Losing Lodam 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 three or more players. It is a 'negative' game like Hearts whereby the aim is to avoid taking tricks with certain cards known as ''loaders''.

Names

The game is variously called Lodam, Loadam, Losing Lodam, Losing Lodum, Loosing-Lodam, Loosing Loadem, Losing Loadum or At Losing, Load Him.

History

The earliest English record dates to 1591 where the game is referred to as "Lodam", but the only description appears in

Francis Willughby Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, la, Franciscus Willughbeius) FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithologist and ichthyologist, and an early student of linguistics and games. He was born and raised at M ...

's 1665 book, ''A Volume of Plaies''. It may be the game listed by Rabelais as ''coquinbert qui gaigne perd'' in 1534, although ''Conquinbert'' is later equated to

Reversis Reversis, or more rarely, Réversi, is a very old trick-taking card game of the Hearts group whose origin is supposed to be Italian, transformed into Spain and then in France. It is considered one of the two probable ancestors of Hearts, Black La ...

, another negative game. It is an early example of a game using a form of the

Ace-Ten scoring system An Ace-Ten game is a type of card game, highly popular in Europe, in which the Aces and Tens are of particularly high value. Description Many of Europe's most popular card games feature the Ace-Ten scoring system, where the cards count as Ace ...

, albeit in a negative way, and the only English Ace-Ten game.

Rules

The following rules are based on Willughby:

Cards

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 ...

is used with Aces ranking high. The aim is to avoid taking tricks with certain cards known as ''loaders'' which have various penalty point values. These are the

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

- 11, Ten - 10,

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 ...

- 3,

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

- 2 and Knave - 1. The remaining cards are

non-counter The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge (card game), Bridge, Hearts ...

Preliminaries

At the outset, players receive 3

gaming counter The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge, Hearts, Poker or Rummy), ...

s each. When a player goes out, he loses a counter and once he has lost all three, he is out of the game. Players ante an agree stake and the last player in the game sweeps the

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

. Deal and play are clockwise. The cards are dealt out with everyone receiving the same number of cards, any left over being put aside, face down, as a

talon Talon or talons may refer to: Science and technology * Talon (anatomy), the claw of a bird of prey * Brodifacoum, a rodenticide, also known as the brand Talon * TALON (database), a database maintained by the US Air Force * Talon, an anti-vehicle- ...

Play

Eldest hand Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...

leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if able; otherwise may

renounce {{Short pages monitor Loadum, the Client's Game."''Stationer's Company Almanac'' (1719), p. 7, cited by Apperson (1884), p. 524.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* Apperson, George L. (1884). "Lodam" in ''Notes and Queries'', No. 261, 27 December 1884. * Willughby, Francis (1665). ''A Volume of Plaies'', (ms.) published as ''Francis Willughby's Book of Games'' by David Cram and Jeffrey L. Forgeng (2003). Oxford: Routledge.

External links

* Florio, John (1591). ''Second Frutes''. London: Woodcock. * , Chapter 1.XXII. - The games of Gargantua. Translated by Sir

Thomas Urquhart Sir Thomas Urquhart (1611–1660) was a Scottish aristocrat, writer, and translator. He is best known for his translation of the works of French Renaissance writer François Rabelais to English. Biography Urquhart was born to Thomas Urquhart ...

and illustrated by

Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engraving ...

. *

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)
''Losing Lodam''
at parlettgames.uk. Description of history and rules.
''Losing Loadum - A Late Renaissance Card Game''
- reconstruction by Michel Wolffauer (mka: Mike Knauer).

- brief description at

pagat.com Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been described ...

. {{Historical card games 16th-century card games English card games French deck card games Multi-player card games Reverse games Ace-Ten games