Penneech

Introduction

This 17th century British card game for two players is known only from a description in Charles Cotton's Compleat Gamester (1676). It is a trick-taking game in which the scoring cards are Ace, King, Queen and Jack of trumps and also the Seven of diamonds, when it is a trump. Unusually, the trump suit changes with every trick.

Players, Cards and Equipment

The game is for two players only.

A standard English 52-card pack is used. The cards of each suit rank from high to low A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 except for diamonds in which the Seven is the highest card, known as the Peneech, ranking above the Ace. The picture cards King, Queen and Jack are known in this and other contemporary games as Face cards or "Coats", a term that later evolved to become "coat cards" or "court cards".

Points are scored throughout the game, so a convenient method for keeping a running total is needed. Since the target score to win the game is 61 points, a Cribbage board is suitable. These boards would have been readily available at inns where cards were played at that time - Cribbage is another of the games described by Cotton.

The only cards that have a value are the top cards of the trump suit, which changes for each trick. The Ace of trumps is worth 5 points, the King 4, the Queen 3 and the Jack 2. If diamonds are trumps the ♢7 is the top trump and scores 7 points.

Deal

The players take turns to deal. The cards are shuffled and cut and seven cards are dealt to each player, one at a time. The remaining cards are stacked face down as a stock from which cards will be turned to set the trump suit.

A player who is dealt no Ace and no Face card (King, Queen or Jack) may throw in their cards and demand a new deal by the same dealer.

Play

The dealer turns the top card of the stock face up, and its suit is trumps for the first trick. The non-dealer leads to the first trick.

Any card may be led to a trick, and the second player must follow suit if possible. If unable to follow suit the second player may play any card. If the two cards in the trick are the same suit, the higher card wins. If one is a trump the trump wins. If neither is a trump the player who led wins the trick.

If the trick contains any scoring trump (A, K, Q, J or ♢7), the winner of the trick immedately scores its value (5, 4, 3, 2 or 7 respectively). Note that the ♢7 scores nothing if diamonds are not trumps when it is played, but even if diamonds are not trumps the 7 still beats all other diamonds. The 7's of other suits have no special power or value.

The winner of the trick turns up a card from the stock to set the trump suit for the next trick, and immediately scores its value if it is an Ace, King, Queen or Jack. If the turned trump is the Peneech (♢7), the player who turned it up immediately scores 14 points (twice its value in a trick). Having set the new trump suit the winner of the previous trick leads to the next.

After all seven tricks have been played, the winner of the last trick turns up a card from the stock and scores for it if it is an A, K, Q, J or ♢7 in the same way as above, even though there is no eighth trick in which its suit can serve as trumps..

Scoring

After all seven tricks have been played each player counts the number of cards in the tricks they have won (ignoring the values of the cards). In addition to the points already scored during the play, the player who won the majority of the tricks scores 1 point for each card in those tricks in excess of 7. In other words a player scores 1 point for winning 4 tricks, 3 points for 5 tricks, 5 points for 6 tricks or 7 points for 7 tricks.

The first player whose score reaches 61 points or more wins the game. Thus the game can end either when a counting card is turned up, or when a trick containing a counting trump is won, or at the end of the game when the number of cards won is counted.

Variants and Uncertainties

The description given by Cotton does not cover all details of the game. The gaps have been filled in above according to what seems to us most likely, but other interpretations are possible. For example David Parlett has published a reconstruction of Peneech which differs from the one above in several details. Here is a list of the uncertain points.

Sources and Other Descriptions

Cotton = Charles Cotton, Compleat Gamester. London 1674 (Google Books) Parlett = David Parlett. Penneech, from his Historic Card Games collection (retrieved 21 Oct. 2022). Willughby = Francis Willughby, manuscript 1665-70 in the Middleton Collection, Hallward Library, University of Nottingham. Published in: David Cram, Jeffrey L. Forgeng and Dorothy Johnston. Francis Willughby's Book of Games. Abingdon, Oxon 2003, Routledge.