Glossary of card game terms
The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. This list does not encompass terms that are specific to one game.
A few games or families of games have enough of their own specific terminology to warrant their own glossaries:
- For bridge, the Glossary of contract bridge terms which covers contract bridge, duplicate bridge, and auction bridge; some of the terms are also used in whist, bid whist, and other trick-taking games.
- For patience (solitaire), the Glossary of patience terms.
- For poker, the Glossary of poker terms.
Terms in this glossary (unlike those above) should apply to a wide range of card games.
A
- See rank, below
- One of the four suits in a German pack of cards. Symbol:
age
- Order of priority for leading, betting or bidding, starting from the player next to the dealer.[1] See eldest and youngest.
alliance
- A temporary partnership that lasts only for the current deal or hand[1] (e.g. Prop and Cop in Solo Whist or the normal game in Schafkopf).
ante
- A mandatory stake made before the game begins - usually by all players, sometimes by the dealer only.[1]
auction
- The phase in some card games where players may bid to lead the game, or bid on a certain hand or privilege in that hand such as naming the trump suit. The player with the highest bid wins the auction and plays his chosen game or exercises his privilege. Often used in trick-taking games.[2]
B
- One of the four suits in a German pack of cards. Symbol:
bettel or bettler
- Bid or contract to win no tricks (also misère).[1]
bid
- Spoken declaration to win a specified number of tricks or points; to make such a declaration[3]
blank
- In card-point games, a card that is worth no points.
- A hand with no court cards, i.e. only pip cards.[1]
bleeding
- When your cards are visible to other players.
bluff
- to attempt to deceive one's opponent(s) about the value of cards in one's hand[4]
build
- to add cards to those already on the table in order to extend a set or sequence[2]
bonus
C
call
card points
- In point-trick games, the score used to determine the winner of a hand, based on the value of individual cards won. Not to be confused with game points.
carte blanche
- A hand with no court cards (see 'blank')[1]
chicane
- A hand with no trumps.[1]
- One of the four suits in a French pack of cards.[2] Symbol: ♣
compendium game
- A game in which a number of different contracts is played in succession e.g. Hearts, Barbu (card game), Quodlibet and Michigan Rummy.[5]
contract
- an agreement to play a certain type of game, to win a certain number of points or tricks in a hand, round or game.[3]
counter
- Object used to score.
- Card with a point value.[1]
court card
- One of the picture cards i.e. a King, Queen or Jack in a French deck;[6] a King, Ober or Unter in a German deck, or a King, Queen, Cavalier and Valet in a tarot deck. Also face card or royal card.
- To divide the deck into two parts; usually after shuffling. Cards may also be cut to determine who deals or which suit is trumps.[6]
D
deal
- Verb: To distribute cards to players in accordance with the rules of the game being played. In many games, this involves taking all cards, shuffling them, and redistributing them, but in other games (such as Patience games) it simply involves turning over the Waste to act as a new Stock.
- Noun: The play from the time the cards are dealt until they are redealt. Also referred to as a hand
- The person whose turn and responsibility it is to deal the cards (even though this player may delegate the actual dealing to another).
deck
declarer
- In a contract game, the highest bidder who then tries to achieve the announced contract.[7]
defenders
- Another name for the rank 2 cards (see rank, below)
- One of the four suits in a French pack of cards.[2] Symbol: ♦
discard
- To remove cards from one's hand, often with the intention that such cards will no longer belong to oneself. Usually done with less desirable cards in an attempt to make room for more desirable cards, or when changing strategies for what cards one is attempting to collect.
discard pile
- the pile of cards already rejected by players.[6]
doubleton
- Only two cards of the same suit in the hand.[7]
downcard
- A card that is dealt face down. Also facedown.
draw a card
- To take a card from the stock.[6]
E
eldest
F
- A face card depicts a person as opposed to pips (excluding jokers).
facedown (US)
- A card placed face down on the table. Also downcard.
faceup (US)
- A card positioned so that it reveals its suit and value.[6] Also upcard.
face value
- The marked value of a card, also called the pip value. Court cards are usually take to have a value of 10, the Ace 1 or 11.[2]
fold
- To withdraw or surrender the current hand or game.[2]
follow suit
- To play a card of the led suit.[3]
G
game points
- In point-trick games, the score assigned to the various contracts which is awarded to the winning player. Game points are accumulated (or deducted) to decide the overall winner. Not to be confused with card points.
H
hand
- The cards held by one player
- The player holding the cards, as in "Third hand bid 1♠."
- Synonymous with the noun usage of deal
- One of the four suits in a French pack or German pack of cards.[2] Symbols: ♥ or
I
in turn
- A player, or an action, is said to be in turn if that player is expected to act next under the rules. Jerry said "check" while he was in turn, so he's not allowed to raise.
J
K
kind
- See rank, below
- kitty
- Additional cards dealt face down in some card games.
L
lay off
- To add cards to another player's melds or combinations.[2]
lead
- To play the first card of the trick.[2]
- One of the four suits in a German pack of cards. Symbol:
M
- A set of matching cards, typically three or more, that earn a player points and/or allow him to deplete his hand.
- A hand dealt wrongly. Or to make a mistake while dealing cards.
N
natural card
- A card that is not wild
negative game
- A negative game or negative contract is one in which the aim is either:[8]
numeral
- A card for which the rank is a number (Ace usually counts as 1 in this case)
P
pack
- A complete set of cards. A double deck may be used (i.e. 104/108 instead of 52/54)
partie
pass
- In bidding games, to make no bid
- In vying games to pass the privilege of betting first
- A complete set of cards. A double deck may be used (i.e. 104/108 instead of 52/54)
penalty
- A score awarded for common violations of the rules of the game. It can be awarded either negatively to the violating player/partnership, or positively to their opponent(s)
picture card
pile
- A set of cards placed on a surface so that they partially or completely overlap
- See numeral, above
- A suit symbol (♠, ♥, ♦, ♣) on a card.
plain card
- a card other than a court card.[9]
plain suit
- Any suit that is not a trump suit
play
- Verb: Move a card to a place on the table (either from the players hand, or from elsewhere on the table).
- Noun: The stage of the game in which player(s) play cards
prial
- A 'pair royal'. A set of three cards of the same rank.[2]
R
rank
- The position of a card relative to others in the same suit. The order of the ranks depends on the game being played.
redeal
- To deal again
renege
- To legally play a card of a suit other than the led suit.[10]
renounce
- To play a card of a different suit from the led suit. May be legal or not, depending on the rules.[10]
revoke
- To fail to follow suit when able to do so and the rules require it. Normally incurs a penalty.[10]
R.F.G. pile
- "Remove From Game" pile; a discard pile for cards which will not be used in subsequent rounds.
round
- The events between the eldest player's action, and the youngest player's action of the same type (i.e. bid, play), inclusive.
- A combination of playing cards where cards have consecutive rank values. Also called a sequence.
S
schmear or smear
- to play a high-scoring card to a trick if it is likely to be won by one's partner, especially in Schafkopf or Sheepshead
- When a player or team wins over 3/4 of the available card points in point-trick games, thus scoring a bonus. Typical of the Skat and Schafkopf families. The team scoring less than 1/4 of the points is said to be schneidered.
- When a player or team wins every trick of the hand, thus scoring a bonus. Common in games of the Skat and Schafkopf family.
seat
- Position relative to the dealer: for example, in bridge, the dealer's left-hand opponent is said to be in second seat.
- Two or more cards adjacent in rank. The adjectives ascending and descending may be applied (i.e. "building in ascending sequence" means "laying cards out so that each has the next highest rank to the previous one"). A sequence need not all be of the same suit. Also called a run.
shuffle
- rearrange (a deck of cards) by sliding the cards over each other quickly.(verb)
- an act of shuffling a deck of cards. (noun)
singleton
- Holding of only one card of a suit.[3]
slam
- winning every trick. Sometimes called a 'grand slam', with a 'little slam' being every trick bar one.[10] Also called a Mord or Durchmarsch in some games.
solo
- A hand contract.
- A contract played alone against the combined efforts of all other players.[10]
soloist
- Player who plays a solo.
- One of the four suits in a French pack of cards.[2] Symbol: ♠
spot card
- See numeral
squeeze
- In trick-taking games, a player is 'squeezed' if he has to weaken himself in either of 2 suits, but has no way of deciding which.[11]
stack
- Cards are placed directly on top of each other, disallowing the player to see any card other than the top. In most cases, these cards are and should be kept hidden. Viewing these cards during a deal is often considered illegal, so they should be dealt face down.
stock
- A pile of cards, face down, which are left over after setting up the rest of the game (i.e. dealing hands, setting up other layout areas).
- All cards that share the same pips
T
tableau
- Layout of table cards in games like Zwicker and games of the Patience family. See Glossary of patience terms.
- The undealt portion of the pack. Same as stock.[11]
trey
- The Three of any suit. Also 'three-spot'.[3]
trick
- See Trick-taking game. A set of cards played by each player in turn, during the play of a hand.
- (Noun) A card in the suit whose trick-taking power is greater than any plain suit card.
- (Noun) A card in the special suit of trumps found in tarot decks such as the Tarot Nouveau
- (Verb) To play a trump after a plain suit has been led. See Ruff.
turn-up
- A card turned up at the start of a game to determine the trump suit.[11]
U
- A card laid on the table face-up.
- The top card of a pile, turned face up.[9]
V
value
- See rank
void
- Having no card of a given suit.[11]
W
- A card that can able to substitute for any natural card (or even nonexistent ones)
Y
youngest
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Parlett 2008, p. 642.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Glossary of Card Game Terms at www.catsatcards.com. Retrieved 11 August 2018
- 1 2 3 4 5 Galt, David. Card Game Glossary at entertainment.howstuffworks.com. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
- ↑ Golick 1998, p. 120.
- ↑ Parlett 2008.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Golick 1998, p. 121.
- 1 2 Parlett 2008, p. 643.
- 1 2 Parlett 2008, p. 644.
- 1 2 3 Arnold 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Parlett 2008, p. 645.
- 1 2 3 4 Parlett 2008, p. 646.