Ruff and Honours, Ruffe and Trump or Slamm was an English

trick-taking A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...

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 ...

that was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries; it was superseded in the 18th century by

Whist Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. History Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...

History

Ruff and Honours is covered in

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 ...

's ''

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 ...

'' of 1674 where it is described as being commonly known in all parts of England. At the time

Randle Cotgrave Randle Cotgrave was an English lexicographer. In 1611 he compiled and published ''A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues'', a bilingual dictionary that represented a breakthrough at the time and remains historically important. Life and w ...

thought the name was just a synonym for Trump. The game was also known as Slamm, a less popular form was called Whist, and it was closely related to Ruffe and Trump described by

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 ...

. Willughby speculated that there was an earlier simple trick-taking game without the ruff and honours.

Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English auth ...

and others state that ruff and honours was a descendant of the French game of

Triomphe Triomphe (French for triumph), once known as French Ruff, is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain (as triunfo) and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared ...

(→

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

''triumph'' → Modern English ''trump''). Triomphe, whose English variant was known as French Ruff, was a five-card game using a shortened deck, an up-turned trump card and played either in partnership or singlehandedly with 2-7 players. The earliest reference to a card game called "Triumph" in English is a 1522 translation of a French book. The earliest reference of "Triumph" being played in England is in a sermon by

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the s ...

in 1529. The earliest mention of Triomphe goes back to France in the 1480s.

Ruff Ruff may refer to: Places *Ruff, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community *Ruff, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community Other uses *Ruff (bird) (''Calidris pugnax'' or ''Philomachus pugnax''), a bird in the wader fami ...

originates from an obscure 15th-century Italian game known as Ronfa and probably entered the English language through the French equivalent of Ronfle – first recorded in 1458 – where it meant "point" as formerly in the game of

Piquet Piquet (; ) is an early 16th-century plain-trick card game for two players that became France's national game. David Parlett calls it a "classic game of relatively great antiquity... still one of the most skill-rewarding card games for two" but ...

. By the late 16th-century, due to confusion by English players, ruff acquired its English meaning of "to trump".

Features

The game has been reconstructed from Cotton's "ruff and honours" and Willughby's similar "ruffe and trump". *Using a standard 52-card deck, 12 cards are dealt to each player, four at a time. *The remaining four cards become the

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

, of which the top card is exposed to determine the trump suit. *The holder of the Ace of trump "ruffs", i.e. takes in the stock and discards any four cards; the dealer ruffs if the exposed top card is the ace. *Play begins with the person to the dealer's left. The player leads a card and all other players follow suit if possible. A player who cannot follow suit may play any card. The trick is won by the highest ranked card, i.e. by the highest trump card and if no trump card is played, by the highest card in suit led. *Twelve tricks are played as normal, scoring one point for each trick the partners have in excess of six. *Honours in the partnership's hands are usually scored at the end. Two points for three honours; four points for all four honours (AKQJ of trumps). *Except on eight points, honours are declared immediately to end the game. One can declare three or more honours in your hand, or with two honours call "Can-ye?" and if your partner has an honour score them. *Deals continue until one side wins by reaching nine points.

Literature

*In Antony and Cleopatra (Act IV, Scene XIV), Antony uses a Trump metaphor: "

he has He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

Pack'd cards with Caesar, and false-play'd my glory; Unto an enemy's triumph." *A woman killed with kindness: and The fair maid of the west by Thomas Heywood, Katharine Lee Bates 1917

History

Features

Literature

See also

Footnotes

References

External links