Piquet Basics

Piquet (pronounced “pee-kay”) is a centuries-old, two-player card game that combines the melding of pinochle with the trick-taking mechanics of bridge. Though piquet has waned in popularity, those who prize challenging game play will find it well worth mastering. When compared to other two-player games, piquet offers skill-based play and strategic possibilities that far outmatch more common games such as gin rummy or crazy eights.

The origins of piquet are obscure, particularly because the game is so old. It was invented in Europe nearly 500 years ago, most likely in France but possibly in Spain. It was mentioned by French author François Rabelais in his masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel. Rabelais refers to piquet as one of the games that the character Gargantua knew how to play.

Rubicon piquet, the version of piquet played most often today, is derived from the British version of the game. Piquet first became popular in England after the 1554 marriage of Queen Mary I of England (Bloody Mary) to King Philip II of Spain. During this period the game was known as cent, after the Spanish game cientos, refering to the fact that one of the chief goals of piquet is to reach 100 points. Following the 1625 marriage of King Charles I of England to Henrietta Maria of France, the British adopted the French name for the game, piquet. During this period the British commonly spelled the game picquet or, alternately, picket. The name piquet is probably derived from the French word piquet, meaning stake or peg, or pique, the French word for the card game spades.

The American version of piquet played today is based on rules drafted in the 1870s by a British writer named Henry Jones, who went by the pseudonym Cavendish. Cavendish was a celebrated card player who wrote essays on many other card games, including whist.

Piquet is a game for two players.

The object of piquet is to score the most points. Points are awarded both for holding specific combinations of cards and for tricks won during game play. The game always ends after six deals, and the player with the most points wins the game. An additional objective of piquet is to score at least 100 points by the end of the game, which can improve either player’s score. (For more on scoring, see Scoring in Piquet.)

Piquet is played with a 32-card deck, which can be made from a standard 52-card deck by removing all the cards with values 2–6. The rank of cards, from highest to lowest, is as follows:

All suits are equal in value, and there are no trump cards. The card rankings therefore stay constant throughout the game.