BEZIQUE, a card game which crystallized into official form in 11387. Two packs of cards are used, two players participate and the cards rank, ace high, thcn ten, king, queen, knave, nine, eight and seven. All cards below that are discarded from both packs. Eight cards are dealt to each player. Trumps may be determined either by turning up the first card of the stack or by the suit of the first marriage. The non-dealer leads for the first trick, and the winner of each trick has the sue-. ceeding lead.. After each trick, each player draws one card from the top of the stack, the winner of the trick taking the top card. The playing is as in whist, the leader taking the trick unless his opponent plays a higher card of the same suit or a trump. It is not neces sary to follow suit until the stack is exhausted, when one must do so and take each trick, if possible. Counting is done by means of the values of the cards; each ace or ten-spot taken in a trick counts 10, the winner of the last trick of each hand seores 10, and if the trump is turned, both SCVCT1S count 10 for the turner, and if one exchanges from his hand a seven of trumps for another turned trump or if one declares the other seven of trumps 10 more is scored. The game is won by the player who first makes 1,M0 points, and if his opponent has not made 500 the game counts double.
There are certain combinations of cards other than the above, which, when declared, count as follows: Double bezique (both queens of spades and both knaves of diamonds), 500; sequence of five highest trumps, 250; any 4 aces, 100; any 4 kings, 80; any 4 queens, 60; any 4 knaves, 40; bezique (queen of spades and lcnave of diamonds), 40; royal marriage (king and queen of trumps), 40; marriage (king and queen of same suit), 20. A declara tion is made by placing the declared cards face up on the table where they remain till played or the stack is exhausted, except in the case of the seven of trumps. To score, a declaration can only be made after winning a trick and be fore drawing, and but one declaration can be made at a time. After a card has been used in one combination it may be used to form another, excepting when used to form an equal or inferior combination in the same class as before. A player need not declare a combina tion which he holds and only before the stack has been exhausted can a declaration be made. Consult A. Howard Cady's treatise for details and rules.