Quadrille (card game)

Quadrille is a four-player trick-taking game of the Ombre family, played with a forty-card pack. Its lowest contract creates a concealed partnership between the declarer and the holder of a called King; its higher contracts are played alone against the other three players. Every deal is played, six of the ten tricks are required for victory, and the game uses permanent trumps headed by Spadille, the Ace of spades.

The form ordinarily called Quadrille in English corresponds to the later French game called Médiateur. The older French game named Quadrille was its direct ancestor, lacked both the favourite suit and the King-exchange contract, and is now chiefly of historical interest. The later form is therefore treated as the ordinary English game throughout this article; the older form and its differences are described at the end.

Quadrille developed in France at the end of the seventeenth century and became fashionable at the French court and among the British upper and middle classes, particularly women.^[1]

History and reception

A contemporary account dates the introduction of Quadrille to the southern provinces of France to about 1695 and states that it reached Paris and most other provinces several years later.^[2] The earliest known English rules appeared in 1720 as The Game of Quadrille; or Ombre by Four, a work presenting the game as a recent French import and the favourite game of the French court.^[3] A French treatise, Les Jeux de Quadrille et de Quintille, followed in 1724 and remarked that no one had yet collected the rules despite the game's rapid spread.^[4]

The later form was published in 1752 as Les Règles du Médiateur.^[5] It retained the ordinary structure of four-handed Ombre but added the favourite suit and the intermediate solo contract in which a called King is exchanged. English writers continued to use the older name Quadrille for the game as a whole; the exchange contract was also called Dimidiator or Commutation.^[6]

Quadrille appears repeatedly in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century diaries and literature. In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her guests play it on several occasions.^[7] Thomas Vernon recorded frequent games while exiled in Rhode Island during the American Revolution,^[8] and James Woodforde also mentioned it often in his diary. In Ireland, a Dublin pamphlet ostensibly proposing new rules caused controversy in 1736 when it proved to be a political attack by Archbishop Josiah Hort upon Richard Bettesworth MP.

The game requires strict silence from players and spectators. Because the partner in a simple call is initially unknown, a word, gesture, or conspicuous movement may reveal allegiance or alter the choice of card. The rule is especially important when the declaring side is considering the vole.

The central device of the called King used in Quadrille is an almost exact parallel to that used in Königrufen; the method of account is much like Grosstarock; and cards rank as in L'Hombre, of which this is a variation.

Rules

Scope and terminology

Unless otherwise stated, the following rules describe the later form known in English as Quadrille and in the French source as Médiateur.^[5] Rules peculiar to the older French game are placed under Historical Quadrille.

Four players receive ten cards each. The player who wins the bidding is the Taker, traditionally the Hombre. In a simple call, the player holding the called honour becomes the Taker's concealed partner, also called the Friend; the other two players are the defenders. In the Médiateur contract and in sans-prendre, the Taker plays alone against three defenders. Except where a rule depends specifically upon the card being a King, a reference to the called King also covers a non-trump Queen legally called by a player holding all four Kings.

Six tricks win a contract. Five tricks by the declaring side constitute a remise; four or fewer constitute a codille. A player or side that takes all ten tricks makes the vole. A beast is the stake penalty incurred for losing a contract or for certain irregularities.

The historical sources use relative positional expressions such as above and below the Taker. These refer to the order of play, not to a fixed diagram of the table. The term en cheville is retained in a few examples where the original positional expression has no exact modern English equivalent.

Silence is a rule of play rather than etiquette alone. No player or spectator may disclose the state of the cards, suggest a play, identify a partner, or influence a decision about the vole.

Equipment and stake

Quadrille traditionally uses the same type of European gaming counters as Ombre, Piquet, Nain Jaune, Grosstarock, and Trictrac à écrire. The ordinary denominations are round jetons or cents, fish-shaped counters known as fish, and square markers. Sets may be distinguished by colour or by the four suit signs, although the distinctions are not necessary to play. Some sets add a fourth, smaller round counter called a mil; it is not needed for the standard reckoning described below. (A mil is one-tenth of a cent, hence its name.)

Value of the counters
Counter	Value
Jeton	1 jeton
Fish	10 jetons
Marker	10 fish = 100 jetons

A common set contains ten jetons, ten fish and five markers, representing 610 jetons. An alternative set contains ten jetons, nineteen fish and five markers, representing 700 jetons. Seven fish, or 70 jetons, form a reprise; a loss of one or two reprises therefore means a net loss of seven or fourteen fish. (In the event mils are used, one of the jetons is replaced by ten mils, with the total being 6,100 or 7,000 mils.)

Before play begins, the players agree upon the monetary value of a fish and upon the number and value of the rounds. A sitting is the complete agreed game during which the players retain the same seats.

Pack and rank of the cards

Quadrille uses forty cards. A French-suited pack is prepared by removing the eights, nines and tens. A forty-card Spanish pack may be used instead: swords and clubs correspond to the black or historically “long” suits, while cups and coins correspond to the red or “round” suits; the Spanish caballo corresponds to the Queen.

The two black Aces are permanent trumps and therefore do not take their natural places in their own suits. The remaining cards rank as follows when their suit is not trump.

Natural rank, highest to lowest
Suits	Order
Hearts and diamonds	King, Queen, Jack, Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Spades and clubs	King, Queen, Jack, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

After the Taker names trumps, the trump suit ranks as follows.

Trump rank, highest to lowest
Red trump suit	Black trump suit
Spadille (Ace of spades)	Spadille (Ace of spades)
Manille (7 of the trump suit)	Manille (2 of the trump suit)
Baste (Ace of clubs)	Baste (Ace of clubs)
Ponte (Ace of the trump suit)	King
King	Queen
Queen	Jack
Jack	7
2	6
3	5
4	4
5	3
6	—

The Ace of spades, Spadille, is always the highest trump. The Ace of clubs, Baste, is always the third. The card between them is Manille: the two of the named suit when a black suit is trump, or the seven of the named suit when a red suit is trump. A red Ace is called Ponte only when its own suit is trump, in which case it ranks immediately below Baste. There is no Ponte in a black contract. A red trump suit consequently contains twelve trumps and a black trump suit eleven.

Spadille, Manille and Baste are the three true Matadors. When one or more true Matadors are the holder's only trumps, the holder need not follow an inferior trump lead and may discard instead. The privilege is limited in two ways. A player who also holds an ordinary trump must follow trumps, and a higher Matador led to the trick forces a lower one: Spadille forces Manille or Baste, and Manille forces Baste. A higher Matador played after an inferior trump does not force a lower Matador, because it was not the card led.

Cards continuing the unbroken trump sequence below Baste may be counted and paid as additional Matadors. Thus the three true Matadors together with Ponte and the trump King are called five Matadors in a red suit. These additional Matadors have the name and payment value only; they do not share the privilege of refusing a trump lead.

An unbroken sequence beginning with Manille when Spadille is missing is called a sequence of false Matadors. When none of the true Matadors is held by the Taker or declaring partnership, the Matadors are said to be outside.

To duck is to play below a card that could have been overtaken. A player unable to follow the suit led may trump, overtrump, or discard; neither trumping nor overtaking is compulsory. Before trumps are named, the two black Aces are ordinarily grouped with the prospective trump suit that gives the hand its best chance of success.

Seating, favourite, and rounds

Seats are drawn before the sitting. One method uses a King, Queen, Jack and Ace: the holder of the King chooses a seat, the Queen sits to the right, the Jack next, and the Ace in the remaining place. Another method uses two cards of each suit, one set laid at the four seats and the matching set drawn by the players. Suit-marked fish may be used in the same way. The last arrivals traditionally draw first.

A favourite suit, also called the preference, is then selected for the whole sitting. Under the first seating method, the holder of the King determines it; under the suit method, the holder of clubs does so. The selected player may have a pack cut and turn up the bottom card of the lifted portion, whose suit becomes the favourite. Alternatively, cards are dealt face up around the table until the first King appears; its suit is the favourite and the player before whom it falls deals first.

The favourite has two effects. First, a bid in the favourite outranks the same class of bid in an ordinary suit, subject to the earlier bidder's right to match it. Secondly, most payments for a contract in the favourite are doubled. The detailed exceptions appear under Scoring and payment.

A round consists of four deals, one by each player. The first dealer normally marks each returning round on a spare card. The length of a sitting is agreed beforehand: ten rounds with the last doubled is common, but eleven or twelve rounds and other arrangements are also recorded. A doubled round is called a round of grand poulans; all four deals in it are played at the agreed double rate.

The deal and preparation of the packs

Two prepared packs are ordinarily used so that one may be shuffled while the other is in play. The dealer takes the pack placed on the right, shuffles it, and offers it to the player on the left to cut. The lifted portion is placed beneath the portion left on the table.

Beginning with the player on the right, the dealer gives ten cards to each player in two packets of three and one packet of four. The packets may be dealt in the order 3–3–4, 3–4–3, or 4–3–3, but no other packet sizes are permitted. After the cards have been distributed, the dealer places six fish partly forward on the table; this is putting up the poulans.

The player on the dealer's right, who was first hand in the completed deal, becomes the next dealer and takes the prepared pack from the right. The player opposite the dealer gathers the used cards, shuffles or otherwise prepares them, and places that pack on the left so that it will lie on the next dealer's right. This duty is called doing the housekeeping. Each player should perform the assigned housekeeping personally, because a pack placed on the wrong side may obscure the order of dealing.

The next dealer should distribute the cards and put up the poulans before settling the preceding account. The dealer speaks last in the bidding and can therefore examine the hand and settle payments while the other players speak.

A deal is void and must be repeated if a card is exposed during distribution, if the pack contains too many or too few cards, or if two copies of the same card are found before play is complete. A faulty dealer deals again but incurs no beast. If a duplicate or defective pack is discovered only after the deal has been fully played and settled, that deal and all earlier deals stand.

If a player deals out of turn and the error is discovered before distribution is complete, the deal is void. If all cards have been distributed and hands have been taken up, the deal stands and the out-of-turn dealer puts up the poulans. The player who should have dealt deals next, and the mistaken dealer is skipped when that player's proper turn arrives.

Bidding and contracts

Procedure and precedence

The player on the dealer's right is first to speak; bidding continues in the same direction as the deal, and the dealer speaks last. Each player either passes or announces a contract. A player who has passed may not re-enter the bidding, and a bid once made cannot be withdrawn.

The four principal methods of playing are the simple call, Médiateur, sans-prendre, and a declared vole. The favourite creates a higher grade of each of the first three contracts.

Order of bids, lowest to highest
Rank	Bid
1	Simple call in an ordinary suit
2	Simple call in the favourite
3	Médiateur in an ordinary suit
4	Médiateur in the favourite
5	Sans-prendre in an ordinary suit
6	Sans-prendre in the favourite
7	Declared vole

A stronger bid displaces a weaker one. Between equal bids, the earlier player has priority. A later player may therefore displace an ordinary bid by bidding the same contract in the favourite; the earlier bidder may retain priority by undertaking the same contract in the favourite, or may announce a still stronger contract.

After the bidding is settled, the Taker names the trump suit and, when the contract requires one, the called honour. The first suit named is irrevocably trump even if it was spoken by mistake; if two suits are named, the first is trump and the second identifies the called King or Queen. The first hand then makes the opening lead.

If all four players pass, the holder of Spadille must make a simple call. This is a forced Spadille. A last player who intends to rely upon this compulsory right must say so; otherwise the undertaking is treated as voluntary and the ordinary personal-trick requirement applies.

Simple call

A simple call, also described as asking permission or simply asking, creates a partnership. The Taker names trumps and calls a King, or a permitted Queen when all four Kings are held; the holder of that honour becomes the concealed partner. The Taker and called partner combine their tricks and need six between them, while the other two players defend together.

A voluntary simple call should ordinarily be based upon four nearly certain tricks in the Taker's own hand. The usual later rule requires the Taker to make at least four personal tricks when the contract is lost. If that minimum is not reached, the Taker alone bears the beast and consolation; otherwise the called partner shares gains and losses equally. Some circles agree before play to use the older three-trick minimum instead.

The following rules govern the choice of King:

The King of a suit in which the Taker is in rule should be preferred. A hand is in rule when it contains only one card of the called suit and can therefore become void when that card is led.
If the hand is in rule in no suit, the King of the shortest suit should be called.
A King in a suit in which the Taker is already void should be called only when necessary, because the Taker cannot lead that suit to identify the partner.
With equal red and black holdings, a red King is normally preferable because a red suit contains one more card and is less likely to be ruffed immediately.
If the equally long black suit contains the Queen while the red suit contains only the Jack or lower cards, the black King should be called so that the Queen may become master.
The King of trumps may not be called.
A player may call a King already held. The caller then plays alone, must make six tricks without assistance, and wins or loses alone; no sans-prendre premium is attached to the undertaking.
A player holding all four Kings may call a Queen other than the trump Queen.

Until the called King or an unambiguous play reveals its holder, every player must allow for the possibility that an apparent opponent is the partner. A forced-Spadille caller is exempt from the ordinary personal minimum and shares a loss with the called partner even after making only one trick, but may not undertake the vole.

Médiateur

The Médiateur contract stands between a simple call and sans-prendre. It is appropriate when the hand contains five expected tricks and requires one called honour to supply the sixth.

The Taker names trumps and a King, or a permitted Queen when all four Kings are held. The holder gives the called honour face up to the Taker in exchange for one fish and one card chosen from the Taker's hand. The returned card is concealed from the other defenders. After the exchange the Taker plays alone against all three opponents and must make six tricks.

The discarded card should normally come from the shortest side suit so that the Taker creates or approaches a void. Unlike a simple caller, a Médiateur bidder normally calls the King of the longest suit: the received King may establish further cards in that suit, while the discard is used to shorten another. The ordinary restrictions on calling the trump King and the provision allowing a player with all four Kings to call a non-trump Queen continue to apply.

The called honour must be shown during the exchange. This prevents a substituted Matador or other card from being passed between confederates. The discard, by contrast, must remain concealed because its identity would reveal the Taker's distribution.

Sans-prendre

In sans-prendre the Taker receives no card and plays alone against the other three players. Six tricks must be made from the original hand. A bid of sans-prendre in the favourite outranks the same bid in an ordinary suit; a declared vole outranks both.

The defenders combine their tricks. The Taker receives every payment alone upon winning and pays every opponent alone upon losing.

Declared and undertaken vole

A declared vole is announced during the bidding and promises all ten tricks. It may be declared through Médiateur, when the original hand contains nine expected tricks and the exchanged King is expected to supply the tenth, or through sans-prendre, when the original hand is expected to take all ten. The Médiateur declaration was not admitted in every circle. A declared vole outranks every other bid.

A vole may instead be undertaken during an ordinary simple call, Médiateur, or sans-prendre. If the declaring side has won the first six tricks and the opponents none, leading a card to the seventh trick commits the declarer or partnership to attempt all ten; the undertaking cannot then be withdrawn, even if the seventh card was led inadvertently.

In a simple call, the called King must have appeared before the vole may be undertaken. A forced-Spadille contract is ineligible, and speech or signalling that influences the decision may forfeit the right or incur the beast. Failure of an undertaken vole does not undo the six-trick victory: the underlying contract remains won, but the failed-vole premium is paid to the opponents.

Evaluating a hand

A hand is evaluated by counting cards likely to make tricks, then charging missing higher trumps against the lowest cards of the proposed trump suit. The calculation is an estimate based on an ordinary distribution of the cards, not upon the worst possible division.

Four principles govern the estimate:

A player holding the suit led must follow it.
Following suit is sufficient; overtaking is not compulsory.
A player unable to follow may trump or discard.
A bid, once made, cannot be withdrawn.

For example, consider ♥KQA67 ♠K ♣J6 ♦27. If hearts are trumps, the seven becomes Manille and the Ace becomes Ponte. The five hearts and the King of spades offer six prospective tricks. Missing Spadille and Baste are charged against the two lowest hearts, leaving four reasonably secure tricks. The hand is therefore suitable for a simple call in hearts, calling the King of diamonds and expecting the called partner to supply the other two tricks.

As a second example, consider Spadille, Baste, ♠Q43 ♦QJ ♥25 ♣J. With spades as trumps, missing Manille is charged against the three and the missing trump King against the four. Spadille, Baste and the trump Queen remain effective, while the Queen and Jack of diamonds together count as one eventual master card. The hand therefore contains four expected tricks and may be played by a simple call in spades, calling the King of clubs. It may also be strong enough for Médiateur.

Missing honours should be charged against the lowest cards of a sequence, not against its highest cards. Treating Baste as useless merely because Manille is missing, or the trump Queen as useless merely because the King is missing, understates the hand: the higher cards draw the missing honours and the lower cards are the tricks sacrificed.

A King is ordinarily counted as a trick because it is normally played on the first lead of its suit, before an opponent has become void. A Queen and Jack together may also count as one eventual trick: one falls under the King and the other becomes master. A Queen guarded by only one low card is not normally certain, because the holder of the King may withhold it from the low card and take the Queen later. Such a Queen is an encouragement rather than a secure item in the count.

The same method applies to every contract; only the required number of expected tricks changes. A simple call normally requires four, Médiateur five, sans-prendre six, and a declared vole nine with an exchange or ten without one.

Playing the cards

General conduct

Every deal consists of ten tricks. A player must follow the suit led whenever possible, but is not obliged to overtake. A player who cannot follow may trump, overtrump, or discard. The winner of each trick leads to the next. A card drawn from the hand and presented face up must be played whenever withdrawing it could communicate information or prejudice the game; a solo player is exempt because no partner can benefit.

Completed tricks may be inspected and counted only when it is the inspecting player's turn to act. No hand may be shown before the result is secure, except by a player acting entirely alone. Speech, gestures, or deliberate movements that disclose information are contrary to the game.

Simple call: partnership play

Every player, whether attacking or defending, should have no object except to assist the partner and oppose the adversaries. Every player’s particular duties flow from this rule.

To assist one another, partners must know one another; obtaining that knowledge is the first duty of every player.
Once the called player is known, that player must immediately show the best cards held, both trumps and Kings.
When the called player has no more high trumps or Kings, a singleton side card should be led, if one is held.
When the called player has neither a high card nor a singleton side card, the play should follow the caller’s rule—that is, the suit of the called King should be led.
When the called player, immediately after playing the called King, leads a low side card of the same suit, the Taker should not expect much further help and must husband the hand.
When the called player leads a high trump and is allowed to win the trick, that player should conclude that the higher Matadors are in the partner’s hand and should continue leading trumps.
If the caller leads a low trump before discovering who holds the called King, the called player must play the highest trump held. Players who are not called should, on the contrary, play only middling or low trumps.
Until one’s partner is known, or until one is certain that the partner holds a particular high card, no trick should be ducked, for fear of favouring an opponent.
In a called game one must never conceal the strength of the hand, especially when the partner sits in a middle position.
As soon as the called player has revealed the partnership, trumps should be led if the Taker is last to play.
In that position the called player should not spare trumps; when on lead, the player may lead one even before showing the called King.
If the known called partner leads a low trump while the Taker sits in a middle position, the Taker must play the highest trump held and lead a low trump upon next gaining the lead.
The first defender to gain the lead should lead a singleton side card, if one is held; next, a King accompanied by its Queen; and third, the side suit in which the fewest low cards are held.
A player should always return the suit requested by the partner.
When the partner sits in a middle position, change suits after a suit has been played two or three times.
When following any suit, do so with the lowest cards.
When the partner is last to play, the more often a suit has been played, the more insistently it should be continued.
When a suit has already been played several times and the player sits in a middle position, trump with a high trump or use the opportunity to create a void in another suit.
When discarding, begin with the suit in which the player holds the fewest cards, especially a suit the opponents are trumping.
A player should continue discarding from the same suit until none of it remains.
A player should observe carefully whether the partner is void in a suit or has begun discarding it, so that the suit may be led.
A player should observe the opponents’ voids and discarded suits, so that those suits may be avoided.
If a player holds a guarded Queen, or two cards forming a tenace around a missing King, the opponents should be put on lead in another suit so that they must attack the tenace.
A player should never draw a card from the hand before the turn to play has arrived.

Explanation of the rules governing a simple call

1. The first particular rule concerns all four players. It directs each to reveal as soon as possible which side they belong to. Without this rule, partners would often injure rather than assist one another. The first objective must therefore be to obtain that knowledge, although each player has a different way of bringing it about.

As soon as the called player gains the lead—that is, as soon as that player wins a trick or has the opening lead—the called King should ordinarily be played before anything else. The partnership can then no longer be mistaken, subject to the special circumstances covered by the ninth rule.

If the Taker gains the lead before the called player has been able to reveal the partnership, the Taker should lead a low card of the called King’s suit. The player who wins that trick without its being trumped may safely be regarded as holding the King in question, even if the trick is won only with the Jack or some lower card. See the explanation of the sixth rule.

One of the two opponents reveals that the called King is not held by leading a suit other than the called suit.

The other opponent is identified by returning the suit led by the first, since, having recognised a partner, that player must follow the fourteenth rule.

The reason for the third rule should be made explicit: Call the King of a suit in which the Taker is void only when necessity compels it.

If the Taker is void in the suit of the called King, the declarer cannot identify the partner by leading that suit. A doubtful trick may then have to be taken or ducked before the called player can reveal the King. Calling a suit actually held therefore gives the Taker a more reliable means of discovering the partnership.

Secondly, when the Taker is void in a suit and does not call its King, the declarer can trump that King if it lies with an opponent, or discard if it lies with the partner.

Suppose, however, that the caller could not avoid acting against this third rule. Upon gaining the lead, nothing will identify the partner better than leading a low trump.

This expedient may fail and may even prove harmful, although it is the safest means after leading the called suit. See the explanation of rule 7.

2. The second rule directs the known called partner to display the best cards held, beginning with Matadors, if any, and then Kings. By leading Matadors, the partner draws opposing trumps and protects high cards in both declaring hands. There is nevertheless one situation in which the called player gains more by leading a low trump before the Matadors. See the explanation of rule 12.

If the called player leads only a lower Matador or another high card and is allowed to win the trick, there is reason to believe that the superior trumps are in the partner’s hand, and the sixth rule should then be followed.

The called player should play Kings before low side cards. Otherwise a void Taker, unable to tell whether an unplayed King belongs to the partner or an opponent, may be forced by rule 8 to spend a trump unnecessarily.

3. After showing the high trumps and Kings—or when holding neither—the called player should lead a singleton side card, if one is held, because the Taker will then act in accordance with rule 14 and return the suit.

4. The called player shows that there are no high trumps, Kings, or singleton side cards by following the caller’s rule—that is, by leading a low card of the called King’s suit. This is the last resource.

That suit should be preferred to every other because the caller, in choosing one King rather than another, is presumed to have followed the first or second rule governing the choice. By leading the master card of that suit, if held, or otherwise a low card, the called partner supplies the advantage for which the choice was made.

5. When the called player leads a low card of the same suit immediately after the called King, the Taker should expect little further help and must husband the hand. The play makes it certain that any Matadors and Kings absent from the Taker's own cards are in the opponents’ hands, since the partner has shown that none are held.

To husband the hand, the Taker should play the Kings before the opponents have time to create voids in those suits and trump them.

After the Kings, the Taker should play the suit containing the fewest low side cards. There is one occasion on which low side cards should be played before the Kings; see the explanation of rule 23.

6. If the called player leads a high trump such as Baste and is allowed to win, the higher trumps may be inferred to lie with the partner; a defender holding one would normally have taken the trick. Trumps should therefore continue to be led for as long as the called player is allowed to win them.

When a player in a middle position wins a trick with a card while higher cards of the same suit remain unplayed, it may be taken as certain that those higher cards are either in the winner’s own hand or in the hand of the winner’s partner, who deliberately declined to overtake.

Accordingly, when the Taker leads a low card of the called King’s suit, a player who wins from a middle position with the Jack or a lower card may be assumed to hold an unbroken sequence in that suit up to the King. The player would have used the King rather than the Jack if there had been reason to fear the Queen in the hand of someone still to play.

7. If the caller leads a low trump before discovering the holder of the called King, it must be supposed that the King was called in a suit in which the Taker is void. The player who holds the called King must do everything possible to win the trick and therefore plays the strongest trump held.

Even if the called player does not win and consequently cannot lead the King to identify the partnership, the play nevertheless reveals that player as the Taker's partner. An opponent would have played only a low trump, as this same rule directs.

An inference made from this rule can nevertheless be wrong when the called player and one defender are forced by their cards to act contrary to it. Suppose, for example, that a defender’s only trump is a high one, though below the Matadors. The defender cannot play a low trump because none is held and cannot exercise the Matador privilege; the high trump must therefore be played. The called player ought to overtake it, but if unable to do so should play only a low trump. The Taker will then wrongly conclude that the player of the high trump is the partner and mistakenly treat the true partner, who played low, as an opponent.

This means of discovering the partner is therefore much less certain than calling a King in a suit in which the Taker holds at least one card.

When the caller begins with a low trump before the partner is known, the two opponents may otherwise be forced to overtake one another. If one plays a high trump, the other, acting under rule 8, should take it when able. To prevent that inconvenience, rule 7 directs uncalled players to contribute only low trumps, unless they can win with Spadille.

The called player must play the highest trump held, either to win the trick or at least to make the opponents pay dearly for it. On seeing a high trump played over the Taker's low one, the defenders should overtake if possible and should regard the player of that high trump as the declared partner of the Taker—although, as just shown, the inference is not always certain.

If the called player has used Baste or Ponte and is allowed to win, the sixth rule applies; before continuing trumps, however, the called King must be played so that the Taker has no remaining cause for doubt.

8. Until the partner is known, and until one is certain that the partner holds a particular superior card, no trick should be ducked for fear of favouring an opponent.

This rule confirms that one should not play a high trump when an as-yet-unidentified partner may remain to act. The rule directs that partner to overtake; if the first player had used the highest trumps, the two partners might draw one another’s best cards, which they must avoid.

A called player is equally wrong to play Manille or Baste before revealing the King, because the Taker, not knowing the partnership, must act under this rule. If the Taker were free to duck, defenders could occasionally play Matadors while pretending to be the partner and thus secure their tricks.

9. When the partner sits in a middle position, the strength of the hand must not be concealed. It would therefore be wrong to lead the Jack while holding the whole sequence. If the partner were void in that suit, the partner would reasonably trump, believing the higher cards to be in the opponents’ hands. A trump would thereby be wasted, since the trick would have belonged to the same side in any event. The fault arises solely because the leader concealed the hand instead of beginning with the King. Had the King been led, the partner would not only have saved the low trump but could also have used the opportunity to discard toward a void.

What has been said of the Jack applies to every card below a known master card in the same suit.

10. If the Taker is last to play, the called partner, after revealing the partnership, must lead trumps at once, even when holding only one. This draws the defenders’ trumps. To force the Taker they must play their highest; if they played only middling trumps, the Taker could win more cheaply, while the Matadors would remain to bring down the high trumps the defenders had tried to save.

Still supposing the Taker last to play, the called partner should lead any Matadors before low trumps, thereby fulfilling the second rule. Leading only a low trump would make the Taker believe that the partner held no Matador, since none had been shown. That error could injure the partnership: with a weak hand, the Taker might husband it too carefully and thereby lose; with a hand capable of a vole, the Taker might decline the attempt in the belief that the Matadors were held by the defenders. Had the partner shown them, the vole might have been secure, because after the Matadors the partner would have led another low trump and completely exhausted the opponents.

If the called player has no Matador, a low trump should be led rather than a middling one. There is little need to disclose the middling trump; the low one will force the opponents just as effectively, while the middling card may later be useful in a situation where the low one would not.

11. Under the same continuing circumstance—the Taker being last in relation to the called player—the latter should never hesitate to lead low trumps, even before the called King. Such play sufficiently identifies the partnership, since no opponent would willingly behave in that way.

As soon as the caller gains the lead, the suit of the called King will be led. The holder of that King will ordinarily win and may then lead trump once or twice more, especially when there is reason to believe that the higher trumps are in the Taker's hand. In this way the called partner strips the defenders of trumps that might otherwise be used to ruff. The trumps must nevertheless be husbanded enough to retain one for ruffing, especially when the called player is already void, or close to becoming void, in a side suit.

12. When the Taker sits in a middle position in relation to the called partner, that partner, after becoming known, should lead a low trump rather than a Matador. Since this is the only situation in which the partner should play in that manner, the Taker may conclude with certainty that a Matador is held. The Taker therefore plays the highest trump over the low one in order to win the trick and, upon gaining the lead, returns another low trump. This arrangement makes the opponents play between the two partners and exposes their best trumps before the partnership commits its remaining strength.

This method becomes more advantageous as the called player’s Matadors become stronger.

13. The first defender to gain the lead reveals that role, even before the called King appears, by leading any suit other than the called suit. The proper play is a singleton side card, if one is held. If there is none—or after it has been led—the defender should play a King accompanied by its Queen, or else the suit containing the fewest low side cards. The next rule will show the advantage gained from this course.

Sometimes the first defender to gain the lead should play a low trump—for example, when the called King is not yet known and the Taker sits immediately to the defender’s right. Not knowing the partner, and still less the partner’s strength, the Taker will ordinarily take with the highest trump held. It is nevertheless advisable for the Taker to play the lowest trump and let the trick go, since it may be won by the true partner.

14. When a player on lead has played a low side card, a known partner should, upon next gaining the lead, return that suit, having reason to believe that it was not led without good cause. Thus, under the preceding rule, the first defender leads a side card because it is a singleton; the other defender gains an advantage by returning the suit, thereby allowing the first to discard or trump.

If a player has led a King, the partner should likewise return that King’s suit. In a word, this rule requires one always to give a partner what the partner has asked for. The suit asked for is the one the partner has led or the suit of the King the partner has called.

Observation. The called player can abuse the two preceding rules by leading a singleton side card before revealing the King. Each defender will separately take the leader for a partner, and whichever wins the trick will not fail to return the singleton suit in accordance with rule 13. If the trick is then ducked to the Taker, or the leader trumps the returned suit and afterward produces the called King, the defenders discover the deception only after returning the requested suit.

The ruse may occasionally succeed, but habitual use destroys the inference on which ordinary partnership play depends. Once the tactic is expected, defenders will no longer return a suit merely because its leader appears to be their partner. It is therefore an exceptional deception rather than sound regular play.

15. When a suit has been played twice, it should not be played a third time if one’s partner sits in a middle position, because the partner would be exposed to being overtrumped.

This rule must be observed all the more strictly when there is reason to suspect that the opponent sitting after the partner is void in the suit.

16. The sixteenth rule directs a player to follow any suit with the lowest cards, preserving the higher ones so that they may become masters. If the opponent sitting after the partner has discarded the high cards of a suit, it may be regarded as certain that the opponent has now become void in it. Rule 15 must then be followed with particular care, unless the cards one holds in the repeatedly played suit have themselves become master cards. In that event the suit may be played even for the fourth or fifth time, since the partner is free either to trump or to discard.

17. When the partner is last to play, the proper conduct is entirely different. The more often a suit has been played, the more insistently it should be continued, especially when the partner is known to be void. The partner sees the opponents’ actions before playing: if they trump, the partner can overtrump; if unable to do so, or if they have ducked the trick to the partner’s side, the partner may likewise duck and discard according to rule 19.

18. A player in a middle position, when the same suit is continued for the third or fourth time, should trump with the highest trumps so that the player sitting afterward is unable to overtrump.

If no high trump is held, the cards already played in the repeated suit should be counted. If only the card now on the table remains, discarding is preferable to spending a low or middling trump that is unlikely to win. If several cards of the suit remain unplayed, a low trump may be used simply to take the lead away from the player repeatedly attacking the suit.

19. The first suit to discard should be the one in which the fewest cards are held, because the object of discarding is to reach a void as quickly as possible. If equal holdings make it immaterial which of several suits is chosen, preference should be given to a suit the opponents are trumping, so that one may later overtrump them, or to a suit in which their Kings are expected, so that those Kings may later be ruffed.

20. Once a player has begun discarding a suit, no other suit should be discarded until the first has been exhausted. Discarding from two suits at once delays the creation of either void.

21. When a player is observed discarding a particular suit, it should be concluded that the preceding rule is being followed. The partner should therefore lead that suit upon gaining the lead. The player may already have become void; at the least, the return will make it easier to do so.

If the partner has discarded two different suits, the player on lead need not be perplexed. The preceding rule supplies the answer. Since the partner has begun discarding a second suit, the first must already have been exhausted. The first should therefore be led in preference to the suit still being discarded, because the partner is not yet known to be void in the latter.

22. The same reasons that oblige the players to give a partner the suit asked for prescribe the opposite duty toward an opponent. It is advantageous to lead into a partner’s voids and into a suit the partner is discarding. A player should therefore observe the suit in which an opponent is discarding, and especially any suit in which that opponent is already void, and avoid leading it where possible.

One circumstance nevertheless permits a departure from this rule—and rule 17 even commands it—namely, when one is certain that the partner is likewise void in the suit and sits last, able to watch all the opponents’ cards before deciding whether to overtrump or discard.

23. When one holds two cards forming a tenace around a missing card, it is advantageous to wait and be attacked in that suit. For example, a player holding the King and Jack of hearts should avoid leading hearts when possible, in the hope of making the Jack master. If the King is led, the holder of the Queen would preserve it and follow with a low heart; the Queen would then remain superior to the Jack. If instead the player waits to be attacked in hearts, the holder of the Queen may sit before the player and play it to force the King. The Queen is then taken with the King, and the Jack becomes master of the suit. This example applies to every analogous situation.

Spadille and Baste impose the same duty. A player holding them should wait to be attacked in trumps, because the holder of Manille will play it in an effort to force; Spadille takes Manille, and Baste then becomes master.

This consideration confirms the reason for rules 10 and 11. A guarded Queen likewise favours waiting for an opponent to lead the suit. When the King is led, the low guard may be played, leaving the Queen master of the suit.

If the partner is last to play and there is nothing better to lead, one should play the low card guarding the Queen. The opponents in the middle, even if holding the King and Jack, will ordinarily play the King for fear that the Queen is in the hand still to act. If, however, they have reason to suspect this play, or if it is their only resource for defeating the contract, they should underplay—that is, holding the King and Jack, they should play only the Jack. Such a finesse is sometimes useful, as just shown; but very often the Queen is in the hand still to play, in which case neither the Jack nor the King wins, since the King is frequently trumped when its suit is led a second time.

Because underplaying always involves risk, it should ordinarily be reserved for an attempt to rescue an otherwise desperate game.

A player holding Manille guarded by one other trump is in the same position as a player holding a guarded Queen. The proper action under the different circumstances has already been prescribed. One further rule is that, if a defender in a middle position holds Manille with one guard, that defender should carefully avoid trumping a side suit. If overtrumped, the declarer may then lead Spadille and bring down the now-unguarded Manille.

When Manille or Baste is a singleton trump, it should be used to trump if the opportunity arises. Otherwise Spadille may later force it out, and the player will have lost the chance either to win a trick with it or at least to force a high card for the benefit of the partner.

24. A player must never draw a card before the turn to play. A card prepared in advance may reveal that its holder can follow the suit led and thereby resolve another player's uncertainty about whether to trump high or low.

Had the player been void, it would have been necessary to wait for the play before deciding what to do; there would therefore have been no reason to prepare a card in advance.

Reasons for the rules on calling a King

The rules for choosing the called King follow from the partnership methods described above.

Rules 1 and 2. These rules direct the caller to name the King of a suit in which the hand is in rule, or at least the King of the shortest suit, because it is easier to create a void there and because the called player will certainly lead that suit in accordance with rules 4 and 14 of the preceding article.

Rule 3. A King should be called in a suit in which the Taker is void only from necessity, for the reasons given in the preceding explanation.

Rule 4. In evaluating a hand, Kings are counted as tricks; if they are ruffed, however, the reckoning will ordinarily fail. The caller should therefore reduce that danger. Calling a red King does so because the opponents can become void in a black suit more quickly, there being one fewer low card in a black suit than in a red one. Other things being equal, the Taker should consequently call a red King rather than a black, since there is less reason to fear that it will be ruffed.

Rule 5. The fifth rule directs the caller to choose a black King when the hand contains that suit’s Queen, while in the equally long red suit the hand contains only the Jack or some lower card, even though the preceding rule would otherwise apply.

In that position the fifth rule is more valuable than the general preference for a red King. If the Queen is a singleton and the Taker leads it, the partner may duck the trick to the Queen while retaining the King for another trick. If the Queen is guarded and the Taker leads a lower card, the called player wins with the King and leaves the Queen master. The advantage of obtaining what amounts to two Kings should, in both a simple call and Médiateur, override the general preference for calling a red King.

Rule 6. The King of the trump suit cannot be called, because it would supply assistance not only as a King but also as a trump.

Rule 7. A player may legally call a King already held, but receives no assistance and must make six tricks alone, whether the declaration was framed as a simple call or as Médiateur. Sans-prendre normally gives the same practical task for a higher payment and is therefore preferable when the call is deliberate.

The rule chiefly governs mistakes: because the call is legal when deliberate, a player who names a King already held through inattention cannot withdraw the declaration.

Rule 8. A player holding all four Kings cannot receive assistance by calling a King. The rule allowing a non-trump Queen to be called preserves the partnership or exchange mechanism for such a hand.

A special difficulty arises when a player holds three Kings and can foresee five tricks by naming as trump the suit of the missing King. That King cannot be called because it is the trump King, and the established rule does not permit a Queen to be called unless all four Kings are held. The source argues that permission to call a Queen might justly be extended to this exceptional case, although it presents the point as a proposed reform rather than an established law.

Play when the vole is possible

The vole is undertaken as soon as a seventh card is played after the declaring side has made six tricks and the opponents none.

If the called player made the fifth trick and must therefore lead toward the sixth, the play should put the Taker in a position to win that sixth trick, unless the called player’s own cards make the vole certain.
If the Taker does not have a hand fit for the vole, the sixth trick should be taken and the hand laid down.
If, on the contrary, the Taker hopes to make the vole, the sixth trick should be ducked to the called player. As soon as the caller has deliberately allowed that sixth trick to pass, the called player must undertake the vole without hesitation, however little strength remains. If the attempt fails, responsibility lies with the Taker's deliberate duck of the sixth trick.
When intending to undertake the vole, draw any trumps that may remain with the opponents and could be used to ruff.
Defenders who fear the vole must be more exact in their discards than on any other occasion. They should discard from suits in which the declaring players are void. They should not hesitate to throw away Kings in such suits, in order to preserve Queens guarded by one card and Jacks guarded by two in suits not yet played—suits in which they have reason to believe the declaring side is trying to establish master cards.
Three circumstances exclude the declaring side from the right to the vole:
1. The called King has not been played by the time the sixth trick is complete.
2. The contract was played by a forced Spadille.
3. Either declaring player has said anything, however slight, capable of affecting the play.

These three exclusions have the following reasons.

1. The called King has not appeared. A called player may reveal the partnership without playing the King. For example, holding the sequence, the player may win with the Jack, thereby giving the Taker to understand that the Queen and King of the suit are also held. If the trick had been won with the King, the Taker would not know that the Queen and Jack remained in the partner’s hand. Knowledge of even one additional master card in the partner’s hand may be enough to induce and secure a vole that the Taker would not otherwise have attempted.

The second and better reason for excluding the vole when the King has not appeared is that the Taker might refuse to pay for a failed vole, arguing that there was not sufficient certainty that the player who had made tricks was truly the partner, since that player had an opportunity to show the King and failed to do so. To preserve tranquillity and equality and put an end to every dispute, the right to the vole had to be denied to players who might refuse its penalty upon losing and who might, in some cases, genuinely have failed to recognise as partner the person making the tricks.

2. Forced Spadille. A player compelled to play by holding Spadille is excluded from the vole in compensation for the privilege of not bearing the beast alone. A further reason is that, if Spadille had not yet appeared when the vole was contemplated, the called player would know with certainty that this important card lay in the Taker's hand.

3. Speech affecting the game. If the Taker or called player says anything capable of influencing the play, the defenders may lay down their cards and refuse the vole. The rule is strict because even a slight remark may determine whether the seventh card is led.

Speech capable of affecting the game includes the following conduct.

A player, either at the beginning or during the course of a deal, announces or hints that the declaring side may make the vole.
A player tells the partner that a particular card has become master. That alone may induce the partner either to trump or not to trump, according to the circumstances.
A player tells the partner that a particular suit has already been trumped.
When the partner is to play, a player spreads out the completed tricks without being asked. The object is then less to resolve a genuine doubt than to give the partner an opportunity to notice facts thought advantageous.
A player corrects the partner for miscounting the trumps or the cards already played in another suit.
A player uses words calculated to encourage the partner and remove uncertainty. The tone often conveys more than the words themselves, and a partner who understands the meaning readily acts upon it.

A player may not prevent a partner from undertaking the vole by illegitimate means. Doing so incurs the beast, even when the intervention merely warns the player whose turn it is that the side has already made six tricks. Keeping count is that player's own responsibility.

Non-verbal signals made with the eyes, hands, shoulders, or legs are equally fraudulent. The historical source prescribes no automatic stake penalty because intention would be difficult to prove consistently, but treats the conduct as cheating.

In a vole, as in every other circumstance, Quadrille requires strict silence from players and spectators alike. Spectators may advise only with the unanimous consent of the players; otherwise even a single comment about the deal may replace an inference that a player ought to make from the cards.

At the moment of acting, any player may inspect all completed tricks in order to recover forgotten information. The request may be refused at any other time, because an out-of-turn examination can draw another player's attention to facts that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

If a player acting in turn mistakes another player's hand for completed tricks and exposes it, the two players share a beast: the first for exposing the cards and the second for leaving the live hand where it could be mistaken for a trick. The rule also prevents either player from arranging such an exposure deliberately.

If a player out of turn turns over a hand instead of the completed tricks, that player incurs the whole beast alone; the owner of the exposed hand is not punished.

Solo contracts: sans-prendre and Médiateur

The same fundamental rule that governed conduct in a simple call applies here, with this difference only: the Taker has no partner to assist. Since every other player is opposed to the declarer, the Taker's sole object must be to deprive them of the means of doing harm, while their object is to defeat the Taker by every available means.

Summary rules

Taker

The Taker should follow these principles:

The Taker should begin by leading one or two of the highest trumps.
If all three opponents follow trump, continue the suit further.
If only one opponent follows on the first trump lead, do not persist in trumps.
The Taker should try to retain the lead and keep any defender with a concentrated trump holding in check.
If the Taker holds a guarded Queen, or two other cards forming a tenace around a missing master card, put the opponents on lead in another suit so that they must attack the Taker in the suit concerned.
When the Taker no longer wishes to lead trumps, play the Kings one after another.
After the true Kings have been played, it is sometimes advantageous to return to a suit in which the course of play has created an accidental King or master card.
Conceal the contents of the hand as far as possible.
When the course of play shows that defeat by remise is otherwise certain, attempt any remaining resource even at the risk of losing by codille.
If no accidental King can yet be played, continue the suit in which the Taker has the best prospect of establishing one.
When a suit is played for the second or third time and the Taker suspects that players still to act hold trumps, the Taker should either discard and duck or ruff with the highest trump held.
The Taker should never draw a card from the hand until the moment of playing it.

Defenders

The defenders should follow these principles:

When the Taker sits in a middle position, the first defender to gain the lead should play the suit in which the defender holds the greatest number of cards.
When the Taker is last to play, the defender on lead should play the shortest suit.
With equal holdings in a red and a black suit, a defender should lead the black suit in preference to the red, whether the Taker is last or in a middle position.
When one defender has led a suit, the next defender to gain the lead should return it.
If the defender on lead is void in the suit requested by a partner, the defender should consider the Taker's position and act according to rule 1 or rule 2.
A defender who gains the lead after the two partners have led two different suits should return the suit requested first.
The defenders should not attack the Taker in a suit in which there is reason to believe the declarer is trying to establish master cards.
The defenders should discard from a suit in which the Taker is void.
The defender immediately to the Taker's right should discard the highest cards before the lowest in a suit in which the Taker is void.
The defenders should always continue a suit in which the Taker has ducked.
The defenders should observe whether either partner discards or is void in a suit, so that the suit may be played as soon as the present one is exhausted.
The defenders should observe carefully the suit in which the Taker is preserving strength, so that a guarded Queen or a Jack guarded by two cards may be retained against it.
If a defender holds a high trump that is likely to be forced out, use it to force the Taker whenever an opportunity arises.
Defenders must never conceal the strength of their hands from one another.
If the Taker leads a middling trump, a defender holding much higher cards should duck and discard when not obliged to follow.
If the Taker begins with a low trump, the defenders should try to let the trick pass to the player on the Taker's left.
The defender who wins that low-trump trick should not hesitate to lead another low trump when the Taker sits in a middle position.
If a defender holds trumps all higher than the Taker's, with none lower, that defender should lead trumps and then play a suit in which the Taker is void, so as not to return the lead to the declarer.
Once the Taker has no trumps left, the opponents must discard in a manner entirely different from that prescribed by rule 8.

Explanations

Taker

1. The general rule directs the Taker to deprive the opponents of the means of doing harm. For that purpose, upon gaining the lead the Taker should play the highest trumps held. If the opponents have superior trumps, the declarer will not win the trick, but will at least have drawn one trump from each opponent’s hand.

2. If all three opponents follow the first trump lead, the Taker may presume that the trumps are divided among them and may lead a second, or even a third. Even if the defenders then become void in the suits of the declarer’s Kings, they will gain little from it, having no trumps left with which to ruff or overruff.

3. The two preceding rules plainly show the advantage the Taker gains by leading trumps frequently. If, however, only one defender follows on the first or second trump lead, the Taker must conclude that the opposing trumps are concentrated in a single hand and should husband the declarer’s strength accordingly. Such a body of trumps cannot be drawn without costing the Taker as many cards, and often more, than it costs the opponent. The defender who holds them sees the Taker's play in advance and follows the high trumps with the lowest available cards.

4. If the Taker continued leading trumps in those circumstances, the defender would soon become master of the play by retaining superior trumps. This is precisely what the Taker must avoid. By preserving superiority, the declarer keeps the opponent in check and prevents that player from carrying out the plan prescribed by the defenders’ eighteenth rule.

5. After the Taker has led trumps several times, suppose two trumps remain in the declarer’s hand and two in an opponent’s. If both opposing trumps are lower than the Taker's, they should be drawn. If one of the Taker's trumps is higher than one opposing trump but lower than the other, a different course is required.

Suppose spades are trumps. The Taker still holds the Jack and five, while an opponent holds the six and three. The declarer has a tenace around the opponent’s six. To make both cards win, the Taker must play another suit and put the opponent on lead, forcing that player to attack in trumps—or in any other suit arranged in the same fashion. If the Taker leads trumps instead, the opponent, seeing the cards played before acting, will choose the six or three according as the Taker leads the five or Jack; the declarer cannot then make both required tricks. But if the opponent is forced to lead the suit, both of the Taker's cards become good. If the opponent leads the six, the Taker wins with the Jack and afterward the five brings down the three. If the opponent leads the three, the five wins and the Jack remains above the six. In such a position, the advantage belongs entirely to whichever of the Taker and defender can force the other to attack the suit.

The same reasoning explains why the Taker should wait to be attacked in a suit containing a guarded Queen; see the earlier explanation of rule 23 for the simple call.

6. When the Taker no longer wishes to lead trumps, the Kings should be played one after another, except a King accompanied by its Jack. Under rule 5, the declarer should wait to be attacked in that suit.

7. The Kings should be played immediately after the trumps because the defenders have not yet had much opportunity to discard. If the Taker waits, they may create voids and acquire the right to ruff the Kings.

After the true Kings have been played, the Taker should, for the same reason, play any master cards created by the course of the game. Suppose, for example, that the declarer was obliged to play a King accompanied by its Jack and that the King brought down the Queen. The Jack, now master, should be played if the defender who discarded the Queen is known to have no trumps. If that defender may still hold a trump, the Taker should play another suit instead. The Queen was probably discarded because it was a singleton, so the defender is now void and would ruff the Jack. But if the Taker is certain that the defender who discarded the Queen has no trump left, the Jack should be led: one opponent is already void in the suit, the others are likely to follow, and the trick should pass.

8. Suppose the Taker holds the King and Queen, or two other cards that the course of play has raised to the same relative value—for example, the Jack and seven in a black suit after its King and Queen have fallen. If the declarer suspects that the defenders in the middle are void in that suit, the lower master should be led before the higher. The hand is thereby concealed for the moment: the middle defenders may duck, believing the higher master to be in the hand of their partner who plays last. It is easy to see that this concealment lasts only for the present trick and reveals for later tricks a card that would otherwise have remained unknown.

If the Taker holds the entire sequence, after playing the King there may be danger that the Queen will be ruffed. It may therefore be better to play the Jack next.

9. When the Taker encounters overwhelming strength and certain defeat, and an opponent leads a low card in a suit in which the declarer holds the King and Jack, the Taker should underplay by putting down the Jack. The Queen may be in the hand of the player who led the low card. If so, the Jack wins an unexpected trick that rescues the contract and may make it succeed. Had the Taker played the King, the result would have been a loss by remise, since the Jack could not afterward have won. If the finesse fails because the Queen lies after the Taker, the opponent wins the trick, and the King—which might not have been ruffed if played at once—may be ruffed when used later. Underplaying is therefore advantageous only as an attempt to save a desperate game.

By risking codille in a game that would otherwise certainly be lost by remise, the Taker risks comparatively little and may gain a great deal. If the chance succeeds, the declarer wins what would otherwise unquestionably have been lost.

10. After the Taker has led trumps as often as the preceding rules make advisable, and after playing the Kings and any Queens whose Kings were also held, the declarer should continue the longest suit. That is the suit in which the course of play offers the best prospect of establishing additional master cards.

11. The explanation of this rule is the same as that of rule 18 for the simple call: when a suit is repeated and the Taker sits in a middle position, the declarer should ruff high when necessary, or discard when ruffing is unlikely to win.

12. See the explanation of rule 24 for the simple call: drawing a card before one’s turn reveals information about the hand and must be avoided.

Defenders

The reasons for the defenders’ rules are as follows.

1. Nothing is more advantageous than having voids. The defenders should therefore aim either to create voids for themselves or to procure them for their partners. The defender immediately to the Taker's left gains comparatively little from a personal void because the Taker sees that player’s card before acting. The chief object should instead be to create voids for the partners, who see the Taker's play before they act. For that purpose, the defender should lead the longest suit. The more cards held in that suit, the fewer are likely to be in the partners’ hands, and the more easily they can become void; one of them may even be void from the beginning.

2. If, on the contrary, the defender with the lead sits immediately to the Taker's right, there is little point in trying to create voids for partners whose cards the Taker will see before playing. In that position, a personal void is much more valuable to the defending side. The defender should therefore lead the shortest suit, shortening the path to that objective.

A defender sitting opposite the Taker is immediately neither before nor after the declarer. That player has equal reason to observe the first and second rules; only the circumstances of the deal can make one more advantageous than the other.

3. It must be remembered that a black suit contains one card fewer than a red suit. Whatever the Taker's position, a defender with equal holdings in a black and a red suit should therefore lead the black suit. The fewer cards a suit contains, the easier it is either to become void in it or to create a void for a partner.

4. Once one defender has led a suit, partners who later gain the lead are released from applying the three preceding rules. Whether their holdings in the various suits are long or short, they should return the suit led by the partner. That partner chose it under one of the first three rules, and the request should never be refused.

5. If a defender is void in the suit led by the partner, the player must make the same positional calculations that the preceding rules required of the original leader, and for the same reasons.

6. When, in these circumstances, a third defender gains the lead after the other two have led different suits, the suit requested first takes priority. The second defender would have returned it if able; leading another suit therefore shows a void in the first and makes its return useful for either a ruff or a discard.

7. When changing suits, it is better to lead one in which the Taker is known to be void than an untouched suit, because opening a new suit may establish master cards for the declarer.

For example, a defender holding a King without its Queen should wait to be attacked in that suit, for fear of establishing a guarded Queen in the Taker's hand. It is less dangerous to give the Taker a ruff, since the declarer’s trumps would have served sooner or later in any event. By avoiding the new suit, the defender at least refrains from creating additional master cards and therefore additional tricks.

8. When the defenders have an opportunity to discard, they should begin with the shortest suit, and particularly with a suit in which the Taker is void. The reasons are the same as those given under rules 19 and 20 for the simple call.

9. Whenever the defender immediately to the Taker's right has the lead, the Taker enjoys the advantage of seeing all three opponents play before acting. To avoid giving the declarer secure information on later rounds, rule 9 directs that defender, when discarding from a suit in which the Taker is void, to discard the highest cards before the lowest.

A further advantage follows. Whenever that suit is led, the Taker must fear being overtrumped by the player who discarded the high cards. That fear would disappear if the rule were not observed. On the second round the player after the Taker could simply win with the Queen and expose the partners’ cards to the Taker in turn, allowing the declarer thereafter to act with certainty.

10. If the Taker, from fear of being overtrumped, ducks the trick, the defenders should continue the same suit, since every repetition places the declarer in a fresh difficulty.

11. When the defender on lead has no more of that suit, attention should have been paid to the suits discarded by the partners, and one of those suits should be led. The reasons are the same as those given under rule 21 for the simple call.

12. If a suit has not yet been played, or if there is reason to suspect that the Taker is trying to establish master cards in it, the defenders should discard from every other suit if possible, preserving against the threatened suit a guarded Queen or a Jack guarded by two cards and thereby frustrating the Taker's design.

13. A singleton trump, provided it is not Spadille, should be used to ruff when an opportunity arises. It is too risky to save it in hope of something better, since a Matador or other higher trump may later force it to fall before it has served any purpose. Even if it failed to win the ruffing trick, it would at least have forced the Taker and thereby assisted the partners’ hands.

14. The defenders have no less interest in revealing the strength of their hands to one another than they had in the simple call. The reasons are those given under rule 9 in that chapter.

15. When the Taker leads a middling trump, such as the King or Queen, the first defender to play afterward should not take the trick when the only trump held is Spadille or Manille. The Matador privilege should be used to discard instead. With a singleton Spadille, the defender is certain that it will sooner or later make a trick. With a singleton Manille, there is reason to believe that, had the Taker held Spadille, it would have been led instead of a middling trump. Spadille may therefore be inferred to lie with a partner, who on a later occasion will duck a trick to Manille.

In either case, besides gaining the advantage of a discard, the defender may allow the trick to be won by a partner holding Ponte or another high trump that might otherwise be forced to fall together with Spadille or Manille.

16. If the Taker begins with a low trump before playing the Matadors, the first and second defenders should follow with their lowest trumps. The object is to let the trick pass to the last defender and to arrange matters so that, on the next trump lead, the Taker must play before the defenders and reveal the intended course.

If the last defender holds Manille or Baste with a guard and cannot win with the lower trump, there should be no hesitation in taking with the Matador rather than allowing the trick to pass to the partner sitting immediately to the Taker's right.

17. The defender who wins the trick over the Taker's low trump should conclude that the Taker holds Spadille and led low only to strip the guards from Manille and Baste, intending to make both fall together by leading Spadille upon next gaining the lead. This inference allows the defender to prevent the expected result. The object is to save both Matadors for the partners, or at least one. This may be accomplished by leading another low trump, or even a Matador if it is now a singleton.

The Taker then faces a difficult choice. If Spadille is played upon the defender’s lead, the opponents, who see it before acting, need play neither Manille nor Baste. Those Matadors are forced by Spadille only when Spadille itself is the first card of the trick. Both therefore remain against the Taker, who, for one trick expected from departing from the prescribed rules, very often loses two.

If the Taker ducks instead, the trick may pass to the defender opposite. That player must then lead another low trump. A partner acting immediately afterward who holds Manille or Baste must carefully avoid playing it and should discard under the Matador privilege. The Taker is placed in a new difficulty, having still to fear the opponent who remains to act.

Rules 16 and 17 punish a low-trump opening that departs from the ordinary plan. If the defenders fail to respond correctly, however, the departure may instead make the Taker's game more secure.

A departure from the regular line may succeed when the defenders fail to make the prescribed response; that success does not by itself show that the regular line is inferior.

18. If, during the play, a defender holds one or more trumps higher than all the Taker's remaining trumps, holds none lower, and knows that both partners are void in trumps, that defender should continue leading trumps until none remain. Afterward, a suit in which the Taker is certainly void should be led, followed by any Kings held, so that the declarer is not put back on lead.

If the Taker runs out of trumps before the defender does, the defender should stop leading them at once and save the remainder to ruff Kings that might otherwise serve the Taker when their suits must eventually be opened.

Two conditions must be observed before rule 18 is carried out:

All the defender’s trumps must be higher than the Taker's. If one is higher and another lower, the defender should instead wait to be attacked in trumps, for the same reasons that rule 5 prescribed this conduct to the Taker. In such a tenace position, the advantage belongs to the player who forces the other to lead the suit.
Both partners must be void in trumps. Otherwise, the defender risks weakening the defending side by drawing trumps that may still lie in the partners’ hands.

19. Once the Taker has no trumps, the opponents must discard in a manner entirely different from that used while trumps remain. After the Taker is exhausted, they should discard the suits they suspect the declarer holds, so as not to put the Taker back on lead. While the Taker still has trumps, rule 8 prescribed the opposite course: discarding from a suit in which the Taker is already void.

Additional rules for Médiateur

The fundamental rule and all the particular rules governing conduct in Médiateur are exactly the same as in sans-prendre, both for the Taker and for the opponents. Once again, three players are united against one and seek to prevent the declarer from making six tricks.

The only difference is the King called as Médiateur. The Taker should play that King before any other, because the opponents know with certainty that it is in the declarer’s hand.

A defender sitting to the Taker's left, when holding many cards in the suit of the exchanged King, should lead that suit in preference to another equally long suit. The reason follows from the defenders’ first rule: such a lead is intended chiefly to create voids for the other defenders.

The defender to the Taker's right should never lead the suit of the exchanged King, because there is good reason to suspect that the Taker hopes to establish additional master cards in it.

Further practical observations

Called partnership

If the called partner sits above the Taker and holds only one side card together with a low trump, the partner should lead that side card, because a trick may later be made in the suit when it is returned.

If the called partner has a Matador and a low trump, the called King should first be played to reveal the partnership, followed by the low trump as a signal to the Taker that a Matador is held. The Taker should then take with a good trump and lead a low trump, which the partner can see coming.

If the holder of the called King sits below the Taker and has the opening lead, a low trump should be led. The Taker, seeing the play come round, takes the trick and leads to the called King. The partner wins and then leads a singleton side card, if there is one; leads Matadors, if held; or plays a King and Queen, if held. The suit of the called King should be returned only when there is nothing better to do. At the sixth trick, the partner should take care to lead a side suit that the Taker can ruff, putting the Taker in a position to undertake the vole when holding Matadors and master Kings.

If the called partner is en cheville, the called King should be played, followed by a singleton side card if there is one; otherwise a good trump should be led if available, and failing that the suit of the called King should be returned.

A called partner holding the King and Queen of a suit should play them when no Matadors are held.

When the Taker ducks a trump trick to the called partner, the partner should continue leading trumps for as long as any remain.

If the Taker discards from a suit after the suit of the called King has already been led twice, the called partner should lead the suit from which the Taker discarded.

When the called partner holds Manille and Baste, at the fourth trick that player should take with one and lead the other. Before doing so, however, the partner should have shown any Kings held, unless holding a King and Jack together; in that case it is better to wait and play the Matadors first.

If the Taker leads the trump Queen or Jack and later regains the lead, the Taker should return a trump, because it ought to be apparent that the called partner holds the Matadors.

If the Taker first leads a singleton side card toward the partner, and the holder of the called King has Spadille and Manille among three trumps, together with another King and Queen, that partner should, after winning with the called King, play Spadille and Manille, then the other King and Queen. This produces five tricks. The partner should observe whether the Taker ruffs the latter King; if so, the suit should be led again, or the suit of the called King returned, or a trump led. If the Taker does not hold Baste, the source directs the Taker to take and show the hand.

The Taker should notice whether the called partner, after winning a trick, leads another singleton side card. This means that the partner will be able to ruff that suit, and the Taker should return it as soon as the lead is regained.

Defenders in a simple call

When ruffing a suit that has already been led twice, a defender should use the best available trump.

When a side card is led to a defender who is void in that suit, the defender should trump even if Baste is the only trump held, for fear that the Taker or called partner may hold the King of the suit. Uncalled players should therefore begin by leading side cards, or a Queen backed by the Jack. A called player may imitate an ordinary defender by beginning with Manille or Baste, so the signal is ambiguous; when in doubt, the Taker should take the trick.

A player should notice which suits have been led twice and should not lead them again unless the partner is in a position to see the play come round.

A player should not lead a side suit first introduced by an opponent, nor the suit of the called King.

A defender should discard the lesser side cards in suits whose Kings are held, and should keep a Jack guarded by two cards in an unled suit if the Taker is judged to have side cards to dispose of.

An uncalled player with the opening lead from the seat above the Taker should lead a low trump if it is the only trump held. Otherwise the proper lead is a singleton side card—even a singleton Queen—a low card from a suit containing the Queen, the Queen from a suit also containing the Jack, or a King not accompanied by its Jack. With King and Jack together, another suit should be led first in the hope that the King will later capture the Queen and establish the Jack.

A player should take care to play off the Jack and Queen when that suit is led and the hand contains the Ace and two in a red suit, or the seven in a black suit. In other circumstances, three cards of this kind should not be parted with unless the Taker is ruffing the suit.

An uncalled player below the Taker who is on lead with several low trumps or with Matadors should lead one of the low trumps, even if it is the only one. The same lead is prescribed when the hand contains two cards in each suit.

A player on lead with Spadille and Baste should lead another card first and wait to be attacked in trumps, so that Spadille may capture Manille and make Baste master. The same principle applies to such combinations as King and Jack while the Queen remains unplayed. Near the end of a hand, if the seven and two of hearts remain together with one isolated trump, the seven of hearts may be led to bring down the Jack that ought still to be out, after which the two remaining tricks can be made.

When the Taker allows the play to come round to a defender holding guarded Manille, the defender should duck rather than ruff.

In trumps and side suits alike, the decisive tactic is often to wait until the opening tricks reveal that the intermediate card between two cards held has become master.

If the called partner leads a side card and a defender wins it, that defender should afterward lead a low trump when the fellow defender is positioned to let the play come round. This draws the called partner's trump and prevents a later ruff.

Defence against sans-prendre

If a defender sits above a sans-prendre Taker with the opening lead, the defender should lead the longest suit unless holding a King and Queen together. Kings unaccompanied by their Queens should normally be withheld at first, for fear of establishing the Taker's Queens.

A defender below the Taker who holds a singleton side card together with several trumps should lead the singleton. If the singleton is won by a King sitting above the Taker, that player should return the suit; if the King sits below, a different side suit should be led.

The defenders should note the suits that the Taker ruffs and continue them in order to consume the soloist's trumps while preserving trumps in the other defending hands for possible overruffs. A King ruffed by the Taker reveals a void. Three or four of the best cards should be kept in any suit in which the Taker is judged to hold side cards and perhaps the King.

If a sans-prendre Taker ruffs two Kings, both void suits are thereby known.

Declarer and vole

A Taker who is not strong in Matadors but holds Kings or guarded Queens should lead a low trump to discover the distribution and help establish those honours.

If the Taker ducks at the sixth trick, the called partner should understand that the vole is to be undertaken.

When intending to undertake the vole, Spadille should be led to bring down a missing Manille or Baste. Had the called partner held that card as a singleton trump, it would have been shown before the sixth trick.

The source recommends opening with a low trump both when the Taker holds the two black Aces and when they are absent. With both Aces, a later lead of Spadille is intended to bring down Manille.

To prevent the vole, the defenders should identify a suit that neither the Taker nor the called partner has ruffed and use trumps to cut off its established cards, preferably in a suit in which the other defender is void or in which the Jack and Queen have already fallen.

Once the seventh card has committed the declaring side to the vole, a defender holding four cards should throw on that trick any Kings and Queens that have become master cards in suits already ruffed, while preserving a Jack guarded by two cards in another suit. The other defender should keep the best remaining card of a suit whose King and Queen have already been played, since that is likely to be the side suit on which the vole has been risked.

Learning the game

A supervised open-hand exercise is an efficient way to learn the rules. Four learners receive and arrange the cards, then expose each hand in turn, evaluate it aloud, and state the contract that would be chosen without relying upon information seen in the other hands. An instructor corrects the estimate and explains the applicable rule.

Once the bidding has been resolved, all four hands may be laid face up. Before each card is played, the player states the reason for choosing it; an incorrect card is taken back and the resulting tactical consequence is explained. The instructor may exchange cards between hands to create uncommon positions or to illustrate a rule that has not arisen naturally.

This exercise is for instruction only. In ordinary play no hand may be exposed, no reason may be announced, and no information may be communicated beyond the legal declarations.

Scoring and payment

Units and results

Ten jetons equal one fish and ten fish equal one marker. Accounts are ordinarily stated in jetons: four markers, one fish and six jetons are therefore written or called 416.

The ordinary result of a six-trick contract is settled as follows:

With six or more tricks, the Taker or declaring partnership wins the pool and receives the applicable contract premiums and bonuses.
With exactly five tricks, the result is a remise. The pool is carried forward, the declaring side pays the applicable consolation, and a beast is incurred.
With four or fewer tricks, the result is a codille. The defenders take the pool and receive the payments that the declaring side would have received upon winning; a beast is also incurred.
In a simple call, the partners divide a win equally regardless of their individual trick totals. On a loss, they divide the payments unless the Taker fails to make the agreed personal minimum, normally four tricks; in that event the Taker pays alone. A forced-Spadille caller is exempt from this personal minimum.
In Médiateur and sans-prendre, the Taker receives or pays alone.

Payments are described as essential when one of them must arise on every deal, and accidental when they arise only from a favourite contract, a double round, the vole, united Matadors, an exchanged King, or a beast.

Poulans and the pool

After every ordinary deal the dealer puts up six fish. Two are assigned to Spadille, one to Manille, one to Baste, and two to the game or pool. The four Matador fish are paid according to the location of those cards; the two pool fish are carried with the game.

Each player also accounts for two jetons to the game. The ordinary pool therefore begins at twenty-eight jetons: twenty from the dealer's two pool fish and eight from the four players. A side that wins six tricks takes it. After a remise it remains in play and another ordinary twenty-eight is added on the next deal. The individual two-jeton contributions are usually settled with the other payments rather than physically placed on the table.

Contract premiums

The contract premium is settled after every deal, unlike the pool, which may be carried by a remise. The following ordinary single-round figures are stated in jetons and exclude special bonuses. The game contribution is the amount accounted for by each paying opponent.

Ordinary payment by contract
Contract	Contract premium	Game contribution	Ordinary total
Simple call	4	2	6
Médiateur	14	2	16
Sans-prendre	24	2	26
Declared vole through Médiateur	64	2	66
Declared vole through sans-prendre	104	2	106

On a win, each losing opponent pays the appropriate amount to the winner or winning side. On a remise, the contract premium and other applicable bonuses are paid as consolation but the game contribution and pool are carried. On a codille, the defenders receive the full amount and take the pool.

Accidental payments and multipliers

Favourite and grand poulans

A contract in the favourite doubles the game contribution, the contract premium, the vole premium, the united-Matador bonus, and the fish exchanged in Médiateur. It does not double the dealer's poulans or the amount of a beast.

A round of grand poulans doubles every payment, including the dealer's poulans and the beasts. The dealer normally puts up twelve fish. A recorded house rule doubles only the two pool fish and leaves the four Matador fish single, producing an outlay of eight fish; the full doubling is the simpler practice.

When a favourite contract occurs during grand poulans, payments affected by both circumstances are quadrupled. Poulans and beasts are only doubled because the favourite does not affect them.

Amounts used in reckoning (jetons)
	Ordinary suit, single round	Favourite, single round	Ordinary suit, double round	Favourite, double round
Game contribution, per paying opponent	2	4	4	8
Dealer's two pool fish	20	20	40	40
Simple-call premium	4	8	8	16
Médiateur premium	14	28	28	56
Sans-prendre premium	24	48	48	96
Declared vole through Médiateur	64	128	128	256
Declared vole through sans-prendre	104	208	208	416
Vole undertaken in a simple call	20	40	40	80
Vole undertaken in Médiateur	30	60	60	120
Vole undertaken in sans-prendre	40	80	80	160
Three Matadors united	10	20	20	40
Fish exchanged for the Médiateur King	10	20	20	40

The vole

An undertaken vole earns an additional premium of twenty jetons in a simple call, thirty in Médiateur, or forty in sans-prendre. The favourite and grand poulans multiply these figures as shown above.

If an undertaken vole fails, the declaring side still receives the underlying contract and pool because six tricks had already been secured, but pays the missed-vole premium to the opponents. A declared vole is a contract for all ten tricks from the outset; failure therefore loses that declared contract and incurs the corresponding beast.

A vole declared through sans-prendre is valued at 104 jetons before the game contribution: twenty-four for sans-prendre, forty for the ordinary sans-prendre vole, and a further forty for declaring it in advance. A vole declared through Médiateur is paid at the same rate as an ordinary vole undertaken in sans-prendre.

Matadors and the exchanged King

When Spadille, Manille and Baste are united in the Taker's hand, the contract payment is increased by one fish, whether the contract is won or lost. In a simple call the three are treated as united when divided between the Taker and called partner. Matadors held only by the defenders do not create this bonus.

The holder who surrenders the called King in Médiateur receives one fish from the Taker. This payment is doubled by the favourite, doubled by grand poulans, and quadrupled when both apply.

Beasts

The beast is a penalty imposed upon those who cause a deal to be played but fail to make six tricks, and upon those who commit certain errors prejudicial to the game.

The beast is additional to the direct payments owed after a lost contract. Its amount is determined by the game payment, poulans, and active stake that the declarer could have taken on the deal.

The pool and active beast may rise to 140 jetons or more. The beasts may therefore reach the same sums, since a beast is always equal to the game that was available to be won.

Ordinary progression

The first beast in a single round is 28, because the Taker had only 28 to take from the game.

If that first beast arises on a remise and is consequently carried forward, the player on the next deal will have a game worth 84 to take, composed as shown below.


For the remise	28
For the game being played	28
For the beast	28
Total	84

If the next declarer also incurs a beast, the amount of the game available to be taken fixes that second beast at 84.

Ordinarily only one beast is active on a given deal: the first one put into play. If several beasts are incurred on the same deal—one for losing and others for particular offences—then a corresponding number must be played for on the following deal.

Suppose there are now two beasts, one of 28 and one of 84. Only the beast of 28 is currently exposed for play, so the payment available on the next deal is calculated as follows.


The first game in remise	28
The second game in remise	28
The game for this round	28
The first beast	28
Total	112

This calculation shows that 112 is now at stake. If a third beast is incurred on that deal, it must therefore be 112.

If a fourth follows, the beast of 28 is still the one actually in play, so only the ordinary 28 belonging to the new deal is added to the preceding 112. The fourth beast is therefore the amount shown below.


	112
	28
Total	140

As long as further beasts are incurred, each increases by 28.


Fifth beast	168
Sixth beast	196
Seventh beast	224
Eighth beast	252
Ninth beast	280
Tenth beast	308
Eleventh beast	336
Twelfth beast	364

Each additional beast increases the sequence by another 28 jetons.

The first side to make six tricks takes the first beast together with 28 for each remise accumulated in the game—that is, the two poulan fish carried forward and the two jetons per player owed for each remise.

Once the first beast has been taken, no remise fish remain, and the ordinary game is again only 28. It is then increased by the largest waiting beast, which must now be put into play. Thus, if four remises have occurred, the beast of 140 becomes active immediately after the beast of 28 has been removed. Added to the ordinary 28, it makes the second deal worth 168, and that amount fixes the fifth beast.

If this fifth beast arose through remise, the beast of 140 would remain in play. The new beast of 168 must not immediately replace it, for the game would then be calculated as shown in the following table.


For the remise	28
For the current game	28
For the beast	168
Total	224

That would increase the next beast by 56 when it ought to increase by only 28.

If the fifth beast arose through codille, the active beast of 140 would be taken together with the game payment; the beast of 168 would then be put into play for the following deal.

A beast once put into play remains active until it is taken. When it is removed, the largest waiting beast succeeds it, followed by the next largest, until none remain.

Progression after an initial codille

Everything said about beasts shows that their varying amounts result solely from variations in the game payment. Thus, when the first beast is made on a codille, the defenders win and remove the game payment. The second beast after that first codille is therefore only the amount shown below.


For the game	28
For the beast	28
Total	56

Since the game payment from the preceding deal was not carried forward, later beasts increase by 28 for the reasons already given.

The third beast would accordingly be 28 added to 56, making 84.


Third beast	84
Fourth beast	112
Fifth beast	140
Sixth beast	168
Seventh beast	196
Eighth beast	224
Ninth beast	252
Tenth beast	280
Eleventh beast	308
Twelfth beast	336

If this table is compared with the earlier one, in which the first beast arose on a remise, only one difference will be found: after an initial codille, the twelfth beast is no larger than the eleventh would have been after an initial remise, and the same one-place difference continues thereafter.

Favourite contracts and double rounds

Although the favourite doubles each player's game contribution, it does not enlarge a beast. A remise made in the favourite is carried at the ordinary rate, so beasts in a single round continue to rise by 28 rather than 36. This convention avoids having to distinguish earlier remises according to whether they were made in the favourite.

In grand poulans all payments are doubled. The dealer consequently puts up four fish for the game, and each player accounts for four jetons. During the four deals of a double round, beasts must therefore increase by 56. If the first is made on a remise, the second is the amount shown below.


For the remise	56
For this game	56
For the beast	56
Total	168

The third and fourth beasts each increase by another 56 and are therefore as shown in the following table.

Beast progression during grand poulans
Beast	Amount
Third	224
Fourth	280

If a remise had already occurred during a single deal, the first beast made in the double round would be 112, composed as follows.


Game in remise for a single deal	28
For this beast	28
Game for a double deal	56
Total	112

The second would be 168.


Single game in remise	28
Double game in remise	56
For the current game	56
For the first beast	28
Total	168

If the beast carried over from the single deal had arisen on a codille, the first beast made in the double round would be 28 less—that is, only 84—as shown below.

Beast for single game	28
Double game in remise	56
Total	84

Clearing beasts after the scheduled rounds

The scheduled sitting is finished when all the agreed rounds have been played. If beasts then remain, they are not abandoned; play continues until they have been taken. During this continuation the dealers no longer put up poulans. Spadille, Manille, and Baste cease to receive separate rewards, though the premium for holding all three together remains. For the same reason, the game payment no longer includes the two poulan fish: apart from the beast, only the jetons each player must contribute on every deal remain.

The players may agree to make this continuing payment single or double. If it is single, the payments for the contracts and accidental circumstances are also single. If the game payment is double, all other payments must likewise be doubled. In the first case the game added on each deal is only eight jetons; in the second it is sixteen, besides the beast. If new beasts are incurred while the old ones are being cleared, they increase by only eight jetons under the single rate or sixteen under the double rate. Suppose, for example, that a beast of 168 remains at the end of the sitting and another is incurred while attempting to clear it. The new beast is only 176 if the continuation is played single, or 184 if it is played double.

The same principle applies to every further beast incurred afterward.

Poulans cease after the scheduled rounds because continuing them would require every new round to be completed in fairness to all four dealers. A beast incurred on the final deal could then force another full round indefinitely. Omitting the poulans allows the sitting to end as soon as all beasts have been taken.

Claims and settlement at the end of the sitting

The later rules reject taking advantage of an honest mistake in reckoning. When an underpayment can be proved and the circumstances are still remembered, the balance may be corrected on a later deal. Prompt settlement remains preferable, since it prevents disputes. The older French game used a stricter rule for some bonuses; that difference is described under Historical Quadrille.

After the agreed rounds have been played and all beasts have been cleared, the players contribute the agreed charge for the cards. Each then compares the value of the counters held with the value brought to the table and states the net gain or loss. There is no need to recover counters of a particular colour or suit mark before reckoning; counters of the same denomination are interchangeable.

Laws and irregularities

Deal and bidding

Cards may be dealt only in packets of three and four, in one of the three permitted orders. A faulty dealer deals again but does not incur a beast.
Any exposed card makes the deal void. A pack containing too many or too few cards, or two copies of one card, also requires a redeal if the fault is found before play is complete.
A defect discovered only after the cards have been fully played and the account settled does not invalidate that deal or any earlier deal.
A deal made out of turn is void if discovered during distribution. If the hands have been taken up, it stands; the proper dealer deals next and the mistaken dealer is skipped at the next nominal turn.
The dealer must put up the poulans after distributing the cards. Omitting them does not change the identity of the dealer or the order of play.
The first suit named by the Taker is trump. A correction does not alter it, and when two suits are named the first is trump and the second identifies the called honour.
A player who has passed may not re-enter the bidding, except when compelled to play as the holder of Spadille after everyone has passed. A player whose bid has been accepted may not withdraw it.
A bid in the favourite outranks the same contract in an ordinary suit. Between otherwise equal bids, the earlier player has priority; a stronger class of contract outranks a weaker one.
If every player passes, the holder of Spadille must make a simple call. A last player relying upon this compulsory right must announce that the call is forced.
The trump King may not be called. A player holding all four Kings may call a non-trump Queen.
A King already in the caller's hand may be named, but the caller then plays alone and wins or loses alone.
In Médiateur, the called honour is surrendered face up for one fish; the Taker's returned card is concealed. The Taker then plays alone.

Play and disclosure

A player holding the suit led must follow it. Overtaking is not compulsory.
A player unable to follow may trump, overtrump, or discard. Trumping is not compulsory.
A true Matador may refuse an inferior trump lead only when the true Matador or Matadors are the holder's sole trumps. A higher Matador led to the trick forces a lower one; a higher Matador played later in the trick does not.
Every player must act in turn. Playing out of turn does not by itself incur a beast, although any information improperly conveyed may determine the remedy.
A card removed from the hand and presented face up must be played when withdrawing it could convey information or prejudice the game, especially when it is a Matador. A player acting entirely alone is exempt because no partner can benefit.
A called partner who is not on opening lead may not play the called King, or lead Spadille, Manille, or Baste as trumps, solely to reveal the partnership. Such conduct bars the vole and may incur a beast when bad faith affects the result.
Completed tricks may be inspected and counted only when it is the inspecting player's turn. The live hands must remain separate from the completed tricks.
If a player acting in turn accidentally exposes another player's hand while attempting to inspect completed tricks, the two players share a beast: one for the exposure and one for leaving the hand vulnerable. If the exposure is made out of turn, the exposing player bears the whole beast and the owner bears none.
No player in a partnership contract may expose a hand before the result and the Taker's personal-trick requirement are secure. A player acting entirely alone may show a certain result because no partner can profit from it.
Players and spectators must remain silent about the current deal. Conventional prompts such as gano, statements that a card is master or a suit has been ruffed, advice about covering a card, and corrections of another player's count are prohibited.
Non-verbal signalling is cheating even where the historical rules prescribe no automatic stake penalty. A gesture, prepared card, or conspicuous movement must not be used to communicate a holding or intended play.

Revokes and other mistakes

A revoke is complete when the faulty trick has been gathered face down or when the offender has played to the following trick. Before that point the card may be corrected without a beast.
If a completed revoke has affected play and the deal is unfinished, the cards are restored as far as possible and play resumes from the faulty trick. A fully completed deal is not replayed.
Each separately detected revoke incurs a beast. Several revokes discovered together after the tricks have been gathered incur only one.
A player who asks which suit is trump and, in good faith, ruffs with the suit named does not incur a beast when the answer was wrong; the card nevertheless remains played and the trick is awarded according to the actual trumps.
A player who, without asking, treats a non-trump as trump and gathers the trick incurs a beast.
Showing a hand, exposing a card, or speaking does not excuse another player from following suit or observing the proper order of play.

The vole

A vole is undertaken when the declaring side has taken the first six tricks and then leads to the seventh. Once undertaken, it cannot be withdrawn.
In a simple call, the called King must have appeared. Taking all ten tricks without revealing it does not earn the vole.
A forced-Spadille contract cannot undertake the vole.
Speech intended to encourage a partner may forfeit the right to the vole. Speech intended to dissuade a partner from undertaking it incurs the beast.
A player may not warn a partner that six tricks have already been taken. Defenders likewise may not communicate their holdings after the vole has been undertaken.
When the called King has not appeared, play may continue to the final card without accidentally undertaking the vole.
Failure of an undertaken vole leaves the ordinary six-trick contract won, but the declaring side pays the failed-vole premium.
Failure of a vole declared in the bidding loses the declared contract and incurs the applicable beast.

Payment and completion of the sitting

A beast is equal to the pool and active stake that could have been won on the deal on which it was incurred.
A beast already in play remains active until taken. After it is removed, the largest waiting beast is put into play.
In the later game, a provable underpayment may be corrected while the facts remain known; a player must not profit from a hurried cut or an honest omission.
The scheduled sitting ends after the agreed rounds, but play continues without further poulans until every beast has been cleared.
A player who begins a sitting is expected to finish it or settle every outstanding liability. The players may adjourn by consent if they record the state of the game.
The agreed charge for the cards is deducted before the final net gains and losses are reckoned.

Historical Quadrille

The game described above is the form known in the French source as Médiateur and in England as Quadrille. The earlier French Quadrille was four-handed Ombre without the preference and without the Médiateur exchange contract. A simple call could be undertaken on a weaker hand, a four-trick loss was still treated as a remise, and its payment system was smaller and differently constituted. The common conventions of card rank, following suit, Matador privilege, silence, forced Spadille, simple call, sans-prendre, and the vole passed into the later game.^[4]

Contemporary description

The anonymous treatise presents historical Quadrille as four-handed Ombre. It regards the game as less exacting than three-handed Ombre but more continuously entertaining because every deal is played. It also insists that players and spectators observe strict silence, since even an apparently harmless remark may disclose information or influence the play. The source was intended for readers who knew Quadrille without already knowing Ombre and therefore explained the card ranks, laws, payments, and technical vocabulary from first principles.

Historical card rank

The older game used the same forty-card pack, natural ranks, permanent trumps, trump order, and Matador privileges as the later game described above. The two rank tables in the historical source therefore add no rule peculiar to the older form.

Principal differences from the later game

There was no favourite or preference suit. Position in the order of bidding therefore had greater importance.
There was no Médiateur contract in the later sense of a King exchanged for one fish and a discard.
A simple caller was ordinarily expected to hold three certain personal tricks rather than four, though some circles required four. A declaring partnership that made four tricks was treated as losing by remise; codille applied below four.
The dealer placed one fish before the game, and each player contributed one jeton to the pool on each deal. The resulting ordinary increment was fourteen jetons rather than twenty-eight.
The historical Returned King was optional and differed from the regular Médiateur exchange: the called partner could return the King, and the exchanged card was shown to every player.
The older strict rule required the sans-prendre premium and Matadors to be claimed before the next cut. The later treatise rejected taking advantage of an honest omission in payment.

Historical scoring and payment

The dealer marks the game by placing one fish in front.

In addition, each player contributes one jeton to the game on every deal. These jetons are paid to the winners together with the consolation, and the four jetons are included in any beast that is made.

If there is a beast, it goes forward with what is already in front and with the game owed by each player; the dealer nevertheless continues to place the ordinary fish in front. Thus the first beast is always fourteen, the second is forty-two, and the third fifty-six. A beast made upon another beast can increase the amount by no more than fourteen jetons—the ten represented by the dealer’s fish and the four jetons contributed by the players—unless the game has been doubled. Thus, when the first beast is made by remise, it is fourteen and the second is forty-two.

If the deal on which the first beast was made is taken by codille, the second beast is only twenty-eight, because the fourteen taken by the codille winners must not be included. In this game no one may lose more than could have been won. The following table gives the ordinary progression after an initial remise. Each further beast adds fourteen jetons.

Historical beast progression after an initial remise
Beast	Amount
First	14
Second	42
Third	56
Fourth	70
Fifth	84

When playing the game double, the same progression is used at twice these amounts.

As already stated, the game is one jeton from each player on every deal. Thus, if there are several remises, there are as many game jetons as there have been remises. The losers pay them either to the eventual winners or, if the result is codille, to the players who defeated the contract. On a remise, the game stake itself is not taken; only the consolation, the Matadors, and the sans-prendre premium, if applicable, are paid.

After an initial codille the pool has been taken, so the second beast is only twenty-eight; each later beast again adds fourteen.

Historical beast progression after an initial codille
Beast	Amount
First	14
Second	28
Third	42
Fourth	56
Fifth	70

The consolation is two jetons, paid to the player or players who make the contract if they win, and paid by them if they lose, whether by remise or by codille.

The same principle applies to the Matadors, for which one jeton is paid for each Matador.

Although there are properly only three Matadors—Spadille, Manille, and Baste—the number increases when the trumps immediately following them are held in an unbroken sequence. One jeton is paid for each, both upon a win and upon a loss.

The sans-prendre premium is ordinarily half the amount fixed for the vole. Thus, when the vole is worth ten jetons, the losing players pay five jetons to the winner, or the losing soloist pays five to each of the players who caused the loss, whether the result is remise or codille.

The sans-prendre premium and the Matadors are owed only if claimed before the pack has been cut for the following deal. Once the cards have been shuffled and cut without a claim, the right to payment is lost, except in the case explained later among the rulings. See the article on sans-prendre and the Matadors.

The beast, the game, and the consolation do not lapse and may be claimed several deals later. One may not, however, reopen mistakes made in calculating beasts after the deal following the disputed beast has been completely played. See the rulings under the article on the beast.

Players who win by codille are paid in the same manner as they would have paid the declaring side had that side won.

The players who win by codille divide what is carried forward in front.

The vole is worth one fish, or ten jetons, paid to those who make it or by those who undertake and fail to make it. It is paid double when a solo player makes it or fails in the attempt. Matadors, the sans-prendre premium, and all other payments are settled in the ordinary way.

The final round is ordinarily played double, unless the players agree to play it at the single rate.

To play the final round double means that during that round the front stake is doubled, and the game, consolation, Matadors, sans-prendre, and vole are all paid at double value.

The cost of the cards is paid by means of one fish contributed by each player.

The whole sitting may instead be played double by prior agreement.

Historical examples of playable hands

The following examples illustrate the standard estimate of playable hands.

The first rule, upon which the others should be founded, is that when calling a King one should have at least three certain tricks in one’s own hand, so as not to bear the beast alone. The following red-suit hands may nevertheless be played.

Red-suit hands for a simple call

Manille, Baste, the King, Queen, and six of hearts; two spades, two clubs, and one diamond; calling the King of diamonds.

As a rule, one should preferably call the King of a suit in which one has only a single side card, because one is then in rule. To be “in rule” means to be able to trump the return of the suit of the called King. If one has one black and one red singleton side card, it is better to call the red King: because a red suit contains one more card, there is less risk of being overtrumped on the return.

If one has equal length in every suit and holds a Queen, one should call the King of that Queen’s suit, thereby making the Queen good. Such a hand may also be played.

Spadille, Ponte, Jack, two, and three as trumps; a guarded Queen; and three cards of another suit, calling the King of the Queen’s suit.

One may also play Manille, King, Queen, Jack, and four as trumps, together with a side King, calling the King of the suit in which one is shortest.

If on opening lead, one should begin by leading the trump Jack before the called King’s holder is known. It is always advantageous to lead trumps, especially when holding Kings and other good cards, because the trumps are ordinarily divided among several hands and one’s Kings and Queens will pass much more readily after they have been drawn. It is likewise good to lead trumps before the called King has appeared, because the opponents, not yet knowing with certainty who holds it, will ordinarily overtake one another’s cards.

A useful general rule is this: when the Taker leads a low trump before the called King has appeared, an ordinary defender should take the trick only with a middling trump, so as not to force the declarer’s unknown partner to overtake it. The holder of the called King must do the opposite and play the best available trump on the Taker's low trump, thereby securing the declarer’s game.

Spadille, Manille, Queen, and Jack may also be played, calling whichever King best suits the arrangement of the hand.

Black-suit hands for a simple call

Baste, King, Queen, Jack, and six as trumps, calling the King of the suit in which one is shortest. One should arrange, as far as possible, to be in rule.

Likewise Manille, King, Queen, and six as trumps, with a side King, always observing what has just been said.

One may also play Spadille, Queen, Jack, six, and five as trumps, with a guarded Queen in another suit, calling the King of that Queen’s suit.

Likewise King, Queen, Jack, seven, and five as trumps, with a side King.

There are infinitely many other playable hands, and it would be too long to list them all. It is enough to say that it is imprudent to play without at least three certain tricks, and even four if one seriously expects to win, since one should not count upon the called King’s holder to supply three tricks.

The sans-prendre contract deserves careful consideration. Far from receiving anyone’s assistance, the player faces three opponents united in the effort to cause a loss. To play sans-prendre, therefore, one should be certain of the six tricks required for victory and should not place too much reliance upon guarded Queens. The following red-suit hands may be played sans-prendre.

Red-suit hands for sans-prendre

Spadille, Manille, Ponte, King, two, and four as trumps, with a side King. If on opening lead, begin with three rounds of trumps—Spadille, Manille, and Ponte—to remove the other players’ trumps and prevent them either from overtrumping the player or from trumping the player’s King.

If the player is not on opening lead but occupies the position historically called en cheville, and the leader, after leading a King to the player, returns the same suit in which the player is void, the player should either get rid of the player’s losing side card or trump with Ponte or the trump King. In this way the player is certain either to win the trick or to force Baste. If the player wins that trick, or obtains the lead on the next one, lead trumps as already directed.

One may also play sans-prendre with Spadille, Manille, Baste, Jack, four, and five as six trumps; a Queen and Jack of the same side suit—the two together being worth a King—and two remaining side cards, either in one suit or in two. If the two side cards are in different suits, and the King of one of those suits has been led, then on the return of that same suit, in which the player is now void, it is prudent to discard the other side card, thereby creating another void. If the suit is led a third time, trump with a Matador and then lead trumps three times, which should naturally draw all the opposing trumps. After that, if the opponents do not lead the suit containing the player’s Queen and Jack, ruff a lead and play one of those two cards, reserving a trump as an entry so that the player can regain the lead and play the remaining honour for the player’s sixth trick.

One may also play Manille, Baste, Ponte, King, two, and three as six trumps, with a side King: that is, four consecutive false Matadors among six trumps. They are called false Matadors because Spadille is missing. On a return, one should ruff with one of these false Matadors so as not to be overtrumped, and then lead trumps.

One may likewise play Manille, Ponte, King, Queen, two, four, and five as trumps, with a side King.

The chief observation to make in Quadrille, especially in sans-prendre contracts, is that one should lead trumps as often as possible. The position of the cards must nevertheless determine how many rounds are proper. If all the opposing trumps happen to be concentrated in a single hand, the strength of one’s own holding must govern the manner of play.

Experience and good sense must teach such matters.

Black-suit hands for sans-prendre

Because a black trump suit contains one fewer trump than a red one, a smaller holding is sufficient. The following hands may therefore be played:

Manille, Baste, Queen, Jack, six, and five as trumps; a side King; and a Queen guarded by two cards. Likewise Spadille, Manille, King, seven, five, and four as trumps, with either a side King or a Queen and Jack of the same side suit.

Additional cards that can be used in a sans-prendre game are Manille, King, Queen, Jack, 6, 5, and 3 as trumps, along with a side King, or alternatively Spadille, Manille, Baste, Queen, and 7 as trumps, with a side King. As far as strategies in general are concerned, it is advisable not to ruff up the returns with low trumps unless it becomes imperative to take the trick. In sans-prendre, one needs to make use of trumps regularly in order to run down the opponents' trumps.

The Returned King

Besides ordinary historical Quadrille, there is a form called the Returned King. It follows the rules of that older game, except that the holder of the called King may return it to the caller and receive a card chosen from the caller’s hand in exchange.

The source describes this provincial variant as a means of discouraging weak undertakings, while acknowledging that its greater restrictiveness removes some of the freedom and charm of ordinary Quadrille.

This form of Quadrille differs from the other only in permitting the holder of the called King to return it to the Taker. It therefore has a few special rules:

A player who holds the called King but has a poor hand may return that King to the Taker. The Taker must give in exchange any card chosen from the declarer’s hand, and every player is entitled to see the exchanged card.
A holder of the called King who has a good hand but returns the King in order to cause the Taker to lose incurs the beast. This does not exempt the Taker from also making the beast if the contract is lost. For this rule to apply, the holder of the called King must have three certain tricks.
A player to whom the King has been returned must, with that assistance, make six tricks alone, the other three players being united against the declarer.
The declarer shares with no one upon winning and likewise pays alone upon losing.
The King may not be returned to a player compelled to play by holding Spadille. In all other respects the rules are those of ordinary Quadrille. In some houses the foregoing game is played with the return of the King made compulsory: the declarer therefore always plays alone, and the last player must make a contract if all the others have passed, calling a King that is then returned, or playing under the forced-Spadille rule, according to the agreement made beforehand.

Optional contre and dévole

Some historical circles admitted an optional bid called contre, modelled on the game of beast. Under that convention the following rules apply.

A player wishing to play sans-prendre while committing in advance to the vole has precedence over a player earlier in the order of bidding who wishes merely to play sans-prendre.

A player who bids contre and fails to take all ten tricks pays each opponent the agreed value of the missed vole and receives no payment for sans-prendre, Matadors, or consolation. The player does not even take the front stake or the beast, which remain with the game. No new beast is incurred unless the underlying contract is also lost. In that event the player pays everything due for consolation, sans-prendre, the vole, and any Matadors.

A player compelled to play by holding Spadille cannot claim the vole, because the public knowledge that Spadille is in that hand may confer an advantage.

The called King must have appeared before the declaring side is entitled to the vole. Without running the corresponding risk, one cannot expect the reward.

A declarer who makes no trick at all suffers the dévole and pays its value to the two players defending the pool, but not to the called partner. Otherwise the prospect of gain might tempt the partner to play against the person whom the partner is bound to assist once the contract becomes hopeless.

The rule discourages very weak undertakings; one trick by either declaring partner is enough to avoid the dévole.

References

↑ M.V.D. (1752), p. iv.
↑ Jordan et al. (1722), pp. 398–399.
↑ The Game of Quadrille (1720).
1 2 Les Jeux de Quadrille et de Quintille (1724), pp. 1–2.
1 2 M.V.D. (1752).
↑ Quanti (pseud.), Q. (1822). Quadrille elucidated. G. A. Williams.
↑ "Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice – Notes on Random Topics". Retrieved 28 January 2009.
↑ Vernon, Thomas (1879). "Diary of Thomas Vernon". Retrieved 28 January 2009.

Bibliography

Anonymous (1720). The Game of Quadrille; or Ombre by Four. London: Francklin. 2nd ed., 1728.
Anonymous (1724). Les Jeux de Quadrille et de Quintille. Paris: Théodore Le Gras.
Diderot, Denis (1765). “Quadrille (Jeu)”, in Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. XIII.
Jordan, Claude; La Barre, Louis-François-Joseph de; Monthenault d'Egly, Charles-Philippe de; Bonamy, Pierre Nicolas; and Ameilhon, Hubert-Pascal, eds. (1722). Journal Historique sur les Matières du Temps, vol. 11. Paris and Rouen: Herault.
M.V.D. (1752). Les Règles du Médiateur. Paris: Delaguette and Duchesne.
Quanti, Q. (pseud.) (1822). Quadrille Elucidated. Cheltenham: G. A. Williams.

[1] M.V.D. (1752), p. iv.

[2] Jordan et al. (1722), pp. 398–399.

[3] The Game of Quadrille (1720).

[Quadrille1724-4] 1 2 Les Jeux de Quadrille et de Quintille (1724), pp. 1–2.

[MVD1752-5] 1 2 M.V.D. (1752).

[Quanti-6] Quanti (pseud.), Q. (1822). Quadrille elucidated. G. A. Williams.

[7] "Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice – Notes on Random Topics". Retrieved 28 January 2009.

[8] Vernon, Thomas (1879). "Diary of Thomas Vernon". Retrieved 28 January 2009.

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