Écarté
Thirty-two cards, five each. Ask for new cards or play as dealt, then take three tricks. 2 players.
How to play Écarté
- 1A game for two with 32 cards: Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 down to 7 in each suit. The King is the highest card, then the Queen, Jack, Ace, 10, 9, 8 and 7. Each player gets five cards, the next card is turned face up to name trump, and the rest are the stock. If that card is a King, the dealer scores 1 at once.
- 2Before any card is played, the non-dealer may play the hand as dealt or ask for fresh cards. The dealer may agree or refuse. If the dealer agrees, the non-dealer throws away one to five cards face down and draws the same number from the stock, then the dealer may do the same. The non-dealer may then ask again, until someone declines or the stock runs out.
- 3The non-dealer leads to the first trick. You must follow suit and beat the card led if you can. If you can't follow suit, you must play a trump if you have one. The trick goes to the higher trump, or else the higher card of the suit led, and its winner leads next.
- 4Holding the King of trumps, you can show it for 1 point just before you play your first card.
- 5Take three or four of the five tricks to score 1, or all five to score 2. If the non-dealer played without asking for cards, or the dealer refused the first request, and that player then takes fewer than three tricks, the other player scores 2 instead of 1.
- 6First to 5 points wins.
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