History
This game was first mentioned in 1522 by Bernadine of Sienna in his sermon "Ye Tryumphe." There seemed to be two slightly different games at that time. In the game of Ruff, a pack of 52 cards was used and 12 cards dealt to each player, with the first of the remaining four cards turned over to determine the trump suit. In Honours, 48 cards were used with the last of the cards dealt to the player on the dealers left turned over to determine trumps.
Some versions of this game seem to have been among the principal forms of card games in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but by the end of the eighteenth they had already been replaced by Whist. Other forms seem to have been around since the mid-fifteenth century, judging by a reference to the game of Roufle (M.Fr. Roffle, earlier Romfle (1414), from It. Ronfa) in a letter of Jean de Lannoy in 1875.
Many scholars on card games have speculated about the relation between Ruff and Honours and a former card game known as Trump. According to Charles Cotton, Ruff and Honours, alias called Slam, was played by four players in two partnerships where it was compulsory to follow suit when able. The cards ranked as at Whist, and honours were scored. Twelve cards were dealt to each player, four left in the stock, and the top card turned up for trumps. The holder of the ace of trumps was allowed to ruff, i.e. to take in the stock and put out four cards from his hand. The game was played nine up, and at the point of eight honours could be called, as at Long Whist. According to Randle Cotgrave it was just a synonym for Trump, while Francis Willughby offered the reasonable speculation that the name Trump may once have designated a simple trick-taking game without the element of ruff and the honours.
Ruff and Honours, if not the same game as Trump, was most probably a game with a score for the four highest cards of the trump suit, as first described in Cotton's The Compleat Gamester written in 1674, who also states that Ruff and Honours was indeed one of the games most commonly known in England.
Read more about this topic: Ruff And Honours
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