Edmond Hoyle was considered quite the expert on cards and other games in the 18th century. “That’s not according to Hoyle!” and “According to Hoyle,…” were popular phrases in my grandparents’ house. The backs also would have been plain white. Notice the face card has a single head and centered eyes compared to modern cards. So now you can experience the game for yourself and know what they’re talking about the next time you read about it in the context of a Regency romance novel. Luckily, there’s lots of documentation available on the basic rules and strategies for play as well as some online game venues which allow for free play (link at the end!). One of my projects involves a decisive game of whist, so last summer I decided I needed to learn how to play. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at the game of whist. A man who plays hazard is a great risk taker, where someone who knows how to play whist is a serious strategist and likely has a good memory for counting cards. Often, the games chosen have meaning for the characters playing. Many games that are no longer familiar to us are rattled off: hazard, piquet, faro, and whist. Many historical romance novels feature card rooms at balls, clubs or dinner parties and gaming hells where rakes wager over the turn of a card or toss of a dice.
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