Gleek

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Stage 1: Buying the stock
5. Stage 2: Vying the ruff
6. Stage 3: Gleeks and mournivals
7. Stage 4: The tricks
8. Settling up
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Gleek was one of the most popular card games in England from the 16th to the early 18th century. Three players go through four stages in every deal: they bid for the right to exchange cards with the stock, vie (bet) on who holds the best suit, get paid for gleeks (three of a kind) and mournivals (four of a kind), and finally play twelve tricks, in which tricks and high trumps are worth points.

The rules here are David Parlett's reconstruction from the three best 17th-century descriptions – John Cotgrave (1662), Francis Willughby (about 1665–70) and Charles Cotton (1674). The three writers disagree on several details; the main ones are listed under Variants.

• Players: exactly 3.
• You need: a standard deck with the 2s and 3s removed (44 cards) and chips – about 100 per player, plus room for a pot in the middle. Play for chips only.

The cards

Cards rank from high to low A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 in each suit.

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card; the best card wins it. Trumps are the cards of one suit chosen for each deal: any trump beats any card of another suit.

Five trumps have special values. Old players gave them nicknames:

The four honours (Ace, King, Queen, Jack of trumps) count their points for the player who plays them, not for the one who wins them in a trick.

Setup

1. Each player cuts; the lowest card deals first. After each deal the turn to deal passes to the left.
2. The dealer shuffles, the player on the right cuts, and the dealer deals 12 cards to each player, four at a time, clockwise starting on the left. The player on the dealer's left is eldest hand.
3. The last 8 cards are stacked face down, and the dealer turns the top one face up: its suit is trumps. The turned card belongs to the dealer but stays on the table.
4. If the turned card is Tiddy (the 4), the dealer gets 4 chips from each opponent. If it is an honour, the dealer counts its points at the end of the deal.

Stage 1: Buying the stock

The other 7 face-down cards are the stock, and one player may buy it.

1. Eldest hand must open with a bid of 12 chips.
2. Going clockwise, each player then either passes (and drops out of the bidding) or bids one chip more.
3. When two players have passed, the last bidder buys the stock. They pay half the bid to each opponent (an odd chip goes into the pot).
4. The buyer puts 7 cards from their hand face down aside, then takes the 7 stock cards.

Example: Ben (eldest) opens at 12, Carla says 13, Anna passes, Ben says 14, Carla passes. Ben pays 7 chips each to Anna and Carla, discards 7 cards and takes the stock.

Stage 2: Vying the ruff

Your ruff is your best suit, counted by value: Ace 11, King, Queen and Jack 10 each, other cards their number. Four Aces in one hand beat every ruff.

Example: ♣ A Q 9 5 = 11 + 10 + 9 + 5 = 35.

The stake for the ruff is 2 chips.

1. Starting with eldest hand, each player in turn may vie ("I vie the ruff") – or say nothing. If nobody vies, there is no ruff this deal, and the stake in the next deal only is 4.
2. Once someone has vied, the others, going clockwise from that player, choose one of three options: - pass – drop out; you will pay the winner the stake as it is now; - see – stay in at the current stake; - see and revie – stay in and raise the stake by 2.
3. It ends when two players have passed (the third wins without showing) or when nobody raises any more. Then the players still in show their ruffs. The highest wins; on a tie, the player nearer the dealer's left wins.
4. The winner is paid by each opponent: the stake at the moment that player passed, or the final stake if they went to the showdown.

Stage 3: Gleeks and mournivals

Now everyone shows any gleek (three cards of the same rank) or mournival (all four) of Aces, Kings, Queens or Jacks and is paid by each opponent:

Everyone may be paid, not only the best – two players can both hold gleeks.

Stage 4: The tricks

1. Eldest hand leads to the first trick; the winner of each trick leads to the next.
2. You must follow suit (play a card of the suit led) if you can. If you can't, you may play any card – a trump or any other.
3. The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins.
4. When you play an honour, say so – its points are yours whether you win the trick or not.
5. Whoever holds Tiddy gets 2 chips from each opponent when playing it (or on showing it before the first trick).

Settling up

After all twelve tricks, everyone counts:

• 3 points for each trick won,
• the points for the honours they played (Tib 15, Jack 9, King 3, Queen 3),
• the dealer: the points of the turned card, if it is an honour.

There are 66 points in all, so an average hand makes 22. If you have more than 22, take the difference in chips from the pot; if you have less, pay the difference into the pot. The players who are short pay first.

Example: Hearts are trumps. Ben played the A♥ and the J♥ and won 5 tricks: 15 + 9 + 15 = 39, so he takes 17. Carla played the K♥ and won 4 tricks: 3 + 12 = 15, so she pays 7. Anna, the dealer, played the Q♥ and won 3 tricks: 3 + 9 = 12, so she pays 10.

If an honour was discarded when buying the stock, more is paid in than taken out; the chips stay in the pot for the next deal (the old sources don't say what to do).

Winning the game

Play an agreed number of deals – a multiple of three, so that everyone deals equally often. Whoever has the most chips at the end wins.

Tips for beginners

• Buy with a plan. Bid for the stock only if seven new cards could turn a weak hand into a trump suit; the bid is paid out to both opponents.
• Honours count when played. The Jack of trumps earns its 9 points even if a higher trump wins the trick, so you can safely play it when you can't win anyway.
• Check the gleeks. Cotgrave warns that players sometimes claimed a gleek they didn't have – ask to see it.
• Vie with care. A ruff of 40 or more is strong; with 30 you might still vie as a bluff, as Cotgrave admits players did.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• No Tiddy: Cotgrave says some players left Tiddy out, because it was easily forgotten; the 4 of trumps is then an ordinary card.
• Towser and Tumbler: Cotton alone adds two more named trumps, the 5 (Towser) and the 6 (Tumbler), which earn side payments like Tiddy: the dealer gets 5 or 6 chips from each opponent for turning one up (instead of 4). If you also allow claims for playing them from the hand, the sources probably mean 5 or 6 there, too (instead of 2).
• Bidding at 13: Cotgrave starts the bidding for the stock at 13 instead of 12.
• Play high: according to Willughby, when you follow suit you must play the highest card you hold in that suit.