All-Fours
The
earliest description of the game of ALL-FOURS was published in 1674 in
Charles Cotton's The
Compleat Gamester. According to Cotton the game originated in
Kent and it is much played there. There are references to the game in
Fithian's Journal in Virginia in the 1770's. He comments that he is
embarrassed that his aunt is known to play this game, as it has a
reputation as a game of low repute.
Equipment:
1 Pack of 52 cards
Play:
This is a card game for two
players.
The two players decide
on a winning score before the game
begins. The winning score could be any number from 7 to 15. Most often
it is
11.
The first dealer is decided by cutting
the
pack of cards.
The 1674 rules say that the player with the highest PUT card wins. In
the game
of PUT the cards are ranked high to low in this order –
3,2,A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4. In all other
play of All Fours the cards are
ranked in the normal order.
The dealer deals six
cards to each player in groups of three
and turns up the next card – the 13th
card to show the proposed
TRUMP suit. If the card is a Jack it
scores 1 point. The other player may
either accept the trump suit or beg one. If the player begs, the dealer
must
either allow the player to score one point and throw in the cards or
deal
another three cards each and turn over another trump card and repeat
this until
a different trump suit is turned.
The player leads to the first trick.
Players
may trump at any time but can only throw a non-trump of a different
suit from
the lead if unable to follow suit. The higher trump wins, or if no
trump is played,
the higher card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the
next.
When all the cards have been
played,
points are scored in the following order. HIGHEST - one point for the
holder of the highest trump dealt. LOWEST - one point for the original
holder of the lowest trump dealt. JACK - one point for a player who
wins
a trick containing the jack of trumps. GAME - one point for the player
whose tricks contain the higher value in cards, counting ace=4, king=3,
queen=2,
jack=1, ten=10.
The first player to reach the winning
score – as agreed upon at the start of the game wins.
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