Briscan is an 18th-century, French ace–ten card game for two players played with a 32-card piquet pack. It is a member of the marriage group of games in which the 'marriage' of a king and queen brings a bonus score, but briscan takes this simple concept to extraordinary lengths.
History Briscan is a highly elaborate expansion of Mariage, the ancestor of the marriage family of card games.Parlett (2008), p. 265. It is also a member of the brusquembille family, a game which it began to oust in France in the late 18th century.Parlett (1990), pp. 286/287. Its name is probably a diminutive of 'briscambille', an old name for brusquembille.Le Briscan at Le Salon des Jeux website.
The rules of briscan are first recorded in 1752 in La Plus Nouvelle Académie universelle des jeux and indicate that briscan evolved from a similar game called brisque, which, in turn, may have developed from brisquembille, whose rules were published in 1718 in the l'Académie universelle des jeux.
Parlett describes it as a "Gothic extravaganza" and a game of "almost hysterical excitement and complication" that squeezed a "truly phenomenal range of scores and melds" from just a 32-card pack and two five-card hands. By contrast its close cousin, brisque, is less complicated and more playable; as is briscan's successor and "more sober relative", bezique, which reduced the number of melds and bonuses available.
Rules The following rules are based on the French Academy of Games. Where brisque is different, this is shown in parentheses.
Briscan is a two-player game, based on brisque, but which differs in the number of cards dealt, the way the trump turnup is handled, announcements and scoring. Game is 600 points.
Cards and dealing Briscan uses a 32-card piquet pack. Players draw for the right to deal; the player drawing the highest becoming the dealer, who then deals five cards each (brisque: six) and turns the next for trump. The remaining cards form the talon which is placed, face down, at right angles to, and half-covering, the upcard.
Exchanging The trump seven may only be exchanged for the upcard "before playing for the last two cards of the talon" (brisque: it may be exchanged at any point during the game). In other words, when there are two talon cards left and each player has five hand cards, an exchange may only be done at the end of the trick. If the turnup is an ace, ten, or court card, the dealer scores ten points.
Melds and bonuses Inspired by piquet, briscan has a very large number of possible melds and bonuses. Melds may only be made when at least one trick has been taken and when on lead.
Melds There are the following melds in briscan (brisque: only marriages and 2 of the quartets count) Marriages: a player who holds a king and queen of the same suit scores 20 or, if a trump marriage, 40 points. Sequences: runs of three or more consecutive cards of the same suit e.g. ten, jack, queen. A run of three is a tierce; of four is a quatrième; and of five, a quinte. The rank of a sequence is taken from its top card, so 8-9-10 is a tierce au dix. Points are scored as per the table below, except that they are doubled in the case of trump sequences. Cards declared in a sequence may not be used for other melds. Quartets: four of a kind score as shown in the table. (brisque: four kings or four queens immediately win the game) Cartes blanches: hands comprising all court cards and no pips or, conversely, all pip cards and no courts. They attract 20 and 10 points respectively.
Bonuses The following bonuses count in briscan (brisque: only the last trick bonus is scored) Ace of trumps: if the ace of trumps is held and has not been exchanged it scores 30 points Last five cards: if a player's last hand of five cards after the talon has been exhausted are all trumps, that player scores a bonus of 30 points. Winning last trick: 10 points Winning last five tricks: 20 additional points Taking most cards: 10 points Vole (taking all tricks): wins the game immediately
Summary Melds in briscan Sequences* Quinte Quatrième Tierce majeure (major i.e. ace) 300 majeure 100 majeure 60 roi (king) 150 roi 80 roi 50 dame (queen) 100 dame 60 dame 40 valet (jack) 50 valet 40 valet 30 dix (ten) - dix 30 dix 20 neuf (nine) - neuf - neuf 20 Sets and other bonuses Quartets (four of a kind)* Other combinations Cards and tricks Four aces 150 Marriage (+ of plain suit) 20 Last five cards 30 Four tens 100 Trump marriage (trump +) 40 Last trick 10 Four kings 80 Carte blanche (all courts) 20 Last five tricks 20 Four queens 60 Carte blanche (all pips) 10 Most cards 10 Four jacks 40 Ace of trumps 30 Vole (taking all the tricks) Game
* Scores are doubled in the case of trump sequences or quartets.
References
Literature Parlett, David (1990). A History of Card Games, OUP, Oxford. Parlett, David (2008). The Penguin Book of Card Games, Penguin, London.