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Red nines
Red Nines is a simple card game of the Stops family for four or more players. It is largely a game of luck, and is suitable for players of any age. Games with more than four players are best when played without hesitation. It has a modern variant called Pink Nines.
Games of the Stops family trace their history back to the 17th century French game of Hoc de Mazarin, named after Cardinal Mazarin, prime minister to Louis XIV and an avid card player. Hoc was a three-stage game where the third stage involved getting rid of cards in numerical sequence with the aid of wild cards known as hocs or, in English, stops. It was this final stage that evolved into the much simpler game of Manille which was renamed Comet on the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1682, because the run of cards resembled a comet. In this game, the 9♦ was called the Manille or Comet and was a wild card. The entire pack was dealt to between three and five players and the aim was to empty one's hand by playing cards out in sequence up to the King, suits being irrelevant. In 1752, a variant called "New Comet" appeared which used two packs divided for play into a pack of red cards and a pack of black cards and in which the 9♣ became the wild card in the red pack. Comet may well have been played in royal circles in Britain as early as the 17th century, shortly after its renaming.
Red Nines appears to be derived from the older version of Comet, but with the addition of the 9♥ as a wild card, the removal of certain cards from the pack, the dealing of cards to the table as 'stops' and a requirement to build in suit sequence. Only the first change has been retained in the modern rules, which thus look very like 'ancient' Comet as it was called. It also resembles Pope Joan, which also builds in sequences in suit and has the 9♦ as a special, albeit not wild, card.
Red Nines itself is an old game, recorded as early as 1812 in a diary entry by Miss Fanny Chapman of Bath who described it as "a new game [which was] a good deal like Pope Joan but more amusing." In 1841 it is recorded as being played by British Army officers and their wives stationed in Stony Hill, Jamaica with the 60th Foot. In 1858, it appears alongside Loo, Vingt-Un and Pounce Commerce in Holme Lee's Ashburn Rectory in 1858. The first account of its rules appeared in 1881. The game was still well known enough in Britain in 1908 to be mentioned without explanation in a novel Lady Julia's Emerald as being played by well to do young folk. It is known to have been played in south-west London during the 1950s.[citation needed]
Pink Nines appears to be a 20th-century variant played as early as 1930 and still listed in games compendia.
The following description is based on H.K. (1881).
Red Nines is a round game playable by "any number of players". This description assumes eight. The aim is to be first to get rid of one's hand cards. Deal and play are clockwise and the deal rotates to the left after each game.
A standard 52-card pack is used with the 2s and 3s removed to leave 44 cards. The red nines – 9♥ and 9♦ – are wild. Players receive e.g. 36 counters which are worth an agreed rate.
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Red nines AI simulator
(@Red nines_simulator)
Red nines
Red Nines is a simple card game of the Stops family for four or more players. It is largely a game of luck, and is suitable for players of any age. Games with more than four players are best when played without hesitation. It has a modern variant called Pink Nines.
Games of the Stops family trace their history back to the 17th century French game of Hoc de Mazarin, named after Cardinal Mazarin, prime minister to Louis XIV and an avid card player. Hoc was a three-stage game where the third stage involved getting rid of cards in numerical sequence with the aid of wild cards known as hocs or, in English, stops. It was this final stage that evolved into the much simpler game of Manille which was renamed Comet on the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1682, because the run of cards resembled a comet. In this game, the 9♦ was called the Manille or Comet and was a wild card. The entire pack was dealt to between three and five players and the aim was to empty one's hand by playing cards out in sequence up to the King, suits being irrelevant. In 1752, a variant called "New Comet" appeared which used two packs divided for play into a pack of red cards and a pack of black cards and in which the 9♣ became the wild card in the red pack. Comet may well have been played in royal circles in Britain as early as the 17th century, shortly after its renaming.
Red Nines appears to be derived from the older version of Comet, but with the addition of the 9♥ as a wild card, the removal of certain cards from the pack, the dealing of cards to the table as 'stops' and a requirement to build in suit sequence. Only the first change has been retained in the modern rules, which thus look very like 'ancient' Comet as it was called. It also resembles Pope Joan, which also builds in sequences in suit and has the 9♦ as a special, albeit not wild, card.
Red Nines itself is an old game, recorded as early as 1812 in a diary entry by Miss Fanny Chapman of Bath who described it as "a new game [which was] a good deal like Pope Joan but more amusing." In 1841 it is recorded as being played by British Army officers and their wives stationed in Stony Hill, Jamaica with the 60th Foot. In 1858, it appears alongside Loo, Vingt-Un and Pounce Commerce in Holme Lee's Ashburn Rectory in 1858. The first account of its rules appeared in 1881. The game was still well known enough in Britain in 1908 to be mentioned without explanation in a novel Lady Julia's Emerald as being played by well to do young folk. It is known to have been played in south-west London during the 1950s.[citation needed]
Pink Nines appears to be a 20th-century variant played as early as 1930 and still listed in games compendia.
The following description is based on H.K. (1881).
Red Nines is a round game playable by "any number of players". This description assumes eight. The aim is to be first to get rid of one's hand cards. Deal and play are clockwise and the deal rotates to the left after each game.
A standard 52-card pack is used with the 2s and 3s removed to leave 44 cards. The red nines – 9♥ and 9♦ – are wild. Players receive e.g. 36 counters which are worth an agreed rate.