In the Regency era world of Jane Austen, card games were not only all the rage for amusement and sport, but were also social tools and signifiers. Seemingly a lot could be said about a person’s temperament, cleverness, and sociability based on their reaction to evenings of gaming. Those of an uncouth nature or those who had a weakness for gambling could easily be exposed in polite company for their shortcomings. On the other hand, quieter personalities might subtly reveal a sharp mind at play while sweeping away winning pots. These games–if you could afford to play–were amazing and frivolous windows into otherwise tight-jawed society.
It is no wonder, then, that Austen favoured using card games as literary devices in nearly all of her works. It would have been delicious low-hanging fruit to apply thinly veiled symbolism to games of risk, reward, and cunning. Some of the games even teased us with a bit of juicy foreshadowing.
Sadly, most of the games that were popular at the time have become long forgotten relics, hardly identifiable to most people. This does a disservice to Austen’s work, for she relied heavily on the presumption that the reader would instantly understand what it meant to play games like Whist or Commerce. Surely she could not have predicted how much longevity her stories would enjoy or that two hundred years later none of us would know why Lydia Bennett was sad to lose fish at playing Lottery.
Let us correct these shortcomings of our modern age and learn to play the card games referenced in Jane Austen’s books. Below are the rules as they likely would have been observed in early nineteenth century Britain. For most of these you need only one or two decks of standard cards without jokers and some chips or tokens.
WHIST
In Pride and Prejudice this is the very card game that vexed Mr. Collins and his fellow card players, for he could not remember trumps. What I like about this game is that while it is a trick-taking game–some of which can be odious in their elaborate rules, this one is quite straightforward. This once again proves that Mr. Collins was not fit for society.
LOTTERY TICKETS (or “LOTO”)
I can’t say that this was mentioned in any of the Austen film adaptations, but in literary Pride and Prejudice, Lydia is very fond of this game and has much to say about how many fish she won and lost. While more serious gambler played for coin, at some social occasions they played for fish-shaped tokens. Though this is a game wholly based on chance, it seems like it would be a fun diversion.
These are similar to the fish tokens that Lydia would have been coveting after an evening of supper and cards.
COMMERCE
Commerce is a variation on poker that is a bit more dynamic and social than the modern version to which we are accustomed. It was mentioned frequently by Austen in her works, though the author may not have held a high opinion of the game in real life. In Pride and Prejudice Bingley and Jane both express that they don’t care for it as much as they do Vingt-Un (what we know today as blackjack). It is also mentioned in Northanger Abbey when Isabella was taken with the game.
LANTERLOO (or “LOO”)
Loo is a partnerless trick-taking game that can be merciless to losing parties. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth declines an invitation to play Loo at Netherfield Hall as the stakes seemed too high. I also think that the game is a bit fussy and she was better off with her book.
SPECULATION
This is a memory-based game requiring players to speculate on how many high value cards remain unseen on the table. It is mentioned frequently by Austen–particularly in Mansfield Park–and was expressed in a very favourable light by the author in real life correspondences. Obviously it also makes for easy literary symbolism and commentary–the gamble for wealth and love, and the art of keeping track of society’s comings and goings. Some people will be naturals at it while others will quietly suffer through it. In the literal sense of the game, I would fall in the latter camp since I am miserable at counting cards and have a terrible memory.
PIQUET
Piquet is a two-player game that seems to take a few of the elements from most of the other games and smash them into one. There is an element of Speculation’s card memorization, plus a bit of poker, and also some trick taking. I haven’t played this yet, but based on rules overview it is a little hard to imagine how it gained such popularity, save for the fact that it allows for only two players. Austen used this for subtle commentary in Pride and Prejudice as a reflection that perhaps the need for a smaller game was an indication of diminishing importance or standing.
CASSINO
This is a very simple game of matching card amounts to collect points. Because it has no stakes and lacks complexity or depth, Austen was able to use this to frame characters who were very much the similar, including Anne DeBourgh. It seems this would not have been very popular among more aggressive card players, but that does not mean it might not be quite fun.
As always, and as many a Georgian and Regency player learned the hard way (including Mr. Wickham), gamble responsibly and if the stakes seem too high, do as Lizzie would do and reach for a good book instead.
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