The card game Quarante de Roi is an ancient trick-taking game from France. Although the game's first mention in a printed publication is from 1772, Quarante de Roi is actually thought to be much older even than that. Due to it's age, and most people's unfamiliarity with it, it is probable that this game is no longer actively played. Quarante de Roi (also sometimes titled Quarante de Rois) is designed for play by four players, playing in two partnerships.
The game uses a reduced 32 card deck, which can be formed by removing all cards lower than seven from a standard 52 card deck. The ranking of the cards in this reduced deck are as follows (from highest to lowest): King, Queen, Jack, Ace, 10, 9, 8, 7.
The game proscribes a specific method for determining partnerships. The players should all initially take random seats at the table, with one player designated as temporary dealer. This player would then begin dealing the cards, one-at-a-time around the table in a counter-clockwise direction. Once a player receives any King, he receives no more cards during this preliminary deal,
while cards continue to be dealt to the remaining players. As each
player receives a King, no more cards are then dealt to that player. Once
three players have received a King, it can be assumed the last King found
in the deck would thus go to the last remaining player. Thus, one the
Kings have been distributed in this way, the teams are determined with
the two player receiving the two red suited Kings (King of hearts, and
King of diamonds) playing as partners against a team composed of the two
players receiving the black suited Kings (King of spades, King of clubs).
Each player should thus seat himself at the table directly across from his partner.
After the partnerships have been determined, the deck can be shuffled, and spread out in a face-down fan shape on the table. Each player would thus draw one card from this deck, with the player drawing the highest ranked card set as the first dealer. The ranking of the cards, specifically for the purposes of this draw, is slightly different than that used during gameplay. For this draw, the ranking of the cards in the deck is as follows (shown from highest to lowest): Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7. If there is a tie for highest card drawn, all players concerned in this tie for high card, would discard those cards and draw again, with the highest drawn card being set as the first dealer. After each hand, the role of dealer rotates around the table in a counter-clockwise direction.
The current dealer then thoroughly shuffles the deck and offers it to the player at his left to cut. After the cut, he then begins dealing the cards in a counter-clockwise direction around the table, with the player at his left receiving the first batch of cards. The dealer first deals each player a two card packet, then a three card packet, and finally a last two card packet. The last card of the deck (which is part of the last batch dealt to the dealer) is dealt face-up to the table. This card and all others of this same suit are part of the trump suit for this hand. The dealer will pick up this card, adding it into his hand, immediately before playing his first card to the first trick (on his turn). The player to the immediate right of the dealer plays the first card to the first trick, with each other player adding one card to that same trick.
In leading to a trick, a player may play any card of choice still remaining in his hand. Each other player to that same trick, must play a card of the suit originally led to that trick if they have such a card. If they do not have a card in that suit, they may play any card from their hand, including a card from the designated trump suit.
After each player has played one face-up card to the trick, it is determined who has won the trick. If the trick contains any cards in the trump suit, it is won by the player of that card. If the trick contains no cards from the trump suit, it is instead won by the player of the highest card in the suit originally led to it. Cards played to a trick are set aside, in a face-down pile and out of play, near the player winning that trick. The winner of each trick leads the first card to the next trick.
As each player leads the first card to the first trick of each hand, if that player finds that he has a set of three or four court cards of the exact same rank (called a clique), he may make an announcement on playing his first card to the first trick, with the possibility of thus earning bonus points for the combination. Only the highest announced clique is entitled to score for it, however to prevent players
from revealing too much information regarding the cards in their hand,
they would first simply state the number of cards making up the
combination. Thus the player would declare "Three cards" or "Four cards"
corresponding to the number of such matched cards the player has in his
hand. He so announces this upon playing his first card to the first trick
(which need not consist of one of the cards making up the clique). A four would be considered of higher rank than a
three. Thus, any "Four card", called cliques would outrank any "Three card"
called cliques. If the highest ranked clique announced was "Four cards", but multiple players made this same announcement, each of these players in turn (starting with the first player to make the "Four cards" call would then announce the rank of the clique they have. Similarly, if only cliques of "Three cards" were announced, each player who made this announcement, starting with the first such player to make the announcement, would state the rank of the clique they contain. If a previous player announced a higher ranked clique, a player is not obligated to announce the rank of his clique, and may simply say "It's Good". Players are never required to so announce any clique they have if they feel it would not be advantageous to declare it, as it might reveal too much information about the cards they have in hand. Only the highest announced clique is entitled to score for the
partnership consisting of the player having that clique. The following is the ranking of the cliques, and it's point value if being the highest (shown from lowest ranked to highest):
| Clique Description | Point Value |
|---|---|
| Three Jacks | 6 Points |
| Thee Queens | 8 Points |
| Three Kings | 10 Points |
| Four Jacks | 13 Points |
| Four Queens | 20 Points |
| Four Kings | 40 Points |
After all the cards have been played out to tricks, each team examines the cards they managed to win (amongst both members of that team) in tricks during that hand. Each of the cards captured in tricks during play of that hand has a point value, according to the following chart:
| Card | Point Value |
|---|---|
| King | 5 Points Each |
| Queen | 4 Points Each |
| Jack | 3 Points Each |
| Ace, 10, 9, 8, 7 | 0 Points |
All points scored by each partnership (for card points captured during the hand, and the highest clique, if appropriate and announced) are added to a running total retained for that team. One player is usually designated as the scorekeeper, keeping the scores on a sheet of paper with two columns, with one column labeled "Them" and a second column labeled "Us". As soon as, at the end of a hand, one or both teams is found to have 250 or more points, the game ends, with the team having the highest accumulated score declared the game winner.