Rules OF THE GAME !

INTRODUCTION

Chouine is a very wide-spread card game in Centre-Ouest of France and more especially in the Valley of the “Cher”. It history go back up to the XVIth century. it knows certain flourish for a decade and conquers gradually all the classes of the Society. An original called competition " world championship OF THE CHOUINE " is organized every year in Loir-et-Cher, in LAVARDIN, " the most French of the villages of France ".

HOW TO PLAY

Chouine can be played at two. it can also be played at three or for players, but if rules are appreciably the same, the way of playing differs in Chouine at three or at four. We shall deal here mainly with Chouine for two, by far the most practised. For the chouine for three or four, see the appendix at the end …

Chouine is played in a certain number of sets fixed in advance. The winner is the player who, the first one, manages to add up this number of sets. The number of sets is generally fixed to five and the match takes place in two winning games of five sets each. The number of sets can be also fixed for three and the match competed in a single game of three or five sets.

Unlike other usual games in particular unlike belote, when a card is brought down on the carpet by the player to whom the rule makes obligation to play, the opponent is not anxious to supply, that is to answer by bringing down a card of the same colour and it as long as there are cards in the stock. When there are no more cards in the stock, there is then obligation to supply in the colour and to rise, that is to put, If we possess it, a stronger card when the played card is a trump card. From the moment there are no more cards in the stock, if the opponent does not possess in his game a card of the played colour, he is in the obligation to cut, that is to use a trump card.

CARDS: Chouine is played with a game of thirty two cards including four usual emblems: clubs §, spade ª, diamond ¨and heart©. The series of eight cards carrying the same emblem is called a colour. Eight cards of every colour are classified in the following order: As, Ten, King, Queen, Jack, Nine, eight and seven. As is thus the strongest card, it takes Ten, which takes King, etc.

THE TRUMP CARD: we call trump card one of four colours indicated by the player who gives, on the way back the eleventh card. This colour of trump card enjoys a special property. Any card of trump card, it was the weakest, is stronger than any other card of three other colours. To play a trump card is called to cut. Let us remind that the cutting is compulsory, if we cannot supply in the colour, when there are no more cards in the stock.

THE FOLD: all the both played cards are called the fold. The fold is kept by the player who collected it. Every player can, at any time of the game, consult his own folds. On the other hand. He can consult only the last fold collected by his opponent.

THE BRISQUES: As and Ten are called brisque. There is thus eight brisques in the game.

ANNOUNCE/DECLARATION: we call declarations the combinations of cards which get to one of both players an advantage. They owe to plan to be gathered in the hand of the same player.

They are five sorts:

1 The marriage, that is the combination of the same colour King and Queen who is worth twenty points in the common colour and forty points in the colour of trump card.

2 The “tierce”, that is the combination of the same colour King, Queen and Jack who is worth thirty points in the common colour and sixty points in the colour of trump card.

3 The “quadroon” (or forty), that is the combination of the same colour As, King, Queen and Jack who is worth forty points in the common colour and eighty points in the colour of trump card.

4 The ”quinte” (or fifty), that is the meeting in the hand of the same player of five brisques which is worth fifty points.

5 The Chouine, that is combination in the same colour, As, Ten, King, Queen and Jack (Royal Flush in Poker) who constitutes the absolute announcement and allows the player who holds it to win the set without that it is necessary to continue more.

If both players gather at the same moment a chouine in their game, it is the announced first one (according to the laws of the game(set) on order of the operations) that takes it, except when the one of them is in the trump card, in which case the chouine of trump card is the best. This rule is absolved and you should not accept the agreement wanting that two chouines realized in the common colour nullify.

Declarations, to be valid, must be made by every player at the same time as he plays its card. When his opponent has brings down its card, he has to show his announcement by displaying the cards which compose it on the carpet. An announcement which was not shown is not valid. Declarations are not compulsory. A player can voluntarily hide an announcement which would inform too much the opponent about his game or to give up because he noticed that he was going to lose the set.

VALUE OF CARDS: cards are affected by a numerical value which gives the following table:

1. AS = 11 5. JACK = 2

2. TEN = 10 6. NINE = 0

3. KING = 4 7. EIGHT = 0

4. QUEEN = 3 8. SEVEN = 0

THE STOCK: the undistributed cards when the game begins constitute the stock. They are put in heap face against the carpet. It is in this stock that every player will take a card after every levying in the order of the operations such as he is explained in the column " The Game ".

RETURNED: we so call the eleventh card returned by the donor. This card constitutes the trump card.

SEVEN OF TRUMP CARD: the card of SEVEN in the trump color can be exchanged by the player who holds it against the returned. This exchange is not compulsory. However, when there are not more than two cards anymore in the stock, the player who gets ready to launch his card the first one, owes if the exchange was not made, to announce " in seven ".

THE GAME

THE EDITION: the game being displayed fan-shaped on the table, the face against the carpet, both opponents pull each a card and return it. If cards are the same value, we begin again the edition. It is to the player who pulled the smallest card that gives it. We call him the donor.

THE MIXTURE: the donor beats cards. Cards must be mixed face down and so that the opponent can see that they are suitably beaten. We would not too much know how to recommend to mix carefully and completely cards, because certain players have the very developed visual memory of cards. They remember themselves very well the composition of the folds of the previous blow. By basing itself on the incapacity of the mixture, they would manage to foresee the cards which he is going to pull in the stock and to know partially those whom their opponent has in hand.

Let us observe on this matter that every player has the strict right to beat cards, without that the donor has to take offence at it. The donor has only the privilege to be able to beat them lastly.

Once cards were beaten, the donor tends them to cut to his opponent. This one necessarily has to cut and not content with typing the back of the game. To cut, he separates the game in two parts, then he places the top in front of the bottom in the direction of the donor. The donor finishes the blow by placing above the part which was down.

The cutting has to be openly made, without hesitance, without fiddling with the game, at one go. it is invalid if were cut less than four cards or if a card was seen.

GIVEN: the donor distributes cards one by one by beginning with his opponent. He removes them sharply from the package and throws them on the carpet well by being careful that they do not turn around.

He gives five cards to his opponent, five to himself. He returns the eleventh card and the place to evidence on the carpet next to the stock, that is to the remainder of the game placed the face against the table. This eleventh card indicates the colour of the trump card.

THE MISDEAL: we say that there is misdeal when an error or a fault was committed during gives it. There is misdeal-

1 If one of the cards was seen by a player for whom it was not intended.

2 If gives it was not made according to the rules of the game.

3 If we notice that the card game is incomplete.

4 If a player has too many cards or not enough.

5 If a player collects the game of another player.

In case of misdeal, it is to the donor that it is up to look again.

THE WALKING OF the BLOW: it is to the opponent of the donor that it is up to give the first card. He throws it, the face was exposed on the carpet. The second player, in this particular case the donor, throws in his turn a card. Any card thrown on the carpet is considered as played even if it was not covered by the card thrown by the other player yet.

The fold belongs to the player:

- Having, if both played cards are of the same colour, thrown the card of the strongest numerical value;

- Or having that is cut, thrown a trump card

- Or in that having thrown its card the first one if his opponent did not supply in the colour.

Let us remind that there is no obligation to supply in the colour so much that there are cards in the stock.

The player having collected the fold pulls a card in the stock. His opponent pulls a card in his turn and the game continues by the sending of a card on the carpet by the player having collected the fold et cetera until the exhaustion of five cards, attack always belonging to the player who has just collected the fold. There is alternation, the donor changing alternately every game.

In case of match in several sets, it is the player who, during the initial edition, fired the strongest card which becomes the donor for the first game of the second set, the alternation taking place then as indicated to the previous paragraph. In case of drawl, it is proceeded to a new edition.

TEN OF the LAST ONE: collectively called " ten of der ", this advantage belongs to the player who collected the last fold and who, during the discount of points, adds ten to his total.

THE ACCOUNT OF POINTS: the last fold being collected, every player counts his points. For it he makes the addition of the points which represent the cards of the folds which fell to him and those ensuing from his valid announcements. The one who collected the last fold adds ten.

In the practice, we count the points of brisques, announcements and ten of der and the addition of these elements allows to determine the winner. It is however recommended to proceed to the discount of all the points without limiting itself to that of the brisques and the announcements.

Example

Jean announced a marriage of common colour and collected the last fold. His folds contain

1 Seven 0

1 Eight 0

3 Nine 0

2 Jack 4 points (2 X 2)

2 Queen 6 points (3 x 2)

1 King 4 points (4 X 1)

1 Ten 10 points (10 X 1)

3 As 33 points (11 X 3)

To which he add

20 points for the marriage of common colour

10 points for ten of last one

Total: 87 points

Charles announced a marriage of trump card. His folds contain:

3 Seven, value 0

3 Eight 0

1 Nine 0

2 Jacks 4 (2 x 2)

2 Queen(Crown) 6 (3 X 2)

3 Kings 12 (4 X 3)

3 Ten 30 (10 x 3)

1 Have 11 (11 x 1)

To which he adds

40 points for the marriage of trump card

Total: 103 points

It is thus Charles who won this set.

In case of equality of points, the game is declared “draw” and is played a new game, the remaining donor the same.

It is the player who arrives the first one to add up the fixed number of sets which is declared victorious of the game.

PENALTIES

The biggest attention during the edition of cards on the heel is recommended to the players. Several cases of voluntary or involuntary errors can occur:

- A player pulls the card intended for his opponent,

- A player sees the card intended for his opponent,

- A player pulls two cards.

The penalty of the first error is left with the appreciation of the hurt which can or, consider that it has no influence on the game(set), the game continuing then normally, or to ask that the game is replayed, the remaining donor the same.

In case of recurrence in the same game, from the second error, the earning of this game will be necessarily awarded to the hurt. In this last case, the responsible for the error cannot oppose to the allocation of the litigious game to his opponent, even if it is about the last set deciding on the earning of the game.

SOME ADVICES TO PLAY WELL

At THE CHOUINE,It is recommended to play fast, but not too much.

Be not stunned. To avoid the errors, take care of classifying well your cards in your hand, by alternating red and blacks.

Remember the already fallen cards.

Train to count trump cards.

THE VOCABULARY OF THE CHOUINE

We resume in this vocabulary the main words or the expressions used by the players of Chouine

Opponent: the player against whom we play.

Announcement/declaration : combination of cards gathered in the hand of the same player.

Attack(Affect): play the first card.

Trump card: colour which has the privilege, in case the cutting is allowed, to take all the cards of three other colours, regardless of the height of these cards.

To have gives it: distribute cards.

To see the hand: have acquired either by the edition in the beginning of game, or in the middle of the game because we have just collected a fold, the right to attack for the following levying.

“Beautiful”: the Third set which decides between two opponents each by having winning one.

Colour: term which applies not to the tint of cards (red or black), but in their emblem clover, diamonds, heart, spade.

Blow: all the events which take place since cutting until the moment when the last card of every hand was played.

Cut: this expression is used in two cases:

L: preliminary Action in gives it consisting in separating the card game in two.

2: grip of a card with a trump card.

Ten of the last one: advantage which is worth 10 points to the player having collected the last fold.

Give : distribute cards.

Make: synonym to give.

Supply: Supply a card of the played colour.

We also tell to supply in the colour.

Game:

1: The package of 32 cards.

2: All the cards that every player has in hand.

Levying: together two, three or four cards (as we play for two, for three or for four) played every time by each of the players.

Misdeal: error committed during gives it.

Manche: the set five (or three) left. If the first one and the second set are won by the same player, he won definitively. If every opponent wins one, they decide by playing a “beautiful”.

Rise: play a card stronger than the one who is already on the carpet.

Game : synonym for blow.

Point: unity serving for counting the value of cards and that of the announcements. This term is also used to indicate(appoint) a part(party) (or blow).

Return: card returned by the donor and who serves for fixing the trump card.

Revenge: new game which the loser proposes to the winner.

Stock : package of cards staying after the distribution, once returns it displayed.