Le Her (or ''le Hère'') is a 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 ga ...

that dates back to the 16th century. It is quoted by the French poet Marc Papillon de Lasphrise in 1597. Under the name ''coucou'' it is mentioned in Rabelais' long 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 ...

, 1534). Le Her belongs to the family of

Ranter-Go-Round Ranter-Go-Round is a primitive gambling game and children's game using playing cards. It is known in most European countries as Cuckoo; the French variant being called Coucou. Other English-language names include Chase the Ace and, in America, ...

games. It is played with a standard deck of 52 cards by two people, designated the dealer and the receiver. King is ranked high and ace low. To play, the dealer gives one card to the receiver and one to the dealer. The receiver may choose to exchange cards with the dealer, unless the dealer has a king, in which case no exchange occurs. Then, the dealer may choose to exchange with the top card of the deck, unless the top card is a king, in which case no exchange occurs. In the case of the dealer and receiver having same ranked cards, the dealer is the winner. Le Her played a role in the development of the mathematical theory of probability with solutions being sought by

Bernoulli Bernoulli can refer to: People *Bernoulli family of 17th and 18th century Swiss mathematicians: ** Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782), developer of Bernoulli's principle **Jacob Bernoulli (1654–1705), also known as Jacques, after whom Bernoulli numbe ...

and de Montmort.

References

* Gambling games French card games 16th-century card games {{Gambling-stub