The Forty Kings

The Forty Kings is a card game from the mid-18th century, whose play of the cards is the same as that of Whist. However, the aim is not to take as many tricks as possible, but rather to score the greatest number of points by taking face cards in tricks. It includes a bidding phase for combinations called cliques, the highest of which consists of a player gathering in their hand all four kings, earning its holder 40 points, and is the origin of the game's name.

Its rules were first published in 1789 in Lacombe's Dictionnaire des jeux. One could almost say that this rule is official, since it has always been repeated without modification in later works dealing with card games.

The oldest reference to the Forty Kings is found in the Grand Dictionnaire françois, by a society of men of letters, published in Paris in 1772. Under the definition of the word "revoke", it is given as an example: "One may revoke at the (sic) forty kings in order to trump."

A passage in Mémoires de la société des sciences, lettres et arts de Nancy, published in 1850 in Nancy, might suggest a much older origin for the Forty Kings. Indeed, in a list of games played in Lorraine between 1495 and 1601, the author of the Mémoires includes the Forty Kings, whereas the 1601 reference he cites actually mentions a different game called Quarante trois or Quarantrois.

1. Number of players, deck of cards, preparation, and dealing

The Forty Kings is played by four players, two against two, with a deck of 32 cards. Partners sit facing each other, as in Belote or Bridge.

The order of the cards within each of the four suits is the same as in Triomphe, i.e. king, queen, jack, ace, 10, 9, 8, 7. The king is the highest card, and the seven the lowest.

To determine the teams and seats, after removing the four kings from the 32-card deck and shuffling them, face down, each player receives, or draws, one. The two players with kings of the same colour form a team. Those with the red kings choose their seats facing each other. Those with the black kings fill the remaining seats as they wish.

The seats having thus been determined, one of the players gathers the 32 cards, shuffles them, then spreads them face down in a row on the table. Each player draws a card, and whoever draws the highest becomes the dealer for the first hand. In case of a tie, the players concerned draw again for the highest between them. The descending order of the cards for determining the dealer is that of Piquet, i.e. ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7.

The dealer thus designated again gathers the cards, shuffles them, then, after having them cut by the player to their left, deals eight cards to each player, in three rounds of two, then three, and finally three cards. Dealing and play both proceed counter-clockwise.

The dealer does not place the last card in their hand even though it belongs to them, but instead turns it face up in front of them on the table. This turn-up indicates the trump suit by its colour – spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs. The dealer must leave this card visible until they play their first card.

2. Play of the cards, object of the game

The Forty Kings is a trick-taking game that follows the play of Whist. Play proceeds counter-clockwise, starting, for the first trick, with the player seated to the right of the dealer – this player is called the first to play –, then for subsequent tricks, with whoever has just won the trick – this player is said to have the lead.

The suit of the card played by the first to play, or by whoever has the lead, is called the suit led.

Players are required to follow suit. However, when there is a choice, one is not obliged to head the trick – play a higher card of the suit led –, nor to trump if one has none of the suit led. If a player can neither follow suit nor trump, they may then play any card they choose.

The trick is won by whoever played the highest trump, or, failing a trump, by whoever played the highest card of the suit led.

Although the Forty Kings is a trick-taking game, the goal is not to take more tricks than the other team, but to collect within the tricks won the greatest number of face cards – kings, queens, jacks – which are the only cards that yield points:

Card	Points
king	5
queen	4
jack	3
ace, 10, 9, 8, 7	0
total for all 32 cards	48

3. The cliques

A clique is the name given to three or four face cards of the same rank held by a player right after the deal. For the dealer, the turned-up card counts as part of their hand.

Each clique earns points for the team concerned according to the table below:

Cliques	Points
3 jacks	6
3 queens	8
3 kings	10
4 jacks	13
4 queens	20
4 kings	40

There is thus a hierarchy of cliques established by the number of points they earn. The clique of four kings is the highest and earns 40 points. It is the origin of the name of the game The Forty Kings. The clique of three jacks is the lowest.

To earn points, cliques must be announced while playing to the first trick. The rule states that the first to play makes their announcement as they play their card: from this it can be deduced that players announce their clique in turn, as they play their card for the first trick.

In order not to reveal too much of their hand, the first to announce a clique will do so simply by stating the number of cards : "three cards" or "four cards". When several players have announced a clique of the same, largest, number of cards, they state its rank in turn starting with the first to have declared. It is not compulsory to state the rank of a clique lower than the highest one already revealed; one might for example simply say "that's fine".

The player who has declared the highest clique absolutely must show it in order to score it.

A player may choose not to announce their clique if they think it would reveal too much of their hand for the small number of points it might earn them.

If a player holds two cliques, they may only score one – the one announced. A player's valid clique does not also count a lower one held by their partner.

The rule is explicit: only one clique may be valid.

The name clique, given to the gathering of three or four face cards of the same rank, does not seem to fit a game played in 1772. The fourth edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française (1762) in fact gives as the definition of the word clique : "A group of people who band together to scheme, to deceive. It is a dangerous clique. He belongs to the clique." At the time of the French Revolution, it would be understandable that a gathering of kings, queens, or even jacks could be considered a clique, but in 1772 this seems less credible.

The name clique may well be due to a misunderstanding. In 1711, in Œuvres de Maître François Rabelais, Jacob Le Duchat gives as the etymology for the game of Glic the German word glück, which he translates as luck, and he states that at that time, in Metz, a card game called Dix-croix was played, in which the gathering of three or four jacks, queens or kings was a stroke of luck called, in the Metz dialect, la glique, "and it is called that, like a piece of good fortune". The hierarchy of gliques, as Le Duchat describes it, is strictly identical to that of the cliques of the Forty Kings.

Although it is not possible to assert that Dix-croix and the Forty Kings are one and the same game, the name glique for the combinations shared by these two games seems the most appropriate given Le Duchat's remarks, and the name clique may well be a later corruption of it.

4. Length of the game

The game is played over several hands. For each hand, the dealer is the player who was first to play in the previous hand. The cards are always shuffled and cut.

The score is kept by one of the four players in a table with two columns marked "Them" and "Us".

The game is generally played to 150 points. However, it is possible to agree on a lower or higher number of points depending on the amount of time available for play.

References

Jacques Lacombe, Dictionnaire des jeux, 1789
Grand Dictionnaire françois, by a society of men of letters, Paris, 1772
Jacob Le Duchat, Œuvres de Maître François Rabelais, Amsterdam, Henri Bordesius, 1711, vol. 1

Page information

Published online on 19 September 2011
Partial revision on 27 October 2021

Author: Philippe LALANNE

Le Salon des jeux - Académie des jeux oubliés