Ombre

http://webpages.shepherd.edu/maustin/ombre/ombre.htm)
 * The Rules of Ombre ** (taken from -

Ombre (//Hombre//, or "The Man") is a trick-taking card game very similar to the modern games of Spades and Hearts. It is also a direct ancestor of the modern game of Bridge. It was very popular among the London elite in Pope's time, and the game that he describes in "The Rape of the Lock" obeys its rules perfectly. The complete rules of the game are somewhat complex and are described in great detail, but the following points should help you get a handle on the game that is described in the poem. In the game described in "Rape of the Lock," Belinda is the declarer and must win five tricks. Once she declares spades as trumps, she has the four highest cards possible (the three Matadors and the King of the trump suit), so she is guaranteed to win at least four tricks--and since she has two kings it is very possible that she will be able to win five. However, the outcome is not certain, since, when the Baron seizes the lead, Belinda is out of trump cards and must follow his lead. Everything comes down to whether or not her king of hearts in the last trick is met with another heart (in which case she wins) or any other suit (in which case she looses). I. Belinda leads Spadille. The Baron plays the 4 and the Third player the 3 of Spades. (Belinda wins the trick and draws out two trump cards). II. Belinda leads Manille. The Baron plays the 5 of Spades and the Third Player the 6 of Spades. (Belinda wins the trick and draws out two trump cards) III. Belinda leads Basto, which counts as a trump card, the third highest. The Baron must, therefore, play a Spade and plays the 7, keeping back the Queen and the Knave in hopes of eventually taking tricks with them. The Third Player throws away a card, probably the 7 of Diamonds. (Belinda wins the trick and draws out a trump card). IV. Belinda leads with the King of Spades. The Baron must now play his Knave of Spades, and the Third Player, who wishes to keep his run of hearts unbroken plays the Knave of Clubs, which is called "Pam" in another game (Five-card Loo) but is not an important card in Ombre. (Belinda wins the trick and draws out the Knave of Spades, depriving the Baron of one of the tricks that he had hoped to win.) V. At this point, Belinda has won the four hands that she was guaranteed to win, but she must win fifth to win the game. She has two kings remaining and needs to win a trick with at least one of them. However, the Baron still has a trump card and a relatively strong hand, so the outcome is very much in question. her best chance is to lead with a King and hope that the player who has the trump card has a card in the suit of her king so that he cannot play trump. She leads with the King of Clubs, but the Baron does not have any clubs, so he is allowed to play his remaining trump card (the Queen of Spades) which takes the trick and the lead away from Belinda. The Third Player (whose hand is desperately weak) throws away another card--probably the 6 of Hearts. (The Baron wins the trick) VI. The Baron now has the lead and leads the King of Diamonds. The Third Player is unable to follow suit and plays the 4 of Hearts. Belinda can follow suit and plays her 6 of Diamonds. (The Baron wins the trick). VII. The Baron, still leading, leads with the Queen of Diamonds. The Third Player plays his 3 of Hearts. Belinda plays the Queen of Clubs. (The Baron wins the trick). VIII. The Baron leads with the Knave of Diamonds. The Third Player plays the 2 of Hearts. Belinda plays the Queen of Hearts. (The Baron wins the trick). IX. It is now the final hand of the game. Both Belinda and the Baron have won four tricks, and this hand will decide the game. Belinda has the King of Hearts, which is the highest card in the suit in Ombre, but if the Baron leads with anything other than a Heart he will win the trick, since Belinda will not be able to follow suit. However, all of the remaining cards ARE hearts. The Baron leads with the Ace of Hearts, the Third Player follows with the Knave of Hearts, and Belinda wins the hand by playing the King of Hearts. Is there any symbolism in this final triumph of hearts? Probably.
 * The game is usually played with three players with a standard deck of cards that has the 8's, 9's, and 10's removed. Each player is dealt 9 cards, and the remaining 13 cards are placed in the //talon//.
 * The players bid on who will be able to take a majority of the tricks (five of nine). The winning bidder becomes the declarer (the Hombre) and must play against both of the other two players.
 * The winning bidder is allowed to declare which suit will be trump. ("Let spades be trumps she said, and trumps they were).
 * Three cards are called "Matadors," which means that they are the highest three cards in any game. The black aces are always Matadors: the Ace of Spades is //spadille// and is always the highest trump card and the Ace of Clubs is //basta//, which is always the third highest trump. The second highest card, //manille//, is the card that would otherwise be the lowest card in the trump suite.
 * Each player plays a card in a counter-clockwise rotation. Black and red suits have a slightly different ranking. If the the trump is a black suit (spades or clubs), the ranking of the suit is **S 2 B K Q J 7 6 5 4 3** (S = //Spadille//, or the Ace of Spades; B = //Basta//, or the Ace of Clubs); if the trump suit is red (hearts or diamonds), the cards are ranked **S 7 B A K Q J 2 3 4 5 6.** Similarly, cards in the black suits (when not trump) are ranked **K Q J 7 6 5 4 3 2 A** and cards in red suits (when not trump) are ranked **K Q J A 2 3 4 5 6 7**.
 * To win the hand, the declarer must take five tricks. If another player takes five tricks, the result is called //codille//, which is a loss for the declarer. It is possible to achieve a sort of a tie, or a //bête// by taking exactly as many tricks as one other player (4-4-1 or 3-3-3). And, in extremely rare cases, it is possible to achieve a //Tout// by taking all nine tricks.
 * The Hands from Rape of the Lock **