GamesSnug Table

Games of the World › USA

Play the games of the USA

Cincinnati, 1930s4 players · Cards SpadesThe game of dorms and barracks Partners bid their tricks, spades are always trump, and a bold nil can swing the whole game. Play Spades → The Midwest4 players · Cards EuchreStill a Midwest staple Twenty-four cards, five tricks, and the jack of trump on top. Hands are short, so one more is always easy to justify. Play Euchre → Since the 1880s4 players · Cards HeartsLose every trick, or win them all Dodge the hearts and the queen of spades, unless you can take every one and shoot the moon. Play Hearts → New York, 19092 players · Cards Gin RummyThe Hollywood fad of the 1940s Build sets and runs, knock when your deadwood is low, or hold out for gin. Play Gin Rummy → German roots2 or 4 players · Cards PinochleBorn as Binokel, renamed by accident A double deck of 48 cards, melds for points, then tricks for the rest. Immigrants brought it; America kept it. Play Pinochle → English roots2 players · Cards CribbageEngland’s game, the Navy’s tradition Peg your way around the board to 121. Fifteens, pairs and runs, and a skunk if you lag too far behind. Play Cribbage → General store2 players · Board CheckersA general-store pastime Eight by eight, diagonal moves, and you must jump when you can. Reach the far row and get crowned. Play Checkers →

Full rules: Spades · Euchre · Hearts · Gin Rummy · Pinochle · Cribbage · Checkers. Want other rules? Try the Games of Turkey.

A short history of the American table

Some of these games started here. Others came by boat and changed once they landed.

1. 1860sEuchre adds the jokerAround the Civil War, American players want a top trump, so the deck gets a new card that never left.
2. Late 1800sPinochle crosses the AtlanticGerman immigrants bring over Binokel. The name gets misspelled, and it becomes a favorite of Jewish and Irish immigrants.
3. 1880sHearts turns up in AmericaThe Standard Hoyle of 1887 says Americans had been playing it for about five years.
4. 1909Gin Rummy is dealtElwood T. Baker and his son create it in New York. It stays local until a Hollywood fad spreads it nationwide in the 1940s.
5. 1920sBackgammon gets a cubeThe doubling cube appears in game clubs on New York’s Lower East Side, and the old race becomes a betting duel.
6. 1930sSpades starts in CincinnatiBridge writer George Coffin traced it to 1937–39. Soldiers carry it through World War II, and veterans take it to college.
7. 1940sA cribbage board goes to seaSubmarine commander Dick O’Kane’s board still rides on the oldest active boat in the Pacific Fleet and moves on when she retires.

Words you’ll hear at the table

Every game here has its own slang. These are the ones worth knowing first.

Nil (Spades)

A bid to take no tricks at all. Make it for a bonus, miss it and pay the same.

Bags (Spades)

Tricks over your bid. Collect too many and your score takes a hit.

Right bower (Euchre)

The jack of trump, the highest card. The other jack of the same color is the left bower.

Euchred (Euchre)

When the team that named trump fails to take three tricks.

Going alone (Euchre)

Your partner sits out while you try to take all five tricks for extra points.

Shoot the moon (Hearts)

Taking every heart and the queen of spades, so everyone else gets the points.

Gin (Gin Rummy)

Going out with every card in a set or run and no deadwood left.

Undercut (Gin Rummy)

When the player who didn’t knock has the lower deadwood and takes the bonus.

Meld (Pinochle)

A scoring group of cards shown on the table before the tricks are played.

Skunk (Cribbage)

Finishing under 91 when your opponent reaches 121. It stings as much as it sounds.

Fifteen-two (Cribbage)

What you say as you count: every combination adding to fifteen scores two.

Questions