This fashionable game is played with two packs of cards, from which
the twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes, have been discarded. The
sixty-four cards of both packs, shuffled well together, are then dealt
out, eight to each player, by threes, twos, and threes; the
seventeenth turned up for trump, and the rest left, face downwards, on
the table. If the trump card be a seven, the dealer scores ten points.
An incorrect deal or an exposed card necessitates a new deal, which
passes to the other player. A trump card takes any card of another
suit. Except trumping, the higher card, whether of the same suit or
not, takes the trick--the ace ranking highest, the ten next, and then
the king, queen, knave, nine, &c. When two cards of equal value are
played, the first wins. _Some players require the winning card to be
of the same suit as that led, unless trumped._ After each trick is
taken, an additional card is drawn by each player from the top of the
pack--the taker of the last trick drawing first, and so on till all
the pack is exhausted, including the trump card. Players are not
obliged to follow suit or trump until all the cards have been drawn
from the pack. Tricks are of no value, except for the aces and tens
they may contain. Tricks should not be looked at till the end of the
deal, except by mutual consent. When a player plays without drawing,
he must draw two cards next time, and his opponent scores ten. When a
player draws out of turn, his opponent scores ten, if he has not drawn
a card himself. When a player draws two cards instead of one, his
opponent may decide which card is to be returned to the pack--it
should not be placed at the top, but towards the middle of the pack. A
player discovering his opponent holding more than eight cards, while
he only holds eight, adds 100 to his score. Should both have more than
their proper number there is no penalty, but each must play without
drawing.
[BE NOT THE FIRST BY WHOM THE NEW IS TRIED.]