Overview

Écarté is a two-player trick-taking game of 18th-century French origin. It is played with a 32-card deck: a standard 52-card deck minus the 2–6 of each suit.

The name (French for “discarded”) refers to the phase that precedes the trick play, where players may discard cards and draw new ones, seeking to improve their hands.

Card ranking

Ace ranks between ten and jack, so that the ranking in each suit (from low to high) is 7, 8, 9, 10, A, J, Q, K.

Rules of trick play

The player who leads to a trick is free to play any card in their hand. The other player must follow a number of rules:

• They must play a higher-ranking card of the suit led if they have one.
• If they have no higher-ranking card of the suit led, they must play a lower-ranking card of that suit if they have one.
• If they have no card at all of the suit led, they must play a trump if they have one.
• If they have neither a card of the suit led nor any trump, they are free to play any card they do have.

The trick is won by the highest trump played to it, or by the highest card of the suit led if there was no trump. The winner of a trick leads to the next trick of the round (if any).