Catch the ten

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Catch the Ten
OriginScotland
TypeTrick-taking
Players2-8
Cards36
DeckFrench
Rank (high→low)A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6
PlayClockwise
Playing time15 min
Related games
Solo whist

Catch the Ten, also called Scotch Whist, is an 18th-century point-trick, Ace-Ten card game which is recorded as being played only in Scotland, although evidence shows that it is in fact of German origin.[1] Unlike standard Whist, it is played with a pack of only 36 cards, the 5s and below being omitted. In the trump suit, the Jack is the highest card.

History

The 36-card pack and Ace-Ten scoring scheme with Tens low suggest a certain antiquity and German origins, but the game is first recorded in a farce by James Stewart in 1779, where one of the Scottish students in a tavern suggests "we have a game, at Catch the Ten", noting that there are "just Six o'us".[2] It was clearly well known in early 19th century Scotland, particularly in Edinburgh, the 1830 Hoyle Made Familiar confirming that it is said to be a "favourite game in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland, though, we believe it is not much known in the sister kingdom."[3] In 1824, the Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia notes that the chief Galloway card games are Catch the Ten or Catch Honours, Lent for Beans, Brag, Pairs for Slaes, Beggar my Neebour, Birkie, Love after Supper and Wha to be married first. In addition to these "rustic" games, Whist and Cribbage had recently been introduced, but Catch the Ten remained that "auld, harmless favourite".[4] A Scottish Dictionary also gives the name as Catch the Lang Tens.[5]

The game was played at Christmas among the middle classes in Edinburgh in 1800, but by the 1820s it was "the nightly resource of retired coal skippers and independent fish women."[6] Its first rules were published in 1830 in Edinburgh, where it was also called Scots Whist,[7] and they continue to be published today, sometimes under the name Scotch Whist,[a] although whether the game is actually played is unknown.

Rules

The following rules are based on Trebor, but have not changed since with the exception of the minor variations and clarifications noted:[3]

Overview

Any number from two to eight people may play. If an odd number play, each plays alone; if four, six or eight play, they form two teams with the players from each team sitting alternately. Alternatively, if six play, they may form three teams of two.[3]

The Card Games Bible (2014) also allows four, six or eight players to play on their own.[8] The New Complete Hoyle (1991) states that four players are best.[9]

A 36-card, French-suited pack is used, the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s being removed from a standard pack. Cards rank as in Whist, with the exception of the trump suit where the Jack is the highest card.[3]

Object

The aim of the game is to score the most points by winning tricks and taking the top five trumps. Each card taken above the party's share scores one point and the trumps score as follows:[3]

  • Jack = 11
  • Ace = 4
  • King = 3
  • Queen = 2
  • Ten = 10
  • Remainder = 0

Thus there are 30 card points.[3] Example: in a four-player game, each person's share of the 36 cards is 9. If spades are trumps and Angus and Isla take 8 tricks between them they have 32 cards and their share is 2 x 9 = 18. Thus they score = 32 - 18 = 14 towards game. If, in addition, Angus has the ♠J and Isla has ♠A, so they score an additional 11 + 4 = 15 points, making a total of 29 points out of 41 and winning the game.

Deal and play

The cards are cut and then dealt clockwise, beginning with eldest hand, and either singly or three at a time, the last card being turned for trumps.[3] If two play, each player is dealt three hands of 6 cards.[3] If three play, each receives a hand of 6 cards.[3] If four play, they each receive 9 cards;[9] if five play, the ♠6 is removed from the pack and each player is dealt 7 cards;[8] if six play they receive 6 cards each; if seven play, the ♠6 is removed and they are dealt 5 cards each; and if eight play, the four 6s are removed and they are dealt 4 each.[8][b]

Eldest hand leads to the first trick with any card. The hands are played in the order dealt e.g. if two play, they play their three hands alternately and in the order dealt. The game follows Whist rules of play i.e. players must follow suit if able, but may play any card if unable to follow. The trick is won by the highest trump or by the highest card of the led suit if no trumps are played. The trick winner leads to the next trick.[9][8][c]

The penalty for a revoke (breaking a rule such as failing to follow suit when able) is the loss of the game.[3] The New Complete Hoyle (1991) suggests a better penalty is the loss of all points in the current deal, the opponents scoring all they have made.[9]

In partnership games, the tricks are kept in a common pile for each team.[10]

Winning

Forty-one is game and may be achieved in the middle of a hand.[3]

Tactics

The "grand object" is to "Catch the Ten" of trumps or prevent it being caught by an adversary. The only safe way of saving or 'passing' the Ten is to play it to a round of trumps when your partner has played the best trump or, if you are the last player and cannot follow suit, to trump the trick with the 10. More often, a risk has to be taken by trumping a side suit even when you are not the last to play.[3]

French Whist

Rules for French Whist are first outlined by William Brisbane Dick in 1864 where he describes it as if it were a version of Whist, except that game is 40, not 10, the honours count to those who win them (as in Catch the Ten) and not to those who are dealt them, and the ♦10 is worth 10 points. It is presumably also played by four players in partnership with 52 cards and the honours score, as in Whist, four points if the A, K, Q and J of trumps are won, three if any 3 are taken and nothing otherwise. The tricks count the same as at Whist i.e. 1 point per trick.[11]

However, in 1885, Dick describes it as a "variety of Catch the Ten" adding that the ♦10 is only a trump if Diamonds are trumps and that the tricks count the same as at Whist i.e. 1 point per trick.[12] R.F. Foster and other authors down to David Parlett follow Dick's later premise that French Whist is a variant of Catch the Ten, presumably following its rules and scoring where they are different from those of Whist.[d]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ For example, in the Card Games Bible (2014), p. .
  2. ^ Trebor states that, if necessary, one or two sixes are removed in order to divide the cards equally, but otherwise does not clarify the deal for four or more players, leaving subsequent authors to fill in the detail.
  3. ^ Trebor simply says that the "mode of playing" is "the same as at whist."
  4. ^ For example, see Parlett (2008). It may be, of course, that Dick was initially in error and later corrected himself.

References

  1. ^ Oxford Dictionary of Card Games, David Parlett p. 63, Oxford University Press (1996) ISBN 0-19-869173-4
  2. ^ Stewart (1779), p. 12.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trebor (1830), pp. 29–31.
  4. ^ MacTaggart, John (1824), pp. 458–459.
  5. ^ Jamieson (1825), p. 191.
  6. ^ T.Y. (1821), pp. 79–80.
  7. ^ Trebor (1830), pp. 29–31.
  8. ^ a b c d The Card Games Bible (2014), pp. 150–151.
  9. ^ a b c d The New Complete Hoyle (1991), pp. 442–443.
  10. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Catch the Ten". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 505.
  11. ^ Dick (1864), p. 457.
  12. ^ Dick (1885), p. 248.

Bibliography

  • _ (2014). The Card Games Bible. London: Hamlyn.
  • Jamieson, John (1825). Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. 2nd edn. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: W. & C. Tait.
  • MacTaggart, John (1824). The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia. London: Morrison.
  • Parlett, David (2008). The Penguin Book of Card Games, Penguin, London. ISBN 978-0-141-03787-5
  • Stewart, James (1779). The Students, or The Humours of St. Andrews A Farce. London: W. Nicoll.
  • Trebor, Eidrah [Robert Hardie] (1830). Hoyle Made Familiar. Edinburgh: Stirling & Kenney.
  • "Trumps", pseud. for William Brisbane Dick (1864). The American Hoyle. NY: Dick & Fitzgerald.
  • T.Y. (1821). "Letters from Edinburgh. No. III." in The London Magazine, Vol. 4. July–December. London: Taylor & Hessey.
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