Rules for Piquet

Piquet is a classic two-player card game with a reputation for rewarding skill. It has been popular since the 16th century and appears in written sources as far back as 1535. The game combines strategy, memory, and careful card management.

The goal is to score points through card combinations and by winning tricks. A partie consists of six deals, and the player with the most points after all six rounds wins. To avoid being "rubiconed," a player must reach at least 100 points in total.

Piquet is played with a reduced deck of 32 cards. Remove all 2s through 6s, leaving 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace in each suit.

Card ranking (high to low):
A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7

A partie consists of 6 deals, with players taking turns as dealer. The player who draws the higher card deals first. The dealer is called "younger hand" and the other player "elder hand." It is an advantage to deal first, since you avoid dealing the sixth and final hand.

The dealer gives 12 cards to each player, usually in batches of three. The remaining 8 cards are placed face-down as the talon (the exchange pile).

Card exchange:

• Elder hand may exchange up to 5 cards but must exchange at least 1
• Younger hand may exchange up to however many cards remain in the talon (usually 3)
• To exchange, a player discards cards face-down and draws replacements from the top of the talon
• If a player exchanges fewer cards than allowed, they may look at the cards they could have taken

A player dealt no face cards (no Jack, Queen, or King) has "carte blanche" and scores 10 points immediately.

Elder hand must announce this before exchanging and show the cards briefly. Younger hand waits until elder hand has finished exchanging before announcing and showing carte blanche.

After exchanging, players declare their card combinations to score points. Elder hand declares first in each category:

1. Point (longest suit): The player with the most cards in a single suit scores one point per card. If both players have the same number, card values are compared (A=11, face cards=10, others face value). If still tied, neither scores.

2. Sequence (consecutive cards in the same suit):

• Tierce (3 cards): 3 points
• Quart (4 cards): 4 points
• Quint (5 cards): 15 points
• Sixième (6 cards): 16 points
• Septième (7 cards): 17 points
• Huitième (8 cards): 18 points

3. Set (cards of the same rank):

• Trio (three of a kind, tens or higher): 3 points
• Quatorze (four of a kind, tens or higher): 14 points

How declarations work: elder hand announces their best combination in each category. Younger hand responds with "Good" (elder hand wins), "Not good" (younger hand wins), or "Equal" (tied).

Two important bonuses can be earned during declarations and play:

• Repique: If a player reaches 30 points in declarations before the opponent scores anything, they receive 60 bonus points
• Pique: If a player reaches 30 points in total (declarations and tricks combined) before the opponent scores anything, they receive 30 bonus points. Only elder hand can earn pique, since they always score 1 point for leading the first trick

After declarations, the cards are played out in tricks. There are no trumps in Piquet.

• Elder hand leads to the first trick and scores 1 point for leading
• Players must follow suit if they can
• The highest card in the led suit wins the trick
• The winner of each trick leads to the next
• Each player scores 1 point for each trick they win
• Winning the last trick is worth 1 extra point

Trick bonuses:

• The player who wins more tricks (7 or more) scores 10 points for "the cards"
• If tricks are split 6-6, no bonus is awarded
• A player who wins all 12 tricks scores 40 points for "capot"

Players announce their running score out loud throughout the game. This is an important part of the game's tradition and helps both players track the state of play.

Points are scored for:

• Carte blanche: 10 points
• Point: 1 point per card in the longest suit
• Sequences: 3 to 18 points, depending on length
• Sets: 3 or 14 points
• Leading: 1 point (elder hand only)
• Tricks: 1 point per trick, plus 1 for winning the last
• Most tricks: 10 points
• Capot: 40 points
• Repique/Pique: 60/30 bonus points

After each deal, the points scored are recorded and added to the running partie total.

A partie ends after 6 deals. The player with the highest total score wins.

The Rubicon rule: If the losing player has scored fewer than 100 points, they are said to have been "rubiconed." In that case, the winner's margin is calculated as the sum of both players' scores plus 100.

Example: If the final scores are 128 and 85, the loser has not crossed the Rubicon. The winning margin becomes 128 + 85 + 100 = 313 points.

If the scores are tied after 6 deals, two extra deals are played to decide the partie.

Piquet gives players a lot of information to work with. You can often deduce a great deal about your opponent's hand as the game progresses.

• Keep track of which cards have been discarded and exchanged
• Use information from declarations to work out what your opponent is holding
• Balance the value of strong declarations against the need to win tricks
• Consider "sinking" (not declaring) certain combinations to hide information from your opponent
• Winning the majority of tricks creates a swing of at least 22 points
• Look for opportunities to earn repique or pique
• As younger hand, exchange carefully since your access to the talon is limited

Piquet rewards experience and memory. The more you play, the better you get.