Piquet - History

History

Piquet has long been regarded as one of the all-time great card games still being played. It was first mentioned on a written reference dating to 1535, in Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais. Although legend attributes the game's creation to Stephen de Vignolles, also known as La Hire, a knight in the reign of Charles VII during the Hundred Years' War, it may possibly have come into France from Spain because the words "pique" and "repique", the main features of the game, are of Spanish origin.

The game was introduced in Germany during the Thirty Years War, and texts of that period provide substantial evidence of its vogue, like the metaphorical use of the word "Repique" in the 1634-8 political poem Allamodisch Picket Spiel ("Piquet Game à la mode"), which reflects the growing popularity of the game at that time. As with other games like Bête, the substantive form of the word "Piquet" was turned into a verb and this is used substantially by Rist's 1640 Spiele: die man Picquetten who gives the word his grudging assent.

Until the early 20th century, Piquet was perhaps the most popular card game in France, occupying a similar position to Cribbage in England. It first became popular in England after the marriage of Queen Mary I of England (Bloody Mary) to King Philip II of Spain in 1554. During this period the game was known as Cent, after the Spanish game Cientos, referring to the fact that one of the chief goals of Piquet is to reach 100 points. Following the marriage of King Charles I of England to Henrietta Maria of France in 1625, the British adopted the French name for the game. It went in and out of fashion among the upper classes in Britain between the 17th and early 20th centuries. With the advent of Contract Bridge, however, Piquet has faded into general obscurity among amateur card-players.