Lansquenet

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Placing bets
4. The deal
5. Passing the bank
6. Winning the game
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Lansquenet is one of the oldest card games on record, named after the German mercenary foot soldiers, the Landsknechte. It is a pure game of chance. One player, the banker, puts up a bank of chips, and the others bet against it. The banker turns up two cards: one for the bank and one for the players. Then the banker turns up more cards until one of the first two is matched by a card of the same rank. If the bank's card is matched first, the bank wins all the bets; if the players' card is matched first, the bank pays them.

These rules follow the 19th-century French game as described on pagat.com. The game is hardly played any more.

• Players: 2–10 – one banker and any number of players (the old books call them punters); best with 4–8.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches) – about 100 per person, because a winning bank grows fast. Play for chips only. Suits don't matter, only ranks.

In the old game about six decks were shuffled together; one deck works just as well if you shuffle before every deal.

Setup

1. Choose the first banker, for example whoever draws the highest card. Play goes anticlockwise (to the right), as in most old French games.
2. The banker puts their bank in the middle – any number of chips they are willing to lose in this deal, for example 10.

Placing bets

Starting with the player on the banker's right and going round anticlockwise, each player may:

• bet the whole bank – put in as many chips as the bank holds. All other bets are then taken back, and this player alone plays against the bank;
• bet part of it – any amount, as long as all the bets together are no more than the bank;
• pass.

Betting goes round as often as needed, until someone has bet the whole bank, the bets add up to the bank, or everyone passes.

The deal

The banker shuffles, the player on the banker's left cuts (lifts off part of the deck and puts it underneath), and the banker turns up two cards:

1. The first card is the bank's card. It goes face up to the banker's left.
2. The second card is the players' card. It goes face up to the banker's right.

Same rank? If these two cards have the same rank (say, two Jacks), the bank wins all the bets at once.

Otherwise the banker turns up the next cards one at a time onto a pile in the middle, until one of them has the same rank as one of the first two cards:

• It matches the bank's card: the bank wins – the banker takes all the bets.
• It matches the players' card: the bank loses – the banker pays every player as many chips as they bet (1 to 1).

Cards that match neither don't matter.

Example: Anna is banker with 10 chips. Ben bets 6 and Carla 4 – together that's the whole bank. The bank's card is the 9♣, the players' card the K♦. Anna turns up 3♥, 7♠, then 9♥ – the bank's card is matched. Anna takes the 10 chips; her bank now holds 20.

Passing the bank

• The bank lost: the bank passes to the next player on the right, who decides how big a bank to put up. If the bank had been bought, count from the player who originally started it, so the turn order stays the same.
• The bank won: the banker may keep the bank and deal again. The winnings stay in: the bank now holds the old bank plus everything won. (If the win came from two cards of the same rank at the start, the banker may take those winnings out instead.)
• Selling the bank: a banker who has won may also stop. Any other player may then buy the bank by putting up a bank of the same size; if several want to, the one nearest on the banker's right goes first. If nobody buys it, the bank passes to the right of the player who originally started it.

Example: Anna's bank now holds 20 and she stops. Dan buys the bank and puts up 20 chips; Anna keeps her 20. Dan loses his first deal, paying out his bets, so the bank passes to Ben, who sits on the right of Anna – she started this bank.

Winning the game

Agree beforehand how long to play – for example until each player has held the bank three times, or for an hour. Whoever then has the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• The only real edge of the bank is the start: in about 1 deal in 17 the first two cards have the same rank and the bank takes everything. Otherwise the bank's card and the players' card are equally likely to be matched first.
• A winning bank can double with each win, but one loss costs the banker everything in it. Taking the money and stopping after a win or two is usually wise.
• As a player, betting the whole bank means a big bet – don't do it with a bank that has grown to half your chips.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• Twins (jumelle): according to Wikipedia, in some descriptions two cards of the same rank at the start win the bank only half of each bet, not all of it.
• Hoyle's Lansquenet with a réjouissance card: the banker deals two cards to their left for the players (the hand cards), one for the bank, and a fourth in the middle, the réjouissance card, on which everyone may bet; the banker covers the bets. Every further card that matches none on the table is laid out too, and players may bet on it. Whenever a card on which players have bet is matched, the bank wins the bets on it. As soon as the bank's own card is matched, the banker pays all bets still standing and the deal ends. If both hand cards are matched before the bank's card, the banker may deal again.