Penneech

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing the tricks
5. Scoring the tricks
6. Winning the game
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Penneech is a little English trick-taking game for two from the time of Charles II, known only from Charles Cotton's Compleat Gamester. Its unique feature: the trump suit changes with every trick, because a new card is turned up each time. You score points for winning the top trumps – Ace, King, Queen, Jack – in tricks, and for turning them up. In diamonds, the 7♦, the "Penneech" itself, is the best card of all. The first to 61 points wins.

Cotton's description leaves several details open. The rules here follow John McLeod's reconstruction on pagat.com, which keeps closest to Cotton's words; David Parlett, who played the game a lot, fills some gaps differently (see Variants).

• Players: 2.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and paper and pencil or a cribbage board – 61 is once round the board.

The cards

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card; the best card wins it. Trumps are the suit of the turned-up card: a trump beats any card of another suit.

In each suit the cards rank as usual, A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 – except in diamonds, where the 7♦ (the Penneech) is the highest card, above the Ace: 7 A K Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4 3 2. It beats all other diamonds even when diamonds are not trumps.

Only trumps score. The cards of the current trump suit are worth:

Since trumps change every trick, a card may score in one trick and be worth nothing in the next.

Setup

1. Cut the deck; whoever cuts the lower card deals first (Ace low). After that, take turns to deal.
2. The dealer deals 7 cards each, one at a time. The rest go face down as the stock.
3. If you have no Ace and no face card (King, Queen or Jack), you may show your hand, throw it in and have the same dealer deal again.
4. The dealer turns up the top card of the stock. Its suit is trumps for the first trick; this first card scores for nobody (see Variants).

Playing the tricks

The non-dealer leads (plays the first card) to the first trick. The other player must follow suit – play a card of the same suit – if they can; if not, they may play any card. Then:

• Two cards of the same suit: the higher card wins.
• One card is a trump: the trump wins.
• Two different suits, neither a trump: the card that was led wins.

The winner of the trick at once scores any trumps in it (the table above). Then the winner turns the trick face down, turns the old trump card face down too, and turns up the next card of the stock: its suit is trumps for the next trick. If this card is the Ace, King, Queen or Jack, the player who turned it scores its value at once; if it is the 7♦, they score 14. Then they lead to the next trick.

After the seventh trick, its winner turns up one more card and scores it in the same way, although no trick is played with it.

Example: Hearts are trumps. Anna leads the K♥, Ben follows with the A♥ and wins; he scores 5 + 4 = 9. He turns up the next card: the Q♠, so spades are trumps now, and he scores 3 more. He leads the 7♦ – not a trump, but the highest diamond – and Anna has only the 2♦ in that suit, so she must play it. Ben wins, but scores nothing: the 7♦ counts only when diamonds are trumps.

Scoring the tricks

When all seven tricks have been played, count the cards you won (not their values). Whoever has the majority – 8 cards or more – scores 1 point for each card above 7: 4 tricks = 1 point, 5 tricks = 3, 6 tricks = 5, 7 tricks = 7.

Winning the game

The first player to reach 61 points wins – at any moment: when a trick is won, when a card is turned up, or when the tricks are counted. If nobody has 61 after a hand, the other player deals the next one and the scores keep adding up.

Tips for beginners

• Watch the next trump. You never know which suit will be trumps next, so keep a card or two in each suit.
• Lead a non-trump when you hold no scoring trump: your opponent must follow suit if they can, which may keep their trumps out of the trick.
• Lead diamonds to catch the 7♦. When diamonds are not trumps, your opponent may have to win with the 7♦ – and it scores nothing then.
• Winning tricks pays twice: you score the trumps in them and get to turn up the next card.

Variants

Agree on these before you start.

• Follow or trump (Parlett): the second player may freely follow suit or play a trump, and may play another suit only when they can't follow. David Parlett tried several rules and found this one made the best game.
• Every honour counts: in Parlett's reconstruction, as pagat.com reads it, Aces and face cards score whenever they are won in a trick, not only when they are trumps.
• First turn-up scores: if the dealer's first turned card is an Ace or face card (or the 7♦), the dealer scores it. Cotton doesn't say; Parlett assumes so.
• Short deck: Parlett suggests trying 32 cards (7–A); since more cards score, play to about 91.