All-Fours
Encyclopedia
All Fours, also known as High-Low-Jack or Seven Up, is an English tavern trick-taking card game that was popular as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century. It is the eponymous and earliest recorded game in a family that flourished most in 19th century North America, notable other members being Auction Pitch, Pedro and Cinch
Cinch (card game)
Cinch, also known as Double Pedro or High Five, is an American trick-taking card game derived from Pitch via Pedro. Developed in Denver, Colorado in the 1880s, it was soon regarded as the most important member of the All Fours family but went out of fashion with the rise of Auction Bridge...

, which competed against Poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

 and Euchre
Euchre
Euchre or eucre, is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is the game responsible for introducing the joker into modern packs; this was invented around 1860 to act as a top trump or best bower...

. Nowadays the original game is especially popular in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, but a simpler variant has also survived in parts of England.

Each player is dealt six cards. In trick play, players are allowed to trump instead of following suit. The title refers to the possibility of winning four game points by being dealt both the highest and the lowest trump in play, capturing the Jack of trumps and winning the greatest number of card-points.

Pitch


Card-point value
Rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Value 4 3 2 1 10 0

Scoring points
Name Description Points Receiver
High highest trump out 1 original owner =
eventual owner
Low lowest trump out 1 original owner
Jack Jack of trumps 1 eventual owner
Game most card-points in tricks 1 eventual owner

Two or more players play individually or in equal-sized teams, seated alternatingly. Default play rotation is clockwise in most areas. Players cut for first deal. Cards rank as in Whist and have certain numerical card-point values as shown in the table. In each deal up to 4 scoring points are distributed among the parties. The game is won by the party that first reaches the previously specified target score over several deals.

The dealer shuffles and the pone (player sitting before the dealer in game rotation) cuts. The dealer hands out 6 cards to each player in batches of 3. Trump is determined by the suit of the first card played in trick-play. Eldest hand leads to the first trick, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. Standard trick-play rules are in effect with the exception that a player who can follow suit to a plain suit lead is nevertheless allowed to play a trump.

At the end of the deal scoring points are awarded as described in the table. The Jack point is not awarded if no player held the Jack of trumps. The Game point is only awarded if one party has won more card-points in tricks than any other. The scoring points accrue strictly in the order given in the table, preventing ties in case more than one team reaches the target score at the end of the deal.

The pub game played nowadays in northern England under the name All Fours is a four-player partnership version of Pitch, played for 11 points. Side payments are made for winning all four points in a single hand. In some areas the point for Low is awarded to the eventual owner.

Choosing the trump suit by leading to the first trick is known as pitching. That trump is determined by pitching rather than by turning up a card from the stock is the key difference between Pitch and classical All Fours/Seven Up.

All Fours / Seven Up

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 rules have been formulated so as to cover all cases. Between Charles Cotton's 1674 rules and the rules in early 20th century English and American rule books there was little variation, and a very similar form is still popular in the Caribbean. Except for the way in which the trump suit is determined the game is identical to Pitch. Seven Up is All Fours played to a target score of 7 points.

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 trumps. 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.

Caribbean All Fours

All Fours is the national card game of Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

, where it is typically played as a four-player partnership game with the following variations to the standard rules. The game rotation is counter-clockwise. The game is played for 14 points.

Instead of scoring 1 point for turning up the Jack, the dealer scores 1 point for turning up the Ace, 2 points for the Six (Trinidad) or Two (Tobago) and 3 points for the Jack. If running the cards, 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.

All Fives

In this scoring variant of Blind All Fours, in addition to the usual features the winner of a trick immediately scores the card-points of any trumps it contains. Moreover, winning a trick that contains the Five of trumps immediately scores 5 points. The game is played for 61 points, ideally scored on a cribbage board. For determining the winner of the Game point, The Five of trumps is also worth 5 points. All other trumps and non-trumps have their usual card-values.

California Jack

This trick-and-draw variant was also known as French Fours, French Loo or Spanish All Fours. Trumps is determined randomly before the deal. Each player receives only 3 cards. The remaining pack is used face up for drawing after each trick. Placing it face up ensures that revokes can be noticed. The point for Low goes to the player who wins the lowest trump in a trick. If the stock is kept face down as usual this variant is known as Shasta Sam.

Auction Pitch

Around the middle of the 19th century among American players an innovation spread, allowing the eldest hand to "sell the trump", i.e. auction the privilege to pitch. This early form of Auction Pitch is now known as Commercial Pitch.

In Commercial Pitch the players in turn get a chance to bid 1–4 points for the privilege of pitching, or pass. Each bid must be higher than the previous one. Eldest hand immediately scores the amount of the bid. A highest bidder who does not win at least as many points as bid is set back the amount of the bid. Eldest hand may refuse to sell the right to pitch to the highest bidder, in which case eldest hand must win at least as many points or is set back.

In modern Auction Pitch the right to pitch is bought from the bank rather than from eldest hand. Starting with eldest hand each player bids for the privilege of pitching or passes exactly once. The highest bidder determines trumps by leading to the first trick. After the last trick all parties score their points as in All Fours. However, if the pitcher's party has not won as many points as bid, then the pitchers party does not score at all and is instead set back by the amount of the bid.

History

All Fours is among the oldest extant card games in England. Its first known description was in Charles Cotton
Charles Cotton
Charles Cotton was an English poet and writer, best known for translating the work of Michel de Montaigne from the French, for his contributions to The Compleat Angler, and for the highly influential The Compleat Gamester which has been attributed to him.-Early life:He was born at Beresford Hall...

's Compleat Gamester of 1674, where the game was reported as popular in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. It is probably of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 ancestry, and David Parlett
David Parlett
David Parlett is a games scholar from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. His published works include many popular books on games and the more academic volumes "Oxford Guide to Card Games" and "Oxford History of Board Games", both now out of print...

 suggests that it played a role with the association of the name Jack
Jack (playing card)
A Jack, also Knave, is a playing card with a picture of a man on it. The usual rank of a jack, within its suit, is as if it were an 11 ....

with the card rank that was originally known only as the knave.

In the 19th century, the game was taken to America and became popular among the African Americans on slave plantations. Also called Seven up, it gave rise to other variants such as Pitch and Auction Pitch
Pitch (card game)
Pitch is an American trick-taking card game derived from the English game of All Fours . Historically, Pitch started as "Blind All Fours", a very simple All Fours variant that is still played in England as a pub game...

, which probably developed in the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 States, Pedro, and California Jack, also known as High-Low-Jack. Modern descendants include Don and Phat
Phat (card game)
Phat is an English trick-taking partnership card game derived from the 17th century game of All Fours. It is not considered a stand-alone game, but instead a variation of this one...

, developed in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. The game is still played in north-west England and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and it has become the national game of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

.

External links

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