Association of British Scrabble Players

Culture > Sport > Card Games


Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.


abundance abondance a call of nine tricks in whist.
ante to put a fixed stake in the pot > ANTES, ANTEING, ANTED or ANTEED.
baccara baccarat a French card game.
banker a betting card game.
basset an old Venetian card game, resembling FARO.
basto the ace of clubs in QUADRILLE and OMBER > BASTOS. [Sp. basto, club].
bezique a card game played with two decks of cards.
blackjack vingt-et-un, or a game like it.
boston a card game similar to WHIST.
bouillotte a card game resembling POKER.
brag a card-game like POKER; (verb) to boast.
bridge any of various card games, for two pairs of players, developed from whist.
canasta a card game similar to RUMMY.
canfield a card game adapted from PATIENCE.
capot to win all the tricks at the game of PIQUET > CAPOTS, CAPOTTING, CAPOTTED.
cardcastle a tower built with cards.
cardplayer one who plays cards.
cardsharp cardsharper one who practises deception at cards.
cartomancer one who practises CARTOMANCY.
cartomancy divination or the telling of fortunes using playing cards.
casino cassino a card game, played by two or more persons, usually for twenty-one points > CASINI or CASINOS; CASSINOS.
cheat a card game in which deception is allowed.
chemmy a card game, chemin de fer.
cinch a card game in which the five of trumps ranks highest.
cinque five; the number five in dice or cards.
codille a term at the card game OMBER, signifying that the game is won.
conquian cooncan a game resembling rummy.
cribbage a card-game in which player discards a certain number of cards.
crossruff to trump alternately.
croupier the dealer in a casino.
deuce the two in cards and dice.
doubleton two cards that are the only ones of their suit dealt to a player.
drawbridge bridge played by two people, with two dummy hands, not exposed.
ecarte a game in which cards may be discarded for others.
endplay in bridge, to play the last few tricks in a hand so that an opponent is forced to make a particular lead.
euchre a card game; (verb) to score over, to outwit.
faro a card game > FAROS.
finesse at bridge, an attempt by a player holding a higher card to take the trick with a lower card, risking loss.
gin a type of rummy in which a player whose unmatched cards count ten or less may stop the game.
gleek an old card game for three players, each having twelve cards, and eight being left for the stock.
goulash in bridge, a re-deal of cards that have been arranged in suits and order of value.
grab a simple card game depending upon prompt claiming.
hazardry playing at games of chance.
hearts a card game in which the object is to avoid taking tricks containing hearts or the queen of spades.
jambone a lone hand in EUCHRE.
jeton jetton a piece of stamped metal used as a counter in card-playing.
kalooki kalookie kaluki a card game similar to rummy, using two packs of cards and two jokers.
klondike klondyke a very rich source of wealth; a card game, a kind of patience; (verb) to export (fish, esp. mackerel or herring) while fresh, freq. to a foreign factory ship.
lansquenet a card game.
lanterloo a card game, an ancestral form of LOO. [Fr. lanturlu, a meaningless refrain].
loo a card game; (verb) to subject to a forfeit at loo.
lottery a card game of chance.
manille in the card games OMBRE and QUADRILLE, the highest card but one.
matador matadore the three chief cards in the games OMBRE and QUADRILLE.
matrimony a card game of chance in which one of the winning combinations is that of king and queen.
maw an old card game played with a pack of 36.
michigan a card game, equivalent to NEWMARKET.
misdeal to deal wrongly > MISDEALS, MISDEALING, MISDEALT.
misere at cards, an undertaking to take no tricks. [Fr. = poverty, misery].
mistigris a variation of poker in which a joker or blank card can be given any value; the card so used > MISTIGRISES. [Fr. mistigri, jack of clubs].
monte a favorite gambling game among Spaniards, played with dice or cards.
mournival a set of four, especially a set of four court cards in one hand. [Fr. mornifle, a slap, a taunt].
muggins a children's card-game > MUGGINSES.
mumchance a silent game with cards or dice.
nap napoleon a French modification of the game of EUCHRE, each player receiving five cards and playing as an individual.
newmarket a card game in which the stakes go to those who succeed in playing out cards whose duplicates lie on the table.
noddy an old game like cribbage; the jack in this and other games.
nontrump of a suit in cards, not TRUMP.
omber ombre a card game > OMBRES. [Sp. hombre, man].
outbid to surpass in bidding.
outraise to exceed in raising e.g. in a bid at cards.
outtrump to surpass in trumping.
overbid to bid or offer more trumps than a hand justifies.
overcall in bridge, to outbid.
overruff at cards, to trump with a higher trump.
overtrick at bridge, a trick in excess of those contracted for.
overtrump to trump with a higher card than the trump already played.
pam the knave of clubs > PAMS.
patience a card game of various kinds, generally for one person, the object being to fit the cards, as they turn up, into some scheme.
pedro a card-game, aka sancho-pedro > PEDROS.
pelmanism a card game in which the cards are spread out face down and have to be picked up in matching pairs.
penneech penneeck an old card-game with a new trump for every trick.
penuchle pinocle pinochle penuckle a card game played with forty-eight cards, being all the cards above the eight spots in two packs.
picquet piquet a game for two with 32 cards; (verb) to tie to a stake.
plafond an early form of contract bridge.
poker a card game in which players bet on their hands and the winning player takes the pool of staked money.
pokie a poker machine.
pone the card player on the dealer's right responsible for cutting the cards.
pontoon a card game of chance, or the winning score of 21 points which is its object.
primero an old card game > PRIMEROS.
quadrille a four-handed game with 40 cards, similar to ombre; (verb) to play quadrille.
quatorze the four aces, kings, queens, knaves or tens in pique, counting fourteen.
quatre a card, die, or domino, having four spots, or pips.
quinze a card game.
rebid to bid again.
redeal to deal again.
repique at piquet, the winning of thirty points or more; (verb) to score a repique.
reversis an old card game in which the taker of fewest tricks wins > REVERSISES.
revie to stake more than an opponent has proposed on > REVIES, REVYING, REVIED.
rounce an American card game.
rubicon the winning of a game in piquet before one's opponent scores; (verb) to win in this way > RUBICONS, RUBICONING, RUBICONED. [L. Rubico, a stream in Italy].
ruff to play a trump card when one cannot follow through.
rummy a card game in which players try to collect sequences or sets of three or four cards of the same kind; (adj.) queer > RUMMIER, RUMMIEST; RUMMILY.
schneid a series of losses.
septleva (in the game of basset) seven times as much added to the first stake. [Fr. sept-et-le-va].
sheephead a trick-taking card game originating in Germany.
showdown in poker, the exposure of players' cards face up on on the table at the end of the game.
shutout at bridge, a bid intended to stop opponents from bidding.
singleton a playing card that is the only one of its suit in a player's hand.
skat a card game for three persons, resembling solo whist.
slapjack a card game in which players try to win the pack by being the first to slap a hand over the jack, as it is turned over on top of the pile.
sluff to discard a card or cards.
snap a type of card game in which the first player to shout 'snap' on spotting a matching pair of cards wins all the cards on the table.
solitaire a game played by one person with a board and balls, pegs, etc.
spadille spadillio spadillo the ace of spades in the game of OMBRE.
spoilfive a certain game at cards in which, if no player wins three of the five tricks possible on any deal, the game is said to be spoiled.
spoof a card game; (verb) to trick, hoax.
stud a form of POKER.
switch a changeover (esp in cards to another suit, led or called).
tablanette a variant of the card game CASSINO.
tarabish a trick-taking card game popular in Nova Scotia.
taroc tarok tarot a card of a type originating in Italy with an allegorical picture; a set, traditionally consisting of 78 such cards, used in card games and esp fortune-telling; (usu in pl) a game played with tarots together with cards of the ordinary suits.
tenace the holding by the fourth hand of the best and third best cards of a suit led; also, sometimes, the combination of best with third best card of a suit in any hand. [Sp. tenaza, pincers].
tiddy very small > TIDDIER, TIDDIEST; (noun) the four of trumps at the game of GLEEK.
towie a form of contract BRIDGE.
tredille tredrille a card game for three.
trey the three in cards or dice.
trez the three in cards or dice > TREZES.
trump a card of a suit that ranks higher than any card of any other suit; (verb) to play a trump card instead of following suit, to outdo.
trumpless without a TRUMP.
undealt not dealt.
undertrick in BRIDGE, a trick short of the number declared.
undertrump to play a lower trump on a trick to which a higher trump has already been played.
vint a game like contract BRIDGE; (verb) to gather grapes.
whist a card game played by two against two, in which the object is to take a majority of the thirteen tricks, each trick over six scoring one point.
yarborough a type of hand at bridge.