piquet

piquet or picquet (both: pēkā`), card game played by two persons with a deck of 32 cards—7 (low) up to ace (high) in each suit. Each player receives 12 cards, and eight cards are left on the table face down. The nondealer (the minor) discards from one to five cards and picks up an equal number from the table. The dealer (the major) is entitled to exchange the remaining number of cards. Trumps are not named. After the draw from the table, the hands are compared and points are given for point (the most cards in a suit), sequence (longest sequence), and highest set of three or four of a kind. Carte blanche, a hand without a face card, also scores points. Play of cards from the hands follows with points scored for tricks won. One hundred points wins. There are variations for three or four hands. Piquet was established by the 16th cent., was popular in France, Spain, and Italy, and spread to England under the name cent (one hundred).