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, a talon (; French for "heel") is a stack of undealt cards that is placed on the table to be used during the game. Depending on the game or region, they may also be referred to as the blind, kitty, skat, stock, tapp or widow (US).

Description

In 1909, Meyers Lexicon described the talon as ''"the cards left over after dealing..."'' In games of chance, such as

Pharo Pharo is a Cross-platform software, cross-platform implementation of the classic Smalltalk-80 programming language and runtime system. It is based on the OpenSmalltalk virtual machine (VM) named Cog, which evaluates a dynamic, Reflective progr ...

, it is ''"the stock of cards which the banker draws on"''. The talon is usually a pack of cards, placed face down, in the middle of the

card table A folding table is a type of folding furniture, a table (furniture), table with legs that fold up against the table top. This is intended to make storage more convenient and to make the table more portable. Many folding tables are made of lightwei ...

. In other games, there are however very different variations, for example in

Königrufen Königrufen or Königsrufen (German: "Calling the King"Dummett (1980), ''Twelve Tarot Games'', p. 147.) is a four-player, trick-taking card game of the Tarot card games, tarot family, played in Austria and Southern Tyrol, with a pack of 54 cards ...

. Talons may be placed face up or face down. Parlett describes a ''kitty'' as "the pool or pot being played for" or "a dead hand or widow". He also equates ''talon'' to ''stock'' as the "cards which are not dealt initially but may be drawn from or dealt out later in the play".Parlett, David. ''The Penguin Book of Card Games''. London: Penguin (2008), p. 642-646. .

Examples of usage

The following are examples of games and the term usually used for talon. They are taken from Parlett unless otherwise indicated: * Blind: Auction Euchre,

Cego Cego is a Tarot card game for three or four players played mainly in and around the Black Forest region of Germany. It was probably derived from the three-player Badenese game of Dreierles when soldiers deployed from the Iberian Peninsula durin ...

Frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

, Sheepshead, Six-Bid * Cego:

* Dabb:

Binokel Binokel is a card game for two to eight players that originated in Switzerland as Binocle, but spread to the German state of Württemberg, where it is typically played with a Württemberg pattern pack. It is still popular in Württemberg, where i ...

, Tapp, Tappen * Doaba:

Jaggln Jaggln or Jaggeln is an historical Tyrol (state), Tyrolean card game designed for five players that used to be played purely as a winter pastime by farming folk. An unusual feature are its three highest trumps known as ''Jaggl, Zanggl'' and ''Bug ...

* Dobb:

Dobbm Dobbm or Tappen is a card game played in the Stubai valley in Austria and is one of a family of games derived from the Tarot game of Grosstarock by adapting its rules to a regular, shortened pack of 36 cards. The ranking and point value of the ca ...

* Kitty:

Bid Whist Bid whist is a partnership trick-taking variant of the classic card game whist. As indicated by the name, bid whist adds a bidding element to the game that is not present in classic whist. Bid whist, along with spades, remains popular particular ...

, Five-Card Brag, Five Hundred, Newmarket,

Three-Card Brag Brag is an 18th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or "bluffing" family of gambling games. It is a descendant of the Elizabethan game of Primero and one of the several ancestors to poker, the modern ve ...

, Crash, Sergeant-Major * Pott: Tausendundeins * Skat: Admirals' Skat,

Fipsen Fipsen or Fips is an old north German card game for 4 or 5 players that resembles British Nap (card game), Nap in some respects. It is a trick-taking game played with a standard Skat pack that was once popular across North Germany in the former ...

North American Skat Skat (), historically Scat, is a three-player trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family, devised around 1810 in Altenburg in the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. It is the national game of Germany 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 ...

Schieberamsch Schieberamsch is an unofficial contract within the popular German card games, Skat and Schafkopf, but "also makes a good game in its own right."Skat * Start: Tausendundeins,

Wallachen Wallachen is an Old Bavarian card game, which used to be very popular in eastern Bavaria. Ober > Unter > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7. Trumps In the normal game, the card led to the first trick determines the trump suit for the hand. Within the trump su ...

* Stock:

Bavarian Tarock Bavarian Tarock () or, often, just Tarock, is a card game that was once popular in Bavaria and also played in parts of Austria as well as Berlin. The name is a clue to its origin in the historical German game of ross-arock, a game using traditio ...

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 ...

Bezique Bezique () or bésigue () is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players, which was imported to Britain and is still played today. The game is derived from piquet,''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Philolo ...

, Bisca, Bondtolva, Bourre,

Briscola Briscola (; ; ; ) is one of Italy's most popular games, together with Scopa and Tressette. A little-changed descendant of Brusquembille, the ancestor of briscan and bezique, Briscola is a Mediterranean trick-taking ace–ten card game for two t ...

, California Jack,

Canasta Canasta (; Spanish language, Spanish for "basket") is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two par ...

Coinche Coinche (), also called belote coinchée (), is a variant of the French belote. The rules of the game are the same, but there are differences in how cards are dealt and how trumps are chosen. Like most popular games, coinche rules may differ ...

Crazy Eights Crazy Eights is a Card game#Shedding games, shedding-type card game for two to seven players and the best known American member of the Eights Group which also includes Pig (card game), Pig and Spoons (card game), Spoons. The object of the game i ...

Cuarenta Cuarenta is the national card game of Ecuador. It is a fishing game played with the standard 52 card pack of Anglo-American playing cards, but all 10s, 9s and 8s are omitted (ace is low). This game is almost exclusively played in Ecuador. The nam ...

Durak Durak ( rus, дурак, p=dʊˈrak, a=Ru-дурак.ogg; ) is a traditional Russian card game that is popular in many post-Soviet states. It is Russia's most popular card game, having displaced Preferans. It has since become known in other part ...

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 ...

Eleusis Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost ...

, Gleek, Hand and Foot, Tausendundeins,

Klaberjass Klaberjass () or Bela is a trick-taking ace–ten card game that is most popular in Germans, German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack. As in other point-trick games of ...

, Klondike, Marjolet, Ristiklappi,

Rummy Rummy is a group of games related by the feature of matching playing cards, cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build ''Meld (cards), melds'' which can be either Set (cards), sets (three ...

, Sixty-Six, Skitgubbe,

Toepen Toepen (/ˈtupə(n)/) is a trick-taking Dutch card game for three to eight players, and is often played as a drinking game. Typically the number of players is 4. Rules Toepen is usually played with money. Each player starts with ten 'lives'. ...

Tute Tute () is a Trick-taking game, trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family for two to four players. Originating in Italy, where it was known as tutti, during the 19th century the game spread in Spain, becoming one of the most popular card ga ...

* Stoß:

German Rummy German Rummy or Rommé ( or ''Rommé mit Auslegen'') is the most popular form of the worldwide game, Rummy, played in Austria and Germany. It is a game for two to six players and is played with two packs of French playing cards, each comprising 52 ...

* Talon: Bauernschnapsen,

, Bohemian Schneider,

Droggn Droggn, sometimes called French Tarock () is an extinct card game of the Tarock family for three players that was played in the Stubai valley in Tyrol, Austria until the 1980s. ''Droggn'' is originally local dialect for "to play Tarock" (in stan ...

Elfern Elfern or Elfmandeln, is a very old, Germany, German and Austrian 6-card, no-trump, trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card, French-suited Piquet pack or German-suited Skat pack. The object is to win the majority of the 20 honours: the ...

Gaigel Gaigel is a card game from the Württemberg region of Germany and is traditionally played with Württemberg suited cards. It is a Swabian variant of Sechsundsechzig and may be played with 2, 3, 4 or 6 players. However, a significant difference from ...

Guinguette The guinguette (), originating in the 17th century, was a type of popular tavern in the suburb, suburbs of Paris and of other cities in France. The term comes from ''guinguet'', a type of cheap green wine served there. A ''goguette'' was a simi ...

, Hungarian Tarock,

Illustrated Tarock Illustrated Tarock () or Illustrated Dreiertarock is an Austrian card game that has been described as the "queen" of all three-handed Tarock games played with the 54-card pack. It was thought by Mayr and Sedlaczek to be extinct but, in 2009 whe ...

, Mau-Mau, Mariás,

Mauscheln Mauscheln, also Maus or Vierblatt, is a gambling card game that resembles Tippen, which is commonly played in Germany and the countries of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. Background Origin of the name The name Mauscheln means something like ...

Mizerka Mizerka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowa Sucha, within Sochaczew County, Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (prov ...

,''Mizerka''
at www.pagat.com. Retrieved 29 Jun 2018.

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 ...

Piquet Piquet (; ) is an early 16th-century plain-trick card game for two players that became France's national game. David Parlett calls it a "classic game of relatively great antiquity... still one of the most skill-rewarding card games for two" but ...

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 ...

Preference In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...

, Russian Bank,

Schnapsen Schnapsen, Schnapser or Schnapsa is a trick-taking card game of the bézique (ace–ten) family that is very popular in Bavaria and in the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and has become the national card game of Austria and Hung ...

, Sixty-Six, Treppenrommé, Ulti * Tapp:

, Tapp,

Tapp Tarock Tapp Tarock (), also called Viennese Tappen (), Tappen or Tapper, is a three-player tarot card game which traditionally uses the 54-card Industrie und Glück deck. Before the ''Anschluss'' (1938), it was the preferred card game of Viennese coffee h ...

Troggu Troggu is a member of the tarot family of card games. Synonyms for the game's name are: Trogga, Tappu and Tappä. It is played in the area of Visp, Switzerland, in Upper Wallis, especially in St. Niklaus and Grächen. After Troccas, it is the se ...

* Widow: Army and Navy

Pinochle Pinochle (), also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking ace–ten card game, typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by ...

, Auction Euchre, Auction Manille, Auction

, Smear, Widow Cinch, Widow Hearts, Widow Nap/ Sir Garnet, Widow

Footnotes

References

Literature

* Dummett, Sir Michael (1980). ''The Game of Tarot''. London: Duckworth. * * Card game terminology Playing cards {{card-game-stub

Description

Examples of usage

See also

Footnotes

References

Literature