Écarté

Écarté, card game for two players, widely played in France and England during the 19th century. A 32-card deck is used, from which all cards lower than a seven have been removed. The cards rank, in descending order, king, queen, jack, ace, ten, nine, eight, seven. The players cut the deck, and the high-card holder becomes dealer. Five cards are dealt to each player, three cards in one round and two in the next. The 11th card is turned up and represents trump. During the game a trump-suit card will win over any other card. If the trump card is a king, the dealer scores one point; if the king of trumps is in the other player's hand, then this player scores one point, provided the player announces it before playing the first card.

If the nondealer is dissatisfied with the hand, he or she may propose to discard. The dealer may either accept or refuse. If the dealer accepts, each player discards as many cards as he or she pleases, an equivalent number of cards being dealt from the stock until the nondealer chooses to lead or insufficient cards remain in the deck to cover discards. After taking the new cards, the nondealer may propose to discard again, and the dealer may again accept or refuse. On refusal of the dealer, or on completion of the discard and redeal, the hand is played.

The nondealer leads the first card. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick. The second player must follow suit and is required to take the trick if he or she can. The trick winner leads the following trick.

In scoring, three tricks count one point; five tricks, known as vole, count two points. If the nondealer plays without proposing and fails to make three tricks, or if the dealer refuses the first proposal and fails to make three tricks, the opponent scores two points. The game is won with five points.