Here is some information about playing some period (or mostly-period) games which were played socially or in casinos during the Victorian period. On the registration form, we'd like you to indicate your interest in playing any of these games so we can determine tables and staffing appropriately.

Whist

The classic game of whist is a plain-trick game without bidding for 4 players in fixed partnerships. Although the rules are extremely simple there is enormous scope for scientific play, and in its heyday a large amount of literature about how to play whist was written. 

There are four players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit facing each other. The game is played clockwise. A standard 52 card pack is used. The cards in each suit rank from highest to lowest: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. 

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealer's left and cut by the player to dealer's right. The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time so that each player has 13. The final card, which will belong to the dealer, is turned face up to indicate which suit is trumps. The turned trump remains face up on the table until it is dealer's turn to play to the first trick. 

It is traditional to use two packs of cards. During each deal, the dealer's partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right. The dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from the left and pass them across to the right to be cut. Provided all the players understand and operate it, this procedure saves time and helps to remember whose turn it is to deal, as the spare pack of cards is always to the left of the next dealer. 

The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick. Any card may be led. The other players, in clockwise order, each play a card to the trick. Players must follow suit by playing a card of the same suit as the card led if they can; a player with no card of the suit led may play any card. The trick is won by the highest trump in it - or if it contains no trump, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next. 

When all 13 tricks have been played, the side which won more tricks scores 1 point for each trick they won in excess of 6. The partnership which first reaches 5 points wins the game. This will normally take several deals. 

Brag 

Brag is one of the oldest of English card games and can be considered the parent of Poker. A standard 52 card pack without jokers is used. The cards in each suit rank in the usual order from high to low: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2. The number of players can vary, but it is probably best for about 4 to 8 people.

Three Card Brag is a gambling game. Before starting it is essential that the players agree on the stake and have a common understanding of the rules. It is necessary to agree: 

The order of the possible three-card Brag hands, from highest to lowest, is as follows.

1. Three Aces natural (i.e., one that contains no "bragger", although the Ace of Diamonds here ranks as a natural Ace).
2. Three Aces, including one or two braggers.
3. Three Kings or other smaller cards in due order, the higher being preferred to the lower and between those of equal value, natural threes being preferred to those made with the aid of braggers.
4. A running flush is a set of three consecutive cards of the same suit. A run is a set of three consecutive cards of mixed suits. Although the ace is high, A-2-3 counts as a valid run - or a valid running flush if all the cards are the same suit. In fact A-2-3 is the highest run or running flush, A-K-Q of a suit is the second highest, then K-Q-J, and so on down to 4-3-2, which is the lowest. 2-A-K is not a valid run or running flush. Any running flush beats any run with mixed suits.
5. A flush consists of three cards of the same suit - not all consecutive, or it would be a running flush. When comparing flushes, the highest card is compared first, then if these are equal the middle card, and finally if necessary the lowest.
6. Pairs from Ace downwards, with the same preference for naturals.
7. In default of any pairs, the hand holding the best single card: the Ace of Diamonds ranking highest, after it any other Ace, and so on.

There is no order of suits, so it is possible for two hands to be equal in rank - for example 7-7-Q is equal to 7-7-Q. In a contest between two equal hands the calling player (the player who paid to see the other hand) loses (see betting, below). Poker players should take care to note that the 'run' and 'flush' in Brag rank in the opposite order to Poker.

Before each deal, each player must place the agreed initial stake (ante) in the pot. Deal and play are clockwise, and the turn to deal passes to the left after each hand. If it is the first deal of the session, the dealer shuffles. For subsequent deals, the cards are only shuffled if the previous hand was "seen" and won by a prial (three of a kind). Apart from that, the cards are not normally shuffled between hands. The cards from the previous hand are just added to the bottom of the pack and the dealer deals the new hands from the top, without shuffling.

The dealer deals out the cards one at a time, face down to the players, until everyone has three cards. Players look at their own cards. Cards must at never be shown to any player other than the person to whom they were dealt, unless the betting ends with a "see". In that case the cards of the two players involved (but none of the others) are exposed for everyone to see.

When the cards have been dealt, the betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer. This person can 'fold' (throw in their cards and take no further part in the hand) or can bet any amount from the agreed minimum to the agreed maximum. If all the players except one fold, the last remaining player takes all the money in the pot, and the next hand is dealt.

If any player bets, every player after that must either fold or bet at least as much as the previous player who bet. A player may bet more than the previous player, but there may be an agreed limit to the amount by which the bet can be increased. The betting continues around the table as many times as necessary.

When there are only two players left in the game, all the others having folded, a third option becomes available. Either player can see the other. Seeing costs twice as much as the previous player's bet. When you pay to see another player, they expose their three cards first. If your cards are better than your opponent's, you expose your hand to prove this and win the pot. If your cards are equal to your opponent's or worse, your opponent wins the pot - you do not have to show your cards in this case. Note that if the hands are equal, the player who paid to see loses.

Poker players should notice that there is no concept of equalising the bets. At each turn, to stay in you have to put into the pot at least as much new money as the previous player put in. Here are some examples from a four player game: 

Player A bets 2 chips, B folds, C bets 2 chips and D bets 2 chips. In order to stay in, A would have to bet another 2 chips. 
Player A bets 2 chips, B folds, C bets 4 chips and D folds. Player A can now see player C by paying 8 chips (twice C's bet) or pay at least 4 chips to stay in, or fold, allowing C to win the pot. If A pays 4 to stay in, C now has the same options: put 8 in the pot to see A, to bet at least 4 and allow A another turn to bet, or to fold and allow A to win.

Betting continues until either all players but one have dropped out (folded) (in which case the remaining player obviously wins, but does not show their cards), or 
two players are left and one player pays double to see the other. 

As each player folds, that player's cards are added to the bottom of the pack ready for the next deal. At the end of the betting the cards of the last player left in, or the cards of the two players involved in the see, are added to the pack in the same way. 

Please note the following basic rules of etiquette:

Breaking any of the above three rules will get you thrown out of any Brag game.

Thirty-One

["Any number" of players] Thirty-One is a simple and lively card game, using a full pack of cards, ranked as they are in Whist. 

The players, having put an agreed stake in the pool, each receive three cards dealt face down. Three additional cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. The players, beginning with the elder hand, draw one card each from the hand in the middle of the table, replacing it with a discard from their own hand which is also left face up. 

The primary object of the game is to hold three cards of the same suit which shall, added together, make "thirty-one" - the ace counting eleven, court cards ten each and the other cards according to their nominal value. Obviously the desired number can only be made by an ace and and two "ten" cards. Next in scoring value to thirty-one is a triplet - between two or more triplets, the higher has preference. Triplets count thirty and a half and therefore override thirty. In default of thirty-one or a triplet, the highest total in one suit wins. 

The discarding process continues until either one of the party makes thirty-one, in which case he shows his cards and claims the pool, or until some other player signifies by a knock on the table that he is "content" (with his hand, that is). Should this occur, each of the other players (but not he who knocked) has a right to exchange one more card, after which the hands are shown, and the highest takes the pool.

Chemin de Fer

Chemin de Fer is played with six packs of fifty-two cards. It is a variation of Baccarat: Baccarat is an unusual game in that any score of 10 is worth 0 (or 'Baccarat'). The highest score that can be achieved is 9. Two picture cards would have a score of 0. A 9 and a 6 would not equal 15 but 5. (Minus the first digit) An ace counts as 1 and the rest of the cards retain their face value.

The Croupier shuffles and places the cards in a box called a "sabot" (shoe). The players seat themselves round the table. In the centre is a basket for the reception of the used cards. If there is any question as to the relative positions of the players, it is decided by lot. The person who draws the first place seats himself next on the right hand of the croupier, and the rest follow in succession. The player on the croupier's right for the time being is dealer, or "banker." The other players are punters.

The banker places before him the amount he is disposed to risk, and the punters "make their stakes." Any punter, beginning with the player on the immediate right of the dealer, is entitled to say "Banco", meaning to "go bank," to play against the whole of the banker's stake. If no one does so, each player places his stake before him. If the total so staked by the seated players is not equal to the amount for the time being in the bank, other persons standing round may stake in addition. If it is more than equal to the amount in the bank, the punters nearest in order to the banker have the preference up to such amount, the banker having the right to decline any stake in excess of that limit.

The banker proceeds to deal four cards face downwards: the first, for the punters, to the right; the second to himself; the third for the punters, the fourth to himself. The player who has the highest stake represents the punters. If two punters are equal in this respect, the player first in rotation has the preference. Each then looks at his cards. If he finds that they make either nine, the highest point at Baccarat, or eight, the next highest, he turns them up, announcing the number aloud, and the hand is at an end. If the banker's point is the better, the stakes of the punter become the property of the bank. If the punters' point is the better, the banker (or the croupier for him) pays each punter the amount of his stake.

The stakes are made afresh, and the game proceeds. If the banker has been the winner, he deals again. If otherwise, the cards are passed to the player next in order, who thereupon becomes banker in his turn.

If neither party turns up his cards, this is an admission that neither has eight or nine. In this case the banker is bound to offer a third card. If the point of the punter is baccarat (i.e. cards together amounting to ten or twenty, = 0), one, two, three, or four, he accepts as a matter of course, replying, "Yes," or "Card." A third card is then given to him, face upwards. If his point if already six or seven, he will, equally as a matter of course, REFUSE the offered card. To accept a card with six or seven, or refuse with baccarat, one, two, three, or four (known in either case as a "false draw"), is a breach of the established procedure of the game, and brings down upon the head of the offender the wrath of his fellow-punters; indeed, in some circles he is made liable for any loss they may incur thereby, and in others is punishable by a fine. At the point of five, and no other, is it optional to the punter whether to take a card or not; nobody has the right to advise him, or to remark upon his decision.

The banker has now to decide whether he himself will draw a card, being guided in his decision partly by the cards he already holds, partly by the card (if any) drawn by the punter, and partly by what he may know or guess of the latter's mode of play. If he has hesitated over his decision, the banker may be pretty certain (unless such hesitation was an intentional blind) that his original point was five, and as the third card (if any) is exposed, his present point becomes equally a matter of certainty. The banker, having drawn or not drawn, as he may elect, exposes his cards, and receives or pays as the case may be. Ties neither win nor lose, but the stakes remain for the next hand.

The banker is not permitted to withdraw any part of his winnings, which go to increase the amount in the bank. Should he at any given moment, desire to retire, he says, "I pass the deal." In such case each of the other players, in rotation, has the option of taking it, but he must start the bank with the same amount at which it stood when the last banker retired. Should no one present care to risk that high a figure, the deal passes to the player next on the right hand of the retiring banker, who is in such case at liberty to start the bank with such amount as he thinks fit, the late banker now being regarded as last in order of rotation, though the respective priorities are not otherwise affected.

A player who has "gone bank," and lost, is entitled to do so again on the next hand, notwithstanding that the deal may have "passed" to another player.

Each player takes the sabot in turn and becomes Banker. The Banker keeps the sabot as long as the coup is not losing. However, he can pass it on as it suits him, even after the first coup of cards. 

Hazard

Hazard is an Old English game with two dice which was even mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the 14th century. The name "hazard" derives from the Arabic word az-zahr, the plural of "dice." 

Despite its complicated rules, hazard was so popular in the 17th and 18th centuries that it was often played for money; games of chance were thus called "hazard games." At Crockford's Club in London, hazard was especially popular. In the 19th century, the game craps developed from hazard through a simplification of the rules. Any number may play, but only one player — the caster — has the dice at any one time.

In each round, the caster specifies a number between 5 and 9 inclusive: this is the main. He then throws two dice.

This is simpler to follow in a table:

As long as he keeps winning, the caster may keep playing: but if he loses three times in succession, he must pass the dice to the player to his left, who becomes the new caster.

Bets are between the caster and the bank (the setter).

If the caster nicks on the first throw, he wins an amount equal to his stake.

If he throws a chance, the setter gives him odds:

For example, with a stake of £10, a main of 7 and a chance of 5, a caster stands to win £15 (3/2 × £10); with the same stake, a main of 5 and a chance of 6, he could win £8 (4/5 × £10).