It is a game of two partners against two, as at Bridge and Whist. The pack, however, consists of fifty-three cards instead of fifty-two. The place of the extra card (five "crowns"--known as "Quint Royal") which is included by Messrs. Goodall & Son in their "Quinto" packs can be supplied equally well by the "Joker," which all ordinary packs now contain. Similarly, the score-sheets (which resemble { 264} those of Bridge, except that no horizontal division is necessary) may be dispensed with, and their place supplied by ordinary paper and pencil, or by an ordinary cribbage-board.
After settling partners and deal in the usual way, the cards are shuffled and cut, and the dealer then lays aside the five top cards, face downwards, to form what is known as the "cachette." The remaining forty-eight cards are dealt out as at Whist, so that each hand contains twelve cards; but no trump card is turned up.
The players in rotation, commencing with the eldest hand, have then the option of once doubling the value of each trick, and of once re-doubling an opponent's double. The option passes round the table once only, and does not affect the value of the "quints," as defined below.
The normal value of each trick, reckoned irrespective of its contents, and counting to the side which wins it, is five points. Each side scores the number of tricks that it actually wins. If A B win 11 tricks, and Y Z 2, A B score 55, and Y Z 10. These values may, however, be doubled or quadrupled before the play begins, as previously explained. The winners of the twelfth trick take the "cachette," which itself counts as an extra trick. Thus the winning of the twelfth trick bears a double value.
So far as regards "trick" scoring. The "honours" are known as "Quints," and are (1) The five of any suit, a fifth "honour" being the "Joker" or "Quint Royal"; (2) An ace and four, or a deuce and trey, of the same suit, falling to the same trick. "Quints" count not to the side to which they are originally dealt, but to the side that wins the trick containing { 265} them. They are marked as they occur in course of play, according to the following scale: Quint Royal, 25; Quint in Hearts, 20; in Diamonds, 15; in Clubs, 10; in Spades, 5. The contents of the "cachette" (if of any value) are similarly scored by the side that takes it.
