Costly Colours
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Costly Colours, sometimes just called Costly, is an historical English
card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...
for two players and a "fascinating relative of
Cribbage Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbag ...
".''Costly Colours''
at pagat.com. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
The game "requires a moderate amount of skill in playing, and is well adapted to teach quickness in counting".W.H. (1877), p. 133 It has more combinations than Cribbage and retains the original scoring system for ''points'', but does not use a 'crib'. In the 19th century it was described as "peculiar to
Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
."


History

Like its close relative
Cribbage Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbag ...
, Costly Colours is probably a descendant of Noddy, an English game that dates to at least 1589. The rules of Costly Colours are first described by
Charles Cotton Charles Cotton (28 April 1630 – 16 February 1687) was an English poet and writer, best known for translating the work of Michel de Montaigne from the French, for his contributions to ''The Compleat Angler'', and for the influential ''The Comp ...
in the first edition of his compendium, ''
The Compleat Gamester ''The Compleat Gamester'', first published in 1674, is one of the earliest known English-language games compendia. It was published anonymously, but later attributed to Charles Cotton (1630–1687). Further editions appeared in the period up to ...
'', in 1674;Cotton (1674), pp. 125–128 and reprinted in subsequent editions up to 1754.Johnson (1754), pp. 216–219 In 1816,
Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
reprints the rules in his ''Researches'', but by 1850 the game is being described as obsolete. The game has been described as being the "speciality of Shropshire"Jackson (1883), p. 527 and there is evidence that it was popular there in the early 19th-century, not least from a booklet published in
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
in 1805 entitled ''The Royal Game of Costly Colours'' which claimed that it was "an improvement on the game of Cribbage". About this time there was a "Costly Club" in Whitchurch that met in the evenings and, in the 1830s, elderly people still met to play the game in fours, but more often in twos, "with zest". Although they taught it to younger folk, the latter gave it up in favour of Cribbage, "though it may be doubted whether costly was not the simpler and livelier game." In 1883, a detailed description of the rules, based on the Shrewsbury booklet and on accounts by veteran players, is recorded by Georgina Jackson in ''Shropshire Folk-Lore'', the information having been compiled in 1874.Jackson (1883), pp. 647-649 In 1894 the game is recorded as having been "in use at Shrewsbury and Ellesmere" but that "few now play or understand this old-fashioned game." In 1924, the game is briefly described in
Mary Webb Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English Romance (literary fiction), romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and ...
's Shropshire novel, ''
Precious Bane ''Precious Bane'' is a historical romance by Mary Webb, first published in 1924. It won the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse Prize in 1926. Synopsis The story is set in rural Shropshire during the Napoleonic Wars. It is narrated by the central charac ...
'', which was set in the time of the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. Despite fading into obscurity, the game was discovered still being played in a
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
pub as recently as the early 1980s.''Costly Colours''
at parlettgames.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
In 2008, Parlett published the rules of "this fascinating relative of Cribbage and probably co-descendant of Noddy...".Parlett (2008), pp. 403–432.


Cards

A
standard 52-card pack The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. In English-speaking countries it is the only traditional pack used for playing cards; in many countries of the world, however, it is used ...
of
English pattern French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...
,
French-suited cards French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...
is used with Aces ranking high.


Rules

Although Cotton's rules are for two players, Jackson's 1874 rules state that it is played by two or four players. The following is based on Jackson except where stated, and assumes two players.


Aim

The aim is to be first to score 61 points (Cotton) or 121 points (Parlett), recorded as chalks on a slate or pegged as holes on a board.


Preliminaries

Players cut for the first deal and the lowest takes it. Dealer deals 3 cards, individually, to each player and turns the next for trump. If a Knave (i.e. Jack) is turned, dealer scores 4 points, announcing "four for his heels." It must be scored before a card is played or it is forfeited. Elder then asks if the dealer wishes to ''mog'', i.e. exchange a card with the adversary. Should the dealer refuse, elder scores 1. If the dealer consents and the challenger refuses, the dealer scores 1.


Play

Elder leads the first card and the two players alternately play one card to the table, as they do so stating the cumulative total of the card values thus far played, as in Cribbage. If a player cannot play a card without exceeding the ''Hitter'' (e.g. if the cards played add up to 23 and a Nine is held in the hand), the player says "Go", whereupon the adversary scores 1 and plays his or her cards out as far as possible without exceeding the ''Hitter''.


Scoring

Players score points as they go, as well as points in their hand cards at the end of the deal. There are three ''Points'': 15, 25 and 31, the last being called ''Hitter'' or ''Grand Point''. If a player, in playing his or her card, reaches one of these ''Points'' exactly, as many points are scored as the number of cards played so far in the current deal. For example, if a Seven and Five have been played and the player adds another Five, announcing "fifteen", 3 points are scored for the three cards played. Scoring combinations are as follows. Cards 'held in the hand' are counted at the end, the players keeping their cards separate as they play: * Points (in play or hand) ** 15 – each card played counts 1. ** 25 – each card played counts 1. ** 31 (''Hitter'' or ''Grand Point'') – each card played counts 1. * Knaves and Deuces (in play or hand) ** A Knave or Deuce turned up as trump counts "4 for his heels," which must be scored by the dealer before a card is played. ** A Knave or Deuce of the trump suit, held in the hand, counts 4. ** A Knave or Deuce of any other suit than trump, held in the hand counts "2 for his nob." ** Examples: *** Two Knaves or Deuces count 6, i.e. 2 for each and 2 for the pair; but if one of them suit with the trump card they score 8. *** Three Knaves (''not'' Deuces) and a Five turned up being ''Colours'' with the
prial A set or group in card games is a scoring combination consisting of three or more playing cards of the same rank;Parlett (2008) p. 489. in some games, such as Bieten, a set may also comprise just two cards (a 'pair'). Description Sets are one o ...
and the ''Right Knave,'' i.e. the Knave of the same suit as the trump card, count 34. *
Pairs Concentration, also known as Memory, Shinkei-suijaku (Japanese meaning "nervous breakdown"), Matching Pairs, Match Match, Match Up, Pelmanism, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and tw ...
and
Prial A set or group in card games is a scoring combination consisting of three or more playing cards of the same rank;Parlett (2008) p. 489. in some games, such as Bieten, a set may also comprise just two cards (a 'pair'). Description Sets are one o ...
s (in play or hand) ** A pair, or two similar cards not being Knaves or Deuces, counts 2. ** A prial, or three similar cards, counts 9. ** A double prial, or four similar cards counts 18. ** It is not allowed to pair with prials, but each scores separately whether in hand or playing. * Colours (in hand only) ** Three cards of the same colour, one being of a different suit, count 2. ** Three cards of the same suit, count 3. ** Four cards of the same colour, two being of a different suit, count 4. ** Four of the same colour, three being of the same suit, count 5. ** Four of the same suit, called ''Costly'' or ''Costly Colours'', count 6. *
Sequences In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called t ...
(in play only) ** These score according to the number in the sequence when playing, but not in hand, and it is of no consequence which card is thrown down first. For example if an Ace is played first, then a Three, next a Five, then a Two, and lastly a Four, this will count 5 for the sequence. According to "W.H.", a Five and two Tens are called a ''Jenkin''; and a Five and three Tens or two Fives and two Tens are called a ''Double Jenkin''. Beginning with eldest, each player now reckons up the points in his or her hand and played cards, scoring for all combinations that make up exactly 15 or 25 plus 4 points if a combination adds up to exactly 31. Players also score combinations in their hand as per the list in the order: ''points'', Knaves and Deuces, pairs and prials, colours and sequences. A hand that scores nothing is called ''a cock's next''.Webb (1924), pp. 109-121 Game is 61 or 121.


Four-hand variant

According to Jackson, "opposite partners mog with each other, the elder hand challenging. If the opposite partners do not mog, the dealer has the privilege of mogging with the 'deck,' which he does by taking the card next under the trump and substituting in its place one out of his own hand."


Footnotes


References


Bibliography

* _ (1805). ''The Royal Game of Costly Colours''. Shrewsbury: J. and W. Eddowes. * Bohn, Henry G. (1850). ''The Hand-Book of Games''. London: Bohn. *
Cotton, Charles Charles Cotton (28 April 1630 – 16 February 1687) was an English poet and writer, best known for translating the work of Michel de Montaigne from the French, for his contributions to ''The Compleat Angler'', and for the influential ''The Comp ...
(1674
''The Compleat Gamester''
London: A.M. * G.S.C. (1894)
"Costly"
in ''Bye-Gones Relating to Wales and the Border Counties'' (1893-4). London: Elliot Stock, Oswestry and Wrexham: Minshall. pp. 294/295. * Halliwell-Phillipps, James Orchard (1850). ''A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs and Ancient Customs from the Fourteenth Century.'', 2nd edn. Volume 1. London: John Russell Smith. * Jackson, Georgina Frederica (1879)
''Shropshire Word-Book: A Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Etc., Used in the County''
London:Trübner. p. 99. * Jackson, Georgina Frederica (1883)
''Shropshire Folk-Lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings''
Vol. 1. ed. by Charlotte Sophia Burne. London: Trübner. * Johnson, Charles (1754)
''The Compleat Gamester''
8th edn. London: J. Hodges. *
Parlett, David David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. His published works include many pop ...
(2008). ''The Penguin Book of Card Games'', Penguin, London. * Singer, Samuel Weller (1816)
''Researches Into the History of Playing Cards and Printing''
London: Bensley. * Webb, Mary 924(1978), ''Precious Bane'', London: Virago. * W.H. (1877). "Game of Costly" and "The Game of Costly" in ''Salopian Shreds and Patches''. Vol. 2 (1876–77), reprinted from Eddowes's Shropshire Journal. Shrewsbury: Eddowes's Journal. pp. 133 & 155.


External links

*
Parlett, David David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. His published works include many pop ...
(2020)
''Costly Colours''
at parlettgames.uk. Description of history and rules.

with rules of Costly Colours and scoring table. {{Historical card games 17th-century card games English card games French deck card games Two-player card games Adding games