All fours (card game)


All fours is a traditional English card game, once popular in pubs and taverns as well as among the gentry, that flourished as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century. It is a trick-taking card game that was originally designed for two players, but developed variants for more players. According to Charles Cotton, the game originated in Kent, but spread to the whole of England and eventually abroad.
It is the eponymous and earliest recorded game of a family that flourished most in 19th century North America and whose progeny include pitch, pedro and cinch, games that even competed with poker and euchre. Nowadays the original game is especially popular in Trinidad and Tobago, but regional variants have also survived in England. The game's "great mark of distinction" is that it gave the name 'jack' to the card previously known as the knave.
The game has a number of unusual features. In trick play, players are allowed to trump instead of following suit even if they could. The title refers to the possibility of winning all four game points for high, low, jack and game for holding the highest and lowest trump in play and the jack of trumps and for winning the greatest number of card points.

History

All fours is among the oldest extant card games in England. Its first known description was in Charles Cotton's Compleat Gamester of 1674, where the game was reported as popular in Kent. It is probably of Dutch ancestry, and is the game that gave the name jack to the card that was originally known only as the knave.
By no later than the 1800s, the game was taken to America and became popular among African Americans on slave plantations. Also called seven up, it gave rise to other variants such as Pitch and Auction Pitch, which probably developed in the New England states, Pedro, and California jack, also known as ligh-low-jack. Modern descendants include [|don] and phat, developed in Britain and Ireland. The game is still played in north-west England and Wales, and it has become the national game of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Classic all fours (earliest rules)

The earliest known rules for all fours appear in the 1674 edition of The Compleat Gamester by Charles Cotton. Cotton tells us that "All-Fours is a Game very much play'd in Kent, and very well it may since from thence it drew its first original; and although the game may be lookt upon as trivial and inconsiderable, yet I have known Kentish Gentlemen and others of very considerable note, who have play'd great sums of money at it..."
His rules, which are not complete, are as follows.
The game was called all fours from its four point-earning feats: highest, lowest, jack and game. It was a game for two players. The players 'lifted' for the deal and the player with the highest put-card won. This presumably meant the highest using the ranking in put i.e. 3-2-A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4. However, in the rest of the game the cards rank in their natural order.
The dealer dealt three cards each, beginning with elder hand, and then three more each so that both players had six cards, before turning the next for trump. If the turn-up was a jack, the dealer scored 1 point. If elder did not like his hand, he could 'beg'; if the dealer accepted, elder scored 1 point and threw his cards in; if the dealer refused, he dealt three more cards each and turned another for trump. If the latter was of the same suit, the exercise was repeated.
The scoring card values for game are ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1, and ten 10. Play is not described in detail, except that it seems players had to follow suit, but could renege on doing so if they had a trump. According to McLeod, elder led to the first trick and players had to follow suit or trump, but could not discard unless they could not follow. The higher trump won or, if none were played, the higher card of the led suit. The trick winner led to the next.
Players scored a point for highest: holding the highest trump; lowest: holding the lowest trump at the start; jack: winning the trick containing the trump jack; and game: winning the most card points in tricks based on the values described above. Game was usually 11, although Cotton says that players may play to a total of anything from 7 to 15 points.
Cotton describes a variation called running all-fours played to a score of 31 points and in which the dealer scored the value of the trump turn-up e.g. 3 points for turning a king.

Classic all fours (modern rules)

The following rules for classic all fours are based on Arnold, supplemented where stated by Parlett :
The aim is to be the first player to 7, points being awarded for gift, high, low, jack and game. A standard, 52-card, English pattern pack is used with cards ranking in their natural order. The card values are as shown in the table.
Players draw cards for the role of first dealer; the player drawing the higher card wins. Thereafter the deal alternates. The dealer shuffles and elder hand cuts. The dealer deals six cards each in two packets of three, beginning with elder hand, and turns the next card for trump. If it is a jack, he scores 1 point for jack. After examining their hands, elder may accept the trump suit by saying "I stand" or reject it by saying "I beg". If the dealer agrees, he says "take one" and concedes 1 point for Gift to elder hand and play begins. Alternative the dealer may say "I refuse the gift" or "I run the cards", in which case the turn-up is turned down and the cards are 'run'.
If the first turn-up is rejected, it is discarded, face down, and each player receives 3 more cards, face down, and the next is turned for trump. If its suit is different from the first turn-up it is automatically entrumped. If it is the same suit again, the new turn-up and extra downcards are discard without being viewed and the cards are run again. This continues until a trump suit is established. If the new trump upcard is a jack, the dealer scores 1 for jack. If the cards run out, they are throw in and redealt.
If the cards were run, once trumps are decided, each player picks up the three additional cards and discards three in their place, reducing his hand to six cards. Elder then leads to the first trick. As before, players may either follow suit or trump, but may only renege if they cannot follow. The trick is taken by the higher trump or by the higher card of the led suit if no trumps are played. The trick winner leads to the next trick.
In addition to any points scored during the deal for gift or turning the jack, players score one point for each of the following: high: winning the highest trump in play; low: winning the lowest trump in play; jack: winning the trump jack if in play; and game for scoring the most card points in tricks. In game, if the two players tie, elder hand wins. Points made during the deal are scored immediately and may result in the player 'counting out' without the need for any further play. Otherwise, players score at the end of the deal in the order: high, low, jack and game.

Three or more players

Although all fours is basically a two-player game, it is also good for three or four and can be played by even more. Four can play individually or in two fixed partnerships, sitting crosswise. The following rules have been formulated for any number of players.
After dealing the dealer turns the next card on the stock face up to determine the trump suit. Instead of immediately leading to the first trick, eldest hand has the option of begging, to which the dealer responds either by granting each opposing party 1 point, or by running the cards. To run the cards, the dealer deals three more cards to each player and turns up a new card for trump. Should the new card be of the same suit as the previous one, the dealer again deals three cards to each player and turns up a new card. This is repeated as often as necessary. If the cards were run, the respective number of tricks is played. If the dealer turns up a jack that determines trumps, the dealer is immediately awarded 1 point for jack. In a game with two parties, a maximum of 6 points can accrue in one deal if the dealer turns up a jack and runs the cards.

Variants

There was little variation between Charles Cotton's 1674 rules and the rules in early 20th century English and American rule books. Today, in addition to the classical game that is still widely published, there are four main variants of all fours. In England, the game is thriving in the counties of Lancashire and West Yorkshire where all fours leagues exist, however the rules in the two counties are slightly different. The game is also popular in the Caribbean, especially in Trinidad where it has become their national game. In America, it has largely been superseded by other members of the family, especially Pitch, but all fours also exists in a form known as Seven Up, the American name for all fours played to a target score of 7 points. Detailed rules for the following variants are given at pagat.com.

Caribbean all fours

All fours is the national card game of Trinidad and Tobago, where it is typically played as a four-player partnership game with the following variations to the standard rules.
Deal and play are anticlockwise and game is 14 points. Instead of scoring 1 for turning the jack, the dealer scores 1 point for turning up the Ace, 2 points for the Six or Two and 3 points for the jack. If running the cards as a result of the opposing team begging, the dealer scores each time such a card is turned up, even if it does not make trumps. If the jack was captured in a trick won by the party that did not originally hold it, the party scores 3 points for Hang jack instead of 1 point for jack. Players may lead any card, but the rules for following are subtly different. If a trump is led, players must play a trump if possible; otherwise may discard. If a card of a side suit is led, players must either follow suit or trump. If they cannot follow, they need not trump however.