Quadrille

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Direction of play
3. The cards
4. Setup
5. The auction
6. The called King
7. Playing the tricks
8. Premiers and the vole
9. Payment
10. Winning the game
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Quadrille is the four-player form of the Spanish game Ombre and was the most fashionable card game in Europe for most of the 18th century. Every deal, one player – called Hombre ("the man", whoever it is) – undertakes to win six of the ten tricks, either alone or with a secret partner: whoever holds the King she calls. The top trumps are always the Ace of Spades (Spadille), a small card called Manille and the Ace of Clubs (Basto). Payments are made in chips, from a pool that grows each time a game is lost.

There never was a single standard form of Quadrille. The rules here are the simplest one, with three bids, as David Parlett rewrote it from Quadrille Elucidated by "Q. Quanti" (1822). Where Parlett's account leaves a question open, this page says so.

• Players: exactly 4, each for themselves; partnerships change from deal to deal.
• You need: a standard deck with the 8s, 9s and 10s removed (40 cards) and chips – about 100 per player, plus room for a pool in the middle.

Direction of play

As in all Spanish games, everything goes to the right (anticlockwise): dealing, bidding and play. The player on the dealer's right is eldest hand.

The cards

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.

The two black Aces are always trumps, whatever suit is trumps. The order depends on whether a suit is trumps and whether it is red or black:

• Spadille – the A♠ – is always the highest trump.
• Manille – the 2 of trumps in a black suit, the 7 of trumps in a red suit – is second.
• Basto – the A♣ – is third.
• In a red trump suit, its Ace (Punto) is fourth. There are 12 trumps in a red suit and 11 in a black one.

Spadille, Manille and Basto are the Matadors ("killers").

Setup

1. Agree how many deals to play – a multiple of four, so that everyone deals equally. The old standard was 40.
2. Before each deal, everyone puts 1 chip into the pool.
3. The dealer shuffles, the player on the left cuts, and the dealer deals 10 cards each, anticlockwise, in three rounds of 3, 3 and 4 cards (or 3-4-3, or 4-3-3 – keep to one way). All 40 cards are dealt.

The auction

Starting with eldest hand and going anticlockwise, each player either passes – and may not bid again – or makes a bid higher than the last. The bids, from low to high:

1. Ask leave (an alliance): to win at least six tricks with a partner. The bidder names trumps and calls a King.
2. Solo: to win at least six tricks alone against the other three.
3. Vole: to win all ten tricks alone.

An earlier player keeps priority: if you asked leave and a later player bids solo, you may say "solo" too and take the bid. The winner of the auction is Hombre.

If anyone bids a vole, every player – Hombre included – at once puts 3 chips into a separate vole pool (12 in all).

If everyone passes, the holder of Spadille must play an alliance anyway. This is a forced Spadille.

The called King

In an alliance (and a forced Spadille), Hombre names trumps and then calls a King of a suit that is not trumps and that she doesn't hold. If she holds every King she could call, she calls a Queen instead. The player holding the called card is her partner for this deal – but says nothing. The others find out only when that card is played, or when its holder obviously helps Hombre.

Example: Anna asks leave, names hearts as trumps and calls the K♣. Dan holds it: Anna and Dan are partners, but only Dan knows. Ben and Carla play against them.

Playing the tricks

Eldest hand leads to the first trick; the winner of each trick leads to the next.

• You must follow suit (play a card of the suit led) if you can. Spadille and Basto count as trumps, not as spades or clubs.
• If you can't follow suit, you may play any card – you don't have to trump.
• The highest trump wins the trick; if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins.

Matadors need not follow a trump lead. If your only trumps are Matadors, you may play a card of another suit when a lower trump is led. But a higher Matador led forces a lower one: if Spadille is led, a player whose only trump is Manille or Basto must play it; if Manille is led, a lone Basto must be played. This applies only when the Matador is the card led.

Example: Diamonds are trumps. Ben leads the K♦. Carla's only trump is Manille (the 7♦): she may keep it and play a club instead.

Premiers and the vole

If Hombre in a solo – or the allies together – win the first six tricks, they have won premiers and may stop and collect. If the player on lead plays to the seventh trick instead, the side has undertaken the vole: everyone at once pays 3 chips into a vole pool, and the side must now win all ten tricks. Allies may agree on this only by asking "May I?" – "Yes" or "No"; nothing else may be said. In a forced Spadille there is no vole bonus.

Payment

A unit is a quarter of the pool at the start of the deal – 1 chip for a fresh pool of 4.

Solo won: Hombre takes the pool (and the vole pool, if she made the vole), and each opponent pays her:

Alliance or forced Spadille won: the partners split the pool equally, and each opponent pays one of them any bonuses for Matadors (held between the two partners), premiers and vole. There is no solo bonus.

Lost by remise – the side won exactly five tricks: Hombre puts a beast into the pool equal to what is in it, so it doubles and is carried forward to the next deal. She also pays each opponent the solo bonus (in a solo) and the Matador bonus (if held).

Lost by codille – the side won four or fewer: the opponents take the pool and share it. (If three opponents can't share it evenly, it stays in the pool.) Hombre then puts twice the amount taken into the pool for the next deal, and pays each opponent whatever she would have received from them.

In an alliance the partners share a loss: Hombre pays one opponent, her partner the other. Parlett doesn't say how the beast is split; share it equally. But if Hombre herself won fewer than three of the tricks, she pays everything alone – her partner never chose to play. (This doesn't apply to a forced Spadille.)

A vole that fails after premiers doesn't spoil the win: the side still gets the pool, premiers and Matadors, but the opponents share the vole pool. A vole bid in the auction that fails wins nothing: the pool stays for the next deal, the opponents share the vole pool, and Hombre pays each of them the vole bonus. If she didn't even win six tricks, she also loses as for a solo.

Example: The pool holds 4 chips, so a unit is 1. Anna plays a solo in hearts with Spadille, Manille and Basto and wins 7 tricks. She takes the 4 chips, and Ben, Carla and Dan each pay her 4 + 1 = 5 chips.

Winning the game

After the agreed number of deals, whoever has the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Ask leave with about four sure tricks, since a partner can be expected to add two. For a solo you need six of your own.
• Count the trumps. There are only 11 or 12, and the three Matadors are among them.
• Help the partner you can't see. If you hold the called King, play it when it gives Hombre a trick – that also reveals you.
• Keep quiet. Silence is part of the rules: a word or gesture can give away who the partner is.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• Médiateur (from about 1750, the form the English simply called Quadrille): a bid between alliance and solo. Hombre calls a King; its holder hands it over face up in exchange for any card, and Hombre plays alone. It pays like a solo, but with a bonus of 2 units instead of 4, and the player who gave up the King doesn't pay that bonus.
• Favourite suit: one suit – often hearts – is the favourite. A bid in the favourite suit beats the same bid in any other suit, and all its bonuses are doubled.
• Dealer's stake: instead of everyone paying 1 chip, the dealer alone puts 4 into the pool.