Bête

At first called Homme, the game appears as early as 1619 in French literature[4] and originated from the Spanish game of Ombre, the name of which also means "man" although, unlike Homme, it did not allow players to contre the initial bid to play,[5] and its more immediate antecedent was the game of Triomphe as attested by other sources.[6] The expression faire la bête ("make the bête" - see below) gave rise to the game's second name, 'Bête' or 'Beste'. The 1690 edition of Dictionaire Universel calls it "jeu de la Beste" and states that virevole or dévole was a term used in the game to refer to a player who undertook to win every trick, but failed to win any and had to pay a penalty to the other players.[7]

By the mid-17th century, the game had spread to Germany, where it was known as la Bäte, la Bête,[8] Labeth[9] or Labetspiel[10][lower-alpha 1] and to Italy where it was referred to as bestia[11] or l'asino.[12] By the 18th century, it had reached England, where it was called Beast (see below),[13] and Austria-Hungary, where it was known as Labet or Zwickerspiel and banned as a gambling game.[14]

Bête subsequently evolved into the games known Mouche or Lenturlu (see also the English game of Lanterloo) - which featured bluffing, 'robbing' (i.e. exchanging with) the talon and winning outright if a player was dealt an eponymous, five-card flush - and Mistigri or Pamphile, which additionally promoted the Jack of Clubs to the top trump.[3] As Bête, the rules are last recorded in 1888.[15] The English game Lanterloo resembles the latter, but may have crossed the channel at an earlier stage of development and evolved in parallel to its eventual form.

The rules for Bête remained substantially the same for about two centuries, but by 1828, the name seems to have merely become a synonym for the game of Mouche, a game which differed in allowing players to drop out of a deal with a poor hand and to win the game if they were dealt a flush.[16]

The following rules are based on Le Gras (1739), except where stated.[17]

Stakes

Coloured wooden tokens of the type used in Bête. The round ones are jetons, the long rectangular ones are fiches and the short ones are contrats

An "upturned silver, tin or ceramic dish"[18] is used for the game and each player begins by placing a fiche (a token worth 5 or 10 jetons) half under the dish, facing him, and then places 2 jetons (chips), one beside the dish as the stake for the deal and the second on top of the dish to be won by the player with the King of trumps. The dealer adds a third jeton; this also serves to remind everyone who dealt.

If, during the game, there is a bête at stake for a particular deal, no jetons are staked on that deal apart from the extra one placed by the dealer. Since fiches are won singly, no fiches are anted until all have been taken.

Lacombe helpfully describes the terminology used in the game of la Bête:[19]

• A-tout. Trump, trump suit. The suit which is trumps.
• Avoir la parole. ("have the floor"). To bid, declare, announce. This refers to the point when it is a player's turn to announce whether he will "pass" or "play".
• Bête ("beast"). A type of penalty which a player incurs in various situations, e.g. if he renounces, or if he does not take the tricks required to win.
• Contre ("to counter"). To announce that you will play against the player who has elected to 'play'.
• Couper ("cut").

1. To cut i.e to split a pack of cards in two before dealing.
2. To trump. Playing a trump to the led (non-trump) card.

• Curieuse ("curious"). The card turned as a second trump after all the players have passed.
• Dévole. When the declarer fails to take any tricks.
• Donner ("to give") To deal i.e. to distribute the cards to the players after shuffling and having them cut.
• Fiche. A counter worth ten chips or jetons.
• Jeton. A counter or chip that acts as money during the game and is worth one tenth of a fiche.
• Jouer. To play. By saying "play" or "je joue" a player announces the intention to take the tricks needed to win the stakes on the game accepting that, if he fails, he must 'make the bête.'
• Levée. Trick. A trick we took while playing.
• Méler. To shuffle. To mix the cards before dealing them.
• Passer. To pass. Not to open the game, or give up electing to play the current deal.
• Refaire. To redeal. To distribute the cards again [after a false start].
• Renoncer. To revoke. Not to follow the led suit when able.
• Retourner. To turn, flip. When the cards are dealt, to turn the first card of the talon to determine trumps.
• Surcouper. To overtrump. To play a higher trump to the one with which a previous player has trumped the led card.
• Talon. The cards that remain when we each player has been dealt his cards.
• Triomphe. Trump; trump suit. The suit that beats all the other cards.
• Vole. Slam. When the declarer takes all the tricks.

• tirer la bête = "take the bête" i.e. win the deal
• faire la bête = "make the bête" i.e. lose the deal (and pay a penalty equal to the stake)
• faire contre = "play a contre" i.e. play against the one who elects to play. This doubles the win and the penalty for the contre player.

In 1672, Francis Willughby recorded the earliest rules in English for the game of Beast or "Le Beste", but his work was not published until much later. He was followed shortly thereafter by Charles Cotton in The Compleat Gamester. The latter notes that the game of Beast was "called by the French, La Bett". From three to five played using cards ranking as per Écarté. Stakes are placed in three heaps called the King, the Play and the Triolet before five cards are dealt to each player as 2+3 or 3+2, as in French Ruff and the next turned as trumps. Players must follow suit or trump or overtrump if unable. The winner of the most tricks sweeps the Play, the one with the King (presumably of trumps) sweeps the King and a player with a triplet, e.g. three Fours, wins the Triolet.[13]

• _ (1664). Oesterreichisches Labeth-Spiel: Neues Ungarisches, Türkisches und Frantzösisches Labeth-Spiel u.s.w.
• _ (1793).Sr. k.k. Majestät Franz des Zweyten politische Gesetze und Verordnungen für die Oesterreichischen, Böhmischen und Galizischen Erbländer. Vol. 1, Vienna.
• Castelli, Nicolo di (1730). Dizzionario italiano tedesco e tedesco italiano. Leipzig: Moritz Georg Weidmann.
• Depaulis, Thierry (1987). "L'homme ou la bête, un irritant problème" in The Playing Card Journal, Vol 16, Aug 1987-May 1988.
• Des Pepliers (1742). Nouvelle Et Parfaite Grammaire Royale Françoise et Allemande. Berlin: Ambrosius Haude.
• Furetière, Antoine (1690). Dictionaire Universel: Contenant generalement tous les Mots François, Volume 3, P-Z. Leers, Rotterdam.
• Lacombe, Jacques (1800). Dictionaire des jeux avec les planches relatives. Padua.
• Le Gras, Theodore (1739). Academie Universelle des Jeux. Paris.
• Maskosky, Martin (1688). Das Göppingsche Bethesda. Nördlingen: Joh. Christoph Hilbrandt.
• Martin, Daniel (1637). Parlement nouveau ou Centurie interlinaire. Strasbourg.
• Méré (1674). Le jeu de l'Hombre, Paris, Barbin, 1674 (anonymous) ; 2nd edn., revised, 1677.
• de Moulidars, Th. (1888). Grande Encyclopédie Méthodique. Paris.
• Oudin, Antoine (1642). Recherches italiennes & françoises, Vol 2. Paris.
• Parlett, David (1991). A History of Card Games, OUP, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-282905-X
• Richey, Michael (1755). Idioticon Hamburgense. Hamburg: Conrad König.
• Seymour, Richard (1725). The Compleat Gamester. Wilford, London.
• Van de Aa, Pierre (1721). La Plus Nouvelle Academie Universelle des Jeux.