Doublets or queen's game is an historical English

tables game Tables games are a class of board game that includes backgammon and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among ...

for two people which was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although played on a board similar to that now used for

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

, it is a simple game of hazard bearing little resemblance to backgammon. Very similar games were played in mainland Europe, the earliest recorded dating to the 14th century.

History

Doublets may be an elaboration of the Spanish game of ''doblet'' which is described in detail in 1283 in '' El Libro de los Juegos'' published by

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

.Alfonso X (1283). In 1534, a game called ''renette'' or ''reynette'' ("little queen")Fiske (1905), p. 286. appears in the list of games in

Gargantua ''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagruel ...

published by Rabelais. According to

Cotgrave Cotgrave is a town and civil parish in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England, some 5 miles (8 km) south-east of central Nottingham. It perches on the South Nottinghamshire Wolds about 131 feet (40 metres) above sea level. ...

's French Dictionary of 1611, ''renette'' is "a game of tables of some resemblance with our Doublets or Queenes Game..."Cotgrave (1611). Entry for ''renette''. The name "queen's game" is recorded as early as 1554Cram, Forgeng and Johnson (2003), pp. 256 ff. and doublets in 1549 in a sermon by

Latimer Latimer may refer to: Places England * Latimer, Buckinghamshire, a village ** Latimer and Ley Hill, a civil parish that until 2013 was just called "Latimer" * Latimer, Leicester, an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicest ...

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

: "they be at their doublets still."Fiske (1905), p. 88. Hyde (1694) equates doublets to the French game known variously as tables rabattues, dames rabattues or dames avallées.Fiske (1905), p. 171. By 1621, doublets was clearly well known enough to be mentioned in '' Taylor's Motto'' thus: "At

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Tick-tacke Ticktack or Tick-Tack, is an historical English tables game for two players using a board similar to that used today for Backgammon and other tables games. Like its much more elaborate French counterpart, Trictrac, it has the unusual feature that ...

, Doublets,

Draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

e, He flings his money free with carelessnesse".Taylor (1621), ''I Care'' (poem). The earliest known English rules were written down around 1665-1670 by Willughby in his ''Volume of Plaies'', who describes "Dublets" as "the most childish game at Tables in which there is nothing but chance and scarce any skill." He was followed by Cotton, (1674) Seymour (1750)Seymour (1750), p. 248–249. and Johnson,Johnson (1754), p. 249. in the various editions of ''

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 1 ...

'', the later editions being reprints of the first with minor spelling changes.

Equipment

The game is played on a

tables board Tables games are a class of board game that includes backgammon and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among ...

of the type used for

. It has two halves known as

tables Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

each of 6

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

a side. Players sit on opposite sides of the board and only one table is used. The outermost point on each side is point 1; the innermost, next to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

is point 6. Each player has 15 counters known as

men A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chrom ...

, one player having white men and the other player, having black ones. Two dice are used.

Aim

The aim of doublets is to be first to play off all one's men.

Rules

The following rules of play are based on Willughby. Players begin by dressing the board on the side nearest to them as follows: * Points 1-3: Two men are placed on each point, one on top of the other * Points 4-6: Three men are placed on each point in a pile, one on top of the other. Players throw the dice to decide who goes first. Each player takes a die and throws it. The one with the highest

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William * ...

wins, picks up both dice and makes the first throw of the game. In turn, each player throws the dice and moves his or her men based on the result. There are two phases of play: # Phase 1. Players ''play down'' a man for each cast of the

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

. For example, with throws of 2 and 6, the player takes the upper of the two men on point 2 and places it on the same point but above the lower man; they also take the top of the three men on point 6 and place it on the point above the remaining pile of two. If the men on a point corresponding to a die throw have already been played down, the throw is lost. # Phase 2. When all the men are played down, they are ''played off'' or

borne off The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...

. For example, if a player throws 1 and 5, he may remove a man from each of points 1 and 5. If the point corresponding to a die throw is vacant because the men have already been borne off, the throw counts for nothing. If a

doublet Doublet is a word derived from the Latin ''duplus'', "twofold, twice as much", {{tables games Historical tables games British board games Games of chance 16th-century board games