Forty-fives

Forty-Fives (also known as Forty-Five, Forte Fives, Auction Forty-Fives, Auction 120s, 120, Growl, Spoil Five, Maw and Strong Fives) is a trick-taking card game that is played in Ireland and on the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as in some parts of New England, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia where it is known as Forte Fives. It is closely related to the game One-hundred and ten (110) also described below.

The game may have got its name from "forte" which is Latin for strong which describes the 5's in the deck. The origin of this game is thought to be Ireland. In the 1920s, the game became Forte Fives when it moved south into the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts and New Hampshire with French Canadian immigrants. Today, Forty-fives continues to be very popular in the Merrimack Valley. It is played with a standard deck of 52 cards (sometimes with jokers).