Put, occasionally Putt, is an English tavern game first recorded in the 16th century and later castigated by 17th century moralists as one of ill repute.Parlett (1995), pp. 27–28. It belongs to a very ancient family of

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 ...

s and bears close similarities a group known as ''Truc, Trut,'' ''Truque'', also ''Tru'', and the South American game

Truco Truco, a variant of Truc, is a trick-taking card game originally from Valencia and the Balearic Islands, popular in South America and Italy. It is usually played using a Spanish deck. Two people may play, or two teams of two or three playe ...

. Its more elaborate cousin is the Catelan and Spanish game of

Truc Truc, pronounced in France and in Spain, is a 15th-century bluff and counter-bluff trick-taking card game which has been likened to poker for two. It is played in Occitania, Sarthe (where it is known as ''trut''), Poitou (''tru'') and the Basqu ...

, which is still much played in many parts of Southern France and Spain.

Etymology

The name Put, pronounced "uh" like the "u" in the English village of Putney, derives from "putting up your cards in case", if you do not like them, or from "putting each other to the shift". Cotton spells it Putt.

History

Put is mentioned as early as 1662 where the opening line of a poem, ''The Riddle'', says "S-hall's have a Game at Put, to pass away the time..." It appears in a compendium of poems and songs from the period 1639–1661. The rules of Put are recorded as early as the 1670s by Willughby and Cotton. At that time it was considered a very disreputable game, "the ordinary rooking game of every place", rooking meaning "cheating". Its reputation was such that Crawley (1876) cites an early play as saying "if you want to be robbed, my son, play Put in a tavern." It was a game of the servants' quarters along with Loo,

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'' ...

and All Fours. Cotton's rules were reprinted in various editions of ''

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 1 ...

'' until 1750 and sporadically copied into the 19th century. No new information appears until around 1800 with Pigott and Jones' versions of ''Hoyle's Games''. During the 19th century most sources copy these texts almost verbatim. Put died out during the 19th century, but not before having influenced Brag.Parlett (1990), pp. 169–170.

Put (17th/18th century)

The following description is based on the two earliest sources: Willughby (1672) and Cotton (1674).Willughby (1672)Cotton (1674), pp. 131–137. Put was almost invariably a two-hand game, although Willughby includes extra rules for any number of players and Cotton suggests three may also play. A full 52-card

English pattern 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 ...

pack is used with cards ranking in the unusual order of 3-2-A-K-Q-J-T-9-8-7-6-5-4 in each suit. The game is won by the first player to score 5 points (a "Putt") or 7 points over as many deals as necessary. The player drawing the highest Put-card (Threes high, Fours low) deals first, and the deal then alternates. The dealer shuffles and non-dealer cuts. The dealer then gives three cards each, singly, non-dealer first. If there are more players, cards are dealt in clockwise order and the deal passes to the left each time. Non-dealer leads to the first trick. Players may always play any card; there are no trumps and no requirement to follow suit. The trick is taken by the higher card, and the winner of a trick leads to the next. If cards of equal rank are played e.g. two Threes or two Aces, the trick is tied. It is laid to one side and belongs to neither player. The same player then leads again. A player winning 2 o of the 3 tricks scores 1 point towards game. If each player wins a trick and the third is tied, it is "trick and tye" and neither scores. A player with a strong hand could say "Put" before playing to a trick. If the opponent declines, the 'putter' scores 1 point. If the opponent says "I see it", they play on and the one who takes most tricks wins the whole game, the Put, i.e. 5 or 7 points. There is no option to fold unless one's opponent has said "Put". Cotton's account of 1674 is reprinted until 1750 and appears again in Bohn (1850) and no other descriptions appear during the 18th century.

Put (19th century)

Pigott (1800) introduces new information. For the first time, methods of keeping score are described: whist counters, money as counters, chalking or drawing 5 lines or strokes with a pencil or chalk and erasing 1 line per point; the first to erase all 5 winning the game.Pigott (1800), pp. 204–207. In terms of play; a player can "throw up his cards", i.e. fold, on viewing the cards dealt or before playing a card to a trick, thus conceding 1 point to the opponent. Otherwise there is no practical change to the rules, a player being allowed to challenge with "I put" which, if accepted, means they will both play for the game. For the first time four-handed Put is described, whereby each person has a partner and when the cards are dealt, one partner gives the other their best card and throws the others two away; the partner receiving the card discards their worst card and a two-hand game is then played as normal.

Strategy

Considerable daring is necessary in this game, for a bold player will often "Put" upon very bad cards in order to tempt the adversary into giving him a point. Sometimes the hand is played with "Putting", when the winner of the three tricks, or of two out of three, scores 1 point. The best cards are first: the Threes, next the Twos, and then the Aces; the Kings, Queens, Knaves, and Tens following in order down to the Four, which is the lowest card in the pack.

Variants

One variant of the game is to shorten the pack to 32 cards by stripping out all the lower ranks from Four to Nine.

Le Truc

In his book ''A Gamut of Games'', Sid Sackson describes a French game called Le Truc, which he translates as "The Knack". This is played with a 32-card pack ranking 6-7-A-K-Q-J-T-9. The winning of two tricks, or one and two ties, scores 1 point. When about to play to a trick, a player may propose to double the value of the hand, allowing the other to throw in his hand to prevent the double from taking effect. The first to reach 12 points wins the game, and the first to win two games wins the rubber. The French version of

is closely related to the English Put.

Four-handed Put

Four-handed Put differs only in that any two of the players give each his best card to his partner, who then lays out one of his or her cards, and the game then proceeds as in two-handed Put.

In literature

The game of Put appears in a "

riddle A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requir ...

", or

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

, probably written by a

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

in the thrilling interval between the resignation of

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. On his father's death ...

on May 25, 1659 and the restoration of Charles II, crowned at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

on 23 April 1661. It expresses in enigmatical terms the designs and hopes of the King's adherents, under colour of describing a game of "Put". The initial letters of the seven verses are an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

, and indicate the number of cards shared between the two players in the game. S, X, I, C, R, A, T, make SIX CART, or six cartes (six cards). Six cards, also, are expressly mentioned in the riddle itself, namely: "the Knave" (line 2), "a King" (3), "Heart" (5), "Trey", "Quarter" or quatre, and "the Buck" (7). "The Buck", probably one of the picture-cards, or the ace, inferior to "Trey", which is the best card in the game of put; therefore "Trey" comes "to pull down the Buck". The poem is as follows: ''S-hall's have a Game at Put, to pass away the time ?''
''X-pect no foul-plav; though I do play the Knave''
''I-have a King at hand, yea, that I have:''
''C-Cards be true, then the Game is mine.''
''R-ejoyce my heart, to see thee then repine.''
''A-that's lost, that's Cuckold's luck.''
''T-rey comes like Quarter, to pull down the Buck.'' "The Buck" is an old English synonym for the Coarse Appellation, intended, no doubt, for a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

, or for the

Puritan party The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...

. "Pulling down the Buck", is also an allusion to hunting.

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and is ...

's novel ''

The Devil in Velvet ''The Devil in Velvet'', first published in 1951, is a detective story by American writer John Dickson Carr. This novel is both a mystery and a historical novel, with elements of the supernatural. Plot summary Cambridge Professor of history ...

'', set in 1675 London, includes a scene at Whitehall Palace in which the King's mistress

Nell Gwyn Eleanor Gwyn (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687; also spelled ''Gwynn'', ''Gwynne'') was a celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage ...

and the courtier Ralph Montague play Put with stakes in the thousands of guineas. Gwyn is depicted as saying she prefers Put to other card games such as

Ombre Ombre (, pronounced "omber") or l'Hombre is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players and "the most successful card game ever invented." Its history began in Spain around the end of the 16th century as a four-pe ...

which are "too slow". The game of Put also appears in "The English Rogue", written by the Irish author

Richard Head Richard Head ( 1637 – before June 1686) was an Irish author, playwright and bookselling, bookseller. He became famous with his satirical novel ''The English Rogue'' (1665), one of the earliest novels in English that found a continental transl ...

. He also describes the rules of the game played during his time.Head (1668).

Footnotes

References

Literature

* _ (1662)
''Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to the Late Times.''
By the most Eminent Wits, from AD 1639 to Anno 1661. London: Henry Bromen and Henry Marsh. * _ (1798). ''The Sporting Magazine'', Vol. XI. London: J. Wheble. * _ (1859). ''Notes and Queries''. London: Bell & Daldy, Jan-Jul 1859. *

Cotton, Charles 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 ...

(1674
''The Compleat Gamester''
London: A.M. * Head, Richard (1668). ''The English Rogue'', London: Francis Kirkman. * Jones, Charles (1800). ''Hoyle's Games Improved''. London: Ritchie. *

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 ...

(1992). ''Oxford Dictionary of Card Games''. Oxford: OUP. *

(1995). ''Teach Yourself Card Games''. London: Hodder & Stoughton. * Pigott, Charles (1800). ''Pigott's New Hoyle''. London: Ridgway. * "Trumps" Dick,_William_Brisbane_.html" ;"title="Dick,_William_Brisbane.html" ;"title="Dick, William Brisbane">Dick, William Brisbane ">Dick,_William_Brisbane.html" ;"title="Dick, William Brisbane">Dick, William Brisbane (1868). ''The Modern Pocket Hoyle''. NY: Dick and Fitzgerald. * Willughby, Francis. ''A Volume of Plaies.'' (Manuscript in the Middleton collection, University of Nottingham, shelfmark Li 113.) c1665-70. published in Francis Willughby's Book of Games in 2003 by Jeff Forgeng, Dorothy Johnston and David Cram (2003). Ashgate Press. .(2003). * Latham, Robert Gordon (1850). ''A Grammar of the English Language for Commercial Schools''. London: Taylor, Walter & Maberly.

External links

Put
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