Queens, but uses two decks.

Related games

Other games in which building takes place in alternate sequences like Royal Quadrille include the two-pack, reserved builders of

Odd and Even Odd and Even is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. It is so called because the building is done in twos, resulting in odd and even numbers. Rules First, nine cards are dealt in three rows of three cards each, ...

and Royal Cotillion. Games in which each suit is built on two foundations – up on one and down on the other – as in Captive Queens, include the twin-pack, reserved builder of

Patriarchs The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in ...

and the half-open builder of Sixes and Sevens. All these loosely related games offer greater scope for decision making.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* Arnold, Peter (2011). ''Card Games for One''. 2nd edn. London: Chambers. * Dalton, Basil (1948,64,67). ''The Complete Patience Book''. John Baker. 234 pp. * Hapgood, George (1908). ''Solitaire and Patience''. Penn. *

Hoffmann, Professor Angelo John Lewis, known pseudonymously as Professor Hoffmann (born 1839–1919), was an English-born barrister, illusionist and writer who has been described as "the most prolific and influential magic author and translator until modern times."

ngelo Lewis(1892). ''The Illustrated Book of Patience Games''. London: Routledge. * Morehead, A. H. & G. Mott-Smith (1949). ''The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games.'' NY: Longmans. * Moyse, Alphonse (1950). ''150 Ways to Play Solitaire.'' Cincinnati: USPCC. IA * *

Whitmore Jones, Mary Mary Elizabeth Whitmore Jones ( 1823 – 1915) was an English author and the first female heir of Chastleton House. She was unmarried and did not have any children.Cotillion The cotillion (also cotillon or French country dance) is a social dance, popular in 18th-century Europe and North America. Originally for four couples in square formation, it was a courtly version of an English country dance, the forerunner ...

(Contradance) * Royal Cotillion *

List of patiences and card solitaires This is a list of patiences, which are card games that are also referred to as solitaires or as card solitaire. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only includes games that have met the usual Wikipedia requirements (e.g. notability) ...

Glossary of patience and solitaire terms Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in de ...

{{Patience Single-deck patience card games Simple builders