L'Hombre
L'Hombre , also Lomber (from hombre , Spanish for man, means the player) is a card game for three people that was popular in the past . In the 17th and 18th centuries, elaborately designed three- sided lamb tables were made especially for this game .
L'Hombre was very influential in the history of card games, as the principle of charm was transferred to many other card games, including the modern tarot variants, as well as skat and other games.
The following description of L'Hombre is based on Meyer's Konversationslexikon from 1888. A four-player variant of L'Hombre was Quadrille .
Historical background and distribution
L'Hombre is said to have been invented in Spain in the 14th century. From there it probably came to the French court through Maria Teresa , the wife of Louis XIV , and quickly found its way into all of Europe. During the 18th and 19th centuries, L'Hombre was more and more ousted by whist in France and England , and only in Germany and Denmark did it maintain its distinguished status until the end of the 19th century. L'Hombre , however, was - as a rather complicated and difficult game - never widespread.
In Spain, L'Hombre is also called Juego del tresillo (three-game) and is played with national Spanish cards (without eights and nines), in Germany, on the other hand, with the French card after elimination of the eight, nines and tens, i.e. with 40 hands.
As a German solo it is played in a simplified form with the Skat sheet - without eights and nines, i.e. with 24 cards.
The rules
The main features of the game are roughly as follows:
Card distribution
Of the three players, whoever draws spades is the first to deal. L'Hombre is played counter-clockwise: The dealer therefore lets cut off to the left and gives each player nine hands in throws of three cards each; he places the remaining thirteen cards as a talon in the middle of the table.
Determination of the hombre
With a second game, the afterhand makes color ( couleur ). Queries now determine who will be the main player ( Hombre ). The afterhand must outbid or pass the forehand. The other two are then allied against the main player.
Ranking of playing cards
There are three consistent top trumps in all of L'Hombre's regular games :
- the spadille , the ace of spades;
- the manilla , depending on the color of the trump, a black two or a red seven;
- the Basta , Treff ace.
Apart from these main cards, the sequence of hands is in black: king, queen, jack, seven, six etc. to two, in the red: king, queen, jack, ace, two, three etc. to seven. Each black suit has eleven, each red one has twelve trumps. The kings of the colors that are not trumps are called forcing . The ace of a red suit is called a ponto or ponte .
Addition rules
As long as the played color is present, color is served. After that it is allowed to prick or add.
Game types
There are only four games in the original L'Hombre :
- question
- Question in color
- Solo ( sans prendre ) and
- Solo in color .
In each of these regular games, the hombre should try to take five tricks. But he can also win par quatre if one opponent takes three tricks and the other two tricks; however, this is of course not to be expected. The opponents play in such a way that the weaker player tries to get rid of his high cards in order not to have to outsmart the stronger aide (partner).
If you play Question , you discard your bad hands and take others from the talon. During a tour you turn up a sheet of the talon and play in its color; fresh leaves can be bought as with the question . The obscurs are very daring games; you discard eight or all cards and buy new ones from above or below, so you have to find four or all five tricks first. If you play respect you have to have both black aces and show them. He then have the choice whether to tour kidney ( wholesale Casco make) or Obscur play (the seven leaves except the two aces to throw away and replace them with others) want. Solo , as the name suggests, is played out of hand (without buying).
Later came the so-called chicanery , namely: Tournee or Klein-Casco , Obscur from above or below , with eight and nine leaves , Respekt (either as Tour , Groß-Casco or Obscur ), Solo tout (i.e. the reported Vole , the Declarer agrees to take all the tricks) and solo tout in color. The games Grandissimo , in which only the black aces are trumps, Nullissimo , in which there is no atout, and Mohr (if all pass) have almost not become common.
literature
- Kastner, Hugo; Folkvord, Gerald Kador: The great Humboldt encyclopedia of card games . Humboldt, Baden-Baden 2005, ISBN 3-89994-058-X , p. 120–123 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed June 26, 2010]).