Tablanette, Tablanet, Tabinet or Tablić is a popular fishing-style

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 ...

usually played by two players or two teams of two that is popular in a wide area of the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. It is similar to the English game of

Cassino Cassino () is a ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Southern Italy, at the southern end of the region of Lazio, the last city of the Latin Valley. Cassino is located at the foot of Monte Cairo near the confluence of the Gari and Liri rive ...

History

The earliest known English rules by Phillips and Westall (1939) state that "Tablanette" is supposed to have originated from Russia, although Ulmann (1890) claims that "Tablanet" comes from "the Orient". The aim is to capture cards from a layout on the table, by playing a card from hand which matches in number a table card or the sum of several table cards. Another source claims the origin of the game is likely to be from

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. ''Table nette'' means "clean table" or "clear table" in French. The term first appears in connexion with a card game in the 1810 edition of ''Spielalmanach'' ("Games Almanac"), where it is a

sweep Sweep or swept may refer to: Cleaning * Sweep, the action of using a brush to clean * Chimney sweep, a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys * Street sweeper, a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets * Swept quartz, a cleani ...

.von Abenstein (1810), p. 159.

Tablanette (1939)

The earliest English rules were published in 1939 by

Hubert Phillips Hubert Phillips (13 December 1891 – 9 January 1964) was a British economist, journalist, broadcaster, bridge player and organiser, composer of puzzles and quizzes, and the author of some 70 books. Life Education and early career Phil ...

and B.C. Westall, and may be summarised as follows: The game is for two players, the deal alternating. A 52-card,

French-suited pack 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; the one cutting the lowest card deals first. Each player receives six cards and four more are dealt, face up, to the table.

Elder 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, ...

(non-dealer) begins by playing a card to the table and may capture all table cards of the same rank as the one played and all combinations of table cards whose combined value equals that of the played card. For that purpose,

pip card Pip, PIP, Pips, PIPS, and ''similar'', may refer to: Common meanings * Pip, colloquial name for the star(s) worn on military uniform as part of rank badge, as in the British Army officer rank insignia or with many Commonwealth police agencies * T ...

s are worth their face value, Kings are worth 14,

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

13 and

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 ...

s either 1 or 11 as desired. If the played card cannot capture anything it joins the other table cards. As an example, if the table cards are K 9 4 3 and a King is played, the King is taken. If a Queen is played, the 9 and 4 are taken. If the table cards are K 9 4 5 and a Nine is played, the 4 and 5 as well as the 9 are taken. The captured cards and capturing card are placed to one side by the player taking them. A player who sweeps the table card(s) announces "Tablanette!" and scores the total value of captured and capturing card. The opponent must then play a card to the table. The Knave has the special privilege of always being able to capture all the table cards, but this does not score a ''tablanette''. If a Knave is dealt to the table at the beginning it must be picked up and placed at the bottom of 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 ...

before being replaced by another card. If a second Knave is also among the four table cards at the start, it is buried in the middle of stock and, again, replaced by another card. The Knave or Knaves dealt to the table are then replaced with another card or cards. Once the players have exhausted their six hand cards, the dealer deals another six each until eventually the stock is exhausted and the last hand played out. Any cards left on the table at the end are taken by the player who last captured a card. Players then calculate their scores, scoring 1 point for the 2 and for every Ace, King, Queen, Knave and Ten; 2 points for the 10; and 3 points for having the most cards. These points are combined with any for ''tablanettes'' to give a player's total score for the deal. Game is 251. There is a three-hand variant in which four cards are dealt to each player.

Tablanette (2011)

The rules published by Arnold (2011) are almost identical. All is as above with the following clarifications or alterations: * The player drawing the highest card from the spread pack deals first (Aces high). * Cards are dealt individually and alternately beginning with elder hand. * A Jack (Knave) dealt to the table at the start is buried in the pack.

Tablić

Tablić is a variant from Serbia and neighbouring countries with a number of significant differences; notably to the role of the Jack and the scoring scheme. In the description by John McLeod (2015),''Tablić, Tabinet''
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 ...

. Retrieved 23 December 2020. the main differences from Tablanette are as follows: * The game is for 2 or 4 players. If four play, there are fixed partnerships; deal and play are anti-clockwise. * When drawing for the deal, players decide beforehand whether the highest or lowest card wins. If highest wins, Aces are count as 11; if lowest wins, they count as 1. The remaining cards are ranked by their value in the game. * The cut card is shown to the dealer who will get it in the last phase of the deal. * The cutter may tap the pack instead of cutting, in which case the dealer shows the bottom card to everyone. * Cards are dealt in threes. * The Jack is valued at 12. * Players may only capture separate combinations e.g. if the table cards are 2 3 4 7, a Nine may take the 2, 3 and 4 or the 2 and 7, but not both combinations since the 2 is in both. * Sweeping the table is a ''tabla'' and scores 1 point, except at the very end when it does not score. * Otherwise scoring is as for Tablanette. * If players tie for most cards, no point is scored. * Every deal is played to the end. * Game is 101. McLeod describes a number of variations as well as a three-hand game.

Tabinet

Tabinet is played in Romania to essentially the same rules as Serbian Tablić.

Footnotes

References

Literature

* Arnold, Peter (2011). ''Chambers Card Games'', 2nd edn. London: Chambers Harrap, pp. 360-363. *

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, pp. 417/418. *

Phillips, Hubert Hubert Phillips (13 December 1891 – 9 January 1964) was a British economist, journalist, broadcaster, bridge player and organiser, composer of puzzles and quizzes, and the author of some 70 books. Life Education and early career Phil ...

and B.C. Westall (1939). ''The Complete Book of Card Games''. London: Witherby, p. 168-170. * Australian National University (1998)
''Macedonian-English Dictionary''
London: Routledge. * Scarne, John (1983). ''Scarne's Encyclopedia of Card Games.'' New York: Harper & Row, pp. 378-379. Copied from Phillips. * Ulmann, S. (1890). ''Das Buch der Familienspiele''. A. Hartleben, Vienna, Munich and Pest, p. 232. * von Abenstein, G.W. (1810). ''Spielalmanach für Karten-, Schach-, Bret-, Billard-, Kegel- und Ball-Spieler''. Berlin: Gottfr. Hayn.

External links

Tablic and Tabinet rules
at www.pagat.com. {{non trick-taking card games Fishing card games