Brelan ( fro, brelenc) is a famous French vying game with rapidly escalating bets from the seventeenth to nineteenth century, and hence also a name for a card player, gambler or the name of the place where the game was played. The game is quite similar to the game of
Bouillotte
Bouillotte is an 18th-century French gambling card game of the Revolution based on Brelan, very popular during the 19th century in France and again for some years from 1830. It was also popular in America. The game is regarded as one of the games ...
, but it is not played anymore.
History
In Old French, a ''brelan'', ''berlan'' or ''berlenc'' (from High German: ''bretling'' = "board, table") was a table on which people played dice. The game of Brelan, even ', for the name and the rules varied over time, appeared as early as an edict of
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, of 1458. In Crébillon's 1763 novel "Le Hasard du coin du feu", the game of "Brelan" takes centre stage. It is often considered as sharing roots with a Renaissance game of
Primero
Primero (in English also called Primus, ', or in Italian '' or Spanish ''Primera'')'', is a 16th-century gambling card game of which the earliest reference dates back to 1526. Primero is closely related to the game of primo visto (a.k.a. prima-vi ...
and
Primo visto
Primo visto, ''Primavista'', ''Prima-vista'', ''Primi-vist'', ''Primiuiste'',
''Primofistula'', or even ''Primefisto'', is a 16th-century gambling card game fashionable c. 1530–1640. Very little is known about this game, but judging by the etym ...
. The game is recorded as ''
Treschaken'' in a Holstein dialect dictionary in 1802 where it is equated to the French ''bréland''.
In England, Brelan eventually developed into the game of
Brag, also Bragg, where the possibility of bluffing is an important part of the game. It evidently derived from the game of Brelan and later evolved into
Bouillotte
Bouillotte is an 18th-century French gambling card game of the Revolution based on Brelan, very popular during the 19th century in France and again for some years from 1830. It was also popular in America. The game is regarded as one of the games ...
, which flourished during the French Revolution. Most experts believe that all these earlier card games played an important part in the formation of modern
Poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
, the most famous representative of a very ancient and always very popular family of games, all of which can be traced even further back to the old French game of
Gilet
A gilet () or body warmer is a sleeveless jacket resembling a waistcoat or blouse. It may be waist- to knee-length and is typically straight-sided rather than fitted; however, historically, gilets were fitted and embroidered. In 19th-century dre ...
(''Gillet'', ''Gile'' or ''Trionfetti''), which may be considered the most ancient European ancestor of Poker.
The game
Brelan is played by three, four or five players, with a 32-card pack, each receiving 3 cards and a fourth turned from the stock. The best hand is a ''brelan carre'', or four of a kind, made with the aid of the turn-up card on the table, followed by a simple brelan or prial. Brelan favori is a pair royal composed of 2 cards in the hand and the card turned.
In Brelan Cavé,
[Académie universelle des jeux, ou, Dictionnaire méthodique et raisonné de jeu, pg. 57 Charles Yves Cousin d'Avallon, 3rd. ed. 1842] the game is limited to a certain number of rounds, the bouillotte, on the contrary, lasts as long as there are players in the game who still have not lost their stakes.
See also
*
Primero
Primero (in English also called Primus, ', or in Italian '' or Spanish ''Primera'')'', is a 16th-century gambling card game of which the earliest reference dates back to 1526. Primero is closely related to the game of primo visto (a.k.a. prima-vi ...
*
Brag
*
Bouillotte
Bouillotte is an 18th-century French gambling card game of the Revolution based on Brelan, very popular during the 19th century in France and again for some years from 1830. It was also popular in America. The game is regarded as one of the games ...
*
Post and Pair
*
Put (card game)
Put, occasionally Putt, is an English tavern game first recorded in the 16th century and later castigated by 17th century moralists as one of ill repute.Parlett (1995), pp. 27–28. It belongs to a very ancient family of trick-taking card games and ...
*
Ambigu
Ambigu is an historical French vying game, composed of the characteristic elements of Whist, Bouillotte and Piquet. A Whist pack with the court cards removed is used, and from two to six persons may play. Each player is given an equal number of ...
*
Gilet
A gilet () or body warmer is a sleeveless jacket resembling a waistcoat or blouse. It may be waist- to knee-length and is typically straight-sided rather than fitted; however, historically, gilets were fitted and embroidered. In 19th-century dre ...
References
Literature
* Cauquetoux, Anne (2007). ''Cache-cache et chat perché: les mots du jeu''. Le Robert.
*
Schütze, Johann Friedrich (1806). ''Holsteinisches Idiotikon'', Part 4, Hammerich, Hamburg-Altona.
''Le Brelan''at the Academy of Lost Games (''Académie des jeux Oubliés'') website.
{{Historical card games
15th-century card games
Comparing card games
Gambling games
French card games
Vying games