Jeu du Nain-Jaune, Musée du jouet de Colmar

The jeux de hocs are a family of French

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 ...

s in which the aim is to be first to shed all one's hand cards to sequences laid out in rows on the table. They all feature cards known as '

stops Stop may refer to: Places *Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...

' or ''hocs'': cards that end a sequence and give the one who played it the advantage of being able to start a new sequence. In some games, ''hocs'' attract bonuses. The best known of the hoc games is

Nain Jaune The game of Nain Jaune or Yellow Dwarf (french: Le jeu du nain jaune, ), also formerly called Lindor, is an "attractive and unique traditional French card game" using a board comprising five compartments or boxes. It is a reasoned game of chance ...

("Yellow Dwarf"), which is a classic French family game still played today.''Les jeux de hocs''
on the Academy of Forgotten Games website.

History

The first game known to feature ''hocs'' was Hoc itself. This came in two variants, a multi-stake, vying game sometimes called ''

Hoc Mazarin Hoc Mazarin, also just Hoc, is an historical French gambling game of the Stops family for two or three players. The game was popular at the court of Versailles in the 17th century and was named after Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister to the King of ...

'' or ''Hoc de Mazarin'' and named after

Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis X ...

who was known to greatly favour it when at the court of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

in the mid-1600s. Another variant was ''Hoc de Lyon'', about which little is known. The concept spread to other 17th and 18th century games including

Poque Poch, Pochen or Pochspiel (french: Poque) is a very old card game that is considered one of the forerunners of poker, a game that developed in America in the 19th century. An etymological relationship between the game names is also assumed. G ...

, Comete,

Emprunt Emprunt is an historical French card game of the Hoc family for three to six players that dates to at least the early 18th century. History The earliest account of the rules of Emprunt date to 1718_ (1718), pp. 180–181. and the game continues ...

Manille Manille (; derived from the Spanish and Catalan ''Manilla'') is a Catalan French trick-taking card game which uses a 32 card deck. It spread to the rest of France in the early 20th century, but was subsequently checked and reversed by the expansio ...

and Lindor.Parlett (1991), pp. 88/89 All except Emprunt are still played in some form.

Types of hoc

Four types of 'stop' card or ''hoc'' are distinguished: * End-of-run ''hoc''. The end-of-run ''hoc'' (''hoc de fin de suite'') is the highest card in a run, typically a

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

. It completes the row of cards. The player playing it calls "hoc!" and starts a new sequence with any desired card. * Incidental ''hoc''. An incidental ''hoc'' (''hoc accidentel'') is one that occurs because the next card in the sequence is not held by any player, e.g. because it is concealed within the

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or stock of cards left face down on the table. The player of the last card of the run calls "hoc!" and starts a new sequence as before. * Permanent ''hoc''. Within a particular game, certain cards may be designated as permanent ''hocs'', for example, the Q, J and 10 in Nain Jaune. When such a card is played, the player announces "hoc!" and begins a new sequence. * Chief ''Hoc''. In some games a 'Chief ''Hoc is designated. This has special powers: it may be used as a wild card in place of any other card in the pack and the holder may be allowed to withhold it even if it is the next card of a sequence. In Nain Jaune, the 7 is the Chief ''Hoc''; in Hoc Mazarin there are six chief hocs.

References

Literature

* Frisch, Johann-Leonhard (1746)
''Nouveau dictionnaire des passagers francois-allemand et allemand-francois''
Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Gleditschen. * Parlett, David (1991). ''A History of Card Games'', OUP, Oxford. * {{card-game-stub