How to Play

A Tudor and Stuart-era English 3-player card game, played in four phases: auction for a stock, vying on a ruff (single-suit flush), declaring gleeks and mournivals (3- and 4-of-a-kind melds), and trick-taking for trump honours Tib, Tom, and Tiddy.

Gleek is a 3-player English card game from the Tudor, Stuart, and Georgian periods (roughly 1530 to 1770), combining an auction for the stock, vying (betting) on a single-suit ruff, melding declarations, and trick-taking for points. It uses a 44-card deck (a standard 52-card pack with the four 2s and the four 3s removed); each player is dealt 12 cards, with 8 left as a face-down stock called the Tiddy. Play has four distinct phases: (1) auction for the stock (starting at 13 pence), where the winner pays the others, takes the stock, and discards 7 cards; (2) vying for the ruff, a single-suit flush showdown settled by sum of point-card values; (3) declaring gleeks and mournivals (three- and four-of-a-kind melds, with Aces most valuable); and (4) trick-taking for 12 tricks with a named trump suit, scored on captured honours plus a specific triad of trump cards called Tib (Ace of trumps), Tom (Jack of trumps), and Tiddy (4 of trumps) that have fixed scoring effects. Gleek was a game of the educated elite: Samuel Pepys recorded playing it in his diary, Shakespeare used 'gleek' as a verb for mocking (A Midsummer Night's Dream), and contemporary courtiers considered it the most intellectually demanding card game in England before the rise of Whist in the mid-18th century.

Players

Exactly 3 players. No partnerships; each scores solo. Deal rotates clockwise. The game's four-phase structure means individual hands are long (15 to 25 minutes) and a full session typically runs 90 to 120 minutes. Historic Gleek was played for stakes in small coin; modern revivals use chips or a score pad.

Card Deck

• 44-card deck: a standard 52-card French-suited pack with all 2s and 3s removed. Ranking within a suit (high to low): A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4.A♠K♠Q♠J♠4♠
• Point-card values (for Ruff and end-of-trick tally): Ace = 11, King = 3, Queen = 3, Jack = 3, numerals = face value (10 = 10, 9 = 9, 8 = 8, 7 = 7, 6 = 6, 5 = 5); 4 (Tiddy, if trump) = 4.A♠K♠Q♠J♠
• Tib, Tom, Tiddy (the three honour trumps): Tib = Ace of trumps (scores 15 to its holder at end of hand). Tom = Jack of trumps (scores 9). Tiddy = 4 of trumps (scores 4, and its holder collects 2 pence consolation from each opponent at the start).A♠J♠

Objective

Finish each hand with the highest net score across the four phases: auction profit/loss, ruff win/loss, meld declarations, and trick points (including the Tib/Tom/Tiddy honour scores and captured point-card values). Over a session, accumulate the most pence or points. Each phase is settled separately: the auction and ruff are paid in coins or chips among players; melds and trick points are tallied on a score pad.

Setup and Deal

1. Seat 3 players. Choose first dealer by cut (highest card deals). Deal rotates clockwise each hand.
2. Remove all 2s and 3s from a standard 52-card deck. 44 cards remain.
3. Shuffle; the player to the dealer's right cuts.
4. Deal 12 cards face down to each player, four at a time.
5. Place the remaining 8 cards face down as the Tiddy (stock) in the centre of the table. Do not turn any up.
6. Each player examines their hand privately.
7. Tiddy payment: if any player holds the Four of the eventual trump suit (the Tiddy card), they collect 2 pence from each opponent at the start of the hand. This is a consolation payment regardless of whether the Four is ever played.

Phase 1: Auction for the Stock

1. Opening bid: the player to the dealer's left opens the auction at 13 pence (may pass).
2. Each subsequent player in turn may raise by at least 1 pence, or pass.
3. Bidding continues until two players have passed.
4. The winning bidder pays the auction amount divided equally among the other two players (so at 14 pence, each opponent gets 7 pence).
5. The winner then picks up the 8-card Tiddy, adds it to their hand (temporarily 20 cards), and discards 7 cards face down (never to be seen again), bringing their hand back to 13 cards. The opponents still hold 12 cards each.
6. Strictly historic variant: the winner discards 8 cards (down to 12), leaving a symmetrical 12-card hand. Modern revival rules often use 13 cards for the auction winner to preserve slight asymmetry.

Phase 2: Vying for the Ruff

1. Ruff = the highest single-suit combination a player can produce from their hand, valued by the sum of Ace=11, face cards=3 each, numerals = face value.
2. Each player antes 2 pence as the Ruff pot.
3. Players in turn announce their intention to vie (challenge) or pass on the ruff. Bidding continues around the table in increasing raises until two players have passed.
4. The winning ruff-bidder collects the Ruff pot and any side stakes.
5. Showdown: if two or more players vie to the end, each reveals their longest single suit and calculates its total. The highest ruff wins. Tie-breakers favour the eldest hand. Bluffing on a weak ruff is a recognised strategy; being called and beaten is a painful loss.

Phase 3: Melds (Gleeks and Mournivals)

1. Before the first trick, each player declares any melds they hold and scores them immediately.
2. Gleek: three cards of the same rank. Scored: Aces = 8 pence, Kings = 4, Queens = 4, Jacks = 4, numerals = face value of rank. A gleek of Aces is the strongest meld after a mournival.
3. Mournival: four cards of the same rank. Scored: Aces = 16 pence, Kings = 8, Queens = 8, Jacks = 8, numerals = rank value doubled. A mournival of Aces is the single biggest meld score.
4. Declaration: players must declare in order (eldest first), and each meld must be shown face-up. A player may declare multiple melds if they hold them (e.g., two gleeks of different ranks).
5. Payment: meld scores are paid immediately from each opponent to the declarer (so an 8-pence gleek of Aces yields 16 pence total: 8 from each opponent).
6. Cards remain in hand: declared cards go back into the declarer's hand after display and are played normally in the trick phase.

Phase 4: Trick-Taking

1. Trump selection: the auction winner (holder of the Tiddy) names the trump suit. Alternatively, the winner may name 'Kiss' (no trumps), making the hand a plain-tricks competition without any trump advantage.
2. Lead: the player to the dealer's left leads the first trick.
3. Follow suit: players must follow the led suit if able. If void, they may play any card including a trump.
4. Winning a trick: highest trump or (if no trump played) highest card of the led suit. Winner leads the next trick.
5. Trick points: at end of play, each player scores the total of point-card values they captured in tricks: A = 11, face cards = 3 each, numerals = face value, Four of trumps (Tiddy) = 4 bonus.
6. Honour scores (Tib, Tom, Tiddy): the player who CAPTURED Tib (Ace of trumps) in a trick scores 15 pence at end of hand. The player who captured Tom (Jack of trumps) scores 9. Tiddy (4 of trumps) is already credited at start of hand.
7. Last trick bonus: the winner of the 12th and final trick collects an additional 4 pence.

Scoring and Match End

• Four-phase tally per hand: auction profit or loss; ruff pot profit or loss; meld declarations (gleeks and mournivals); trick phase (Tib/Tom/Tiddy honours, captured point-cards, last-trick bonus).
• Payment direction: each phase is settled player-to-player in coins or chips, not a running score. The auction is symmetric among the three players; melds and tricks may produce asymmetric totals.
• Session end: traditional Gleek was played for stakes with no fixed session length; players quit when they wished. Modern revivals play a fixed number of hands (often 9 or 12, so each player has dealt equally) and total pence.

Winning

A single hand has no overall 'winner' in the sense of later card games; instead each phase produces a profit or loss for each player. Over a session, the player with the highest net balance is the winner. Historic Pepys-era games were played for fairly modest stakes (a few shillings an evening); players monitored their relative chip stack as the game progressed.

Common Variations

• Kiss trumps: the auction winner may declare 'no trumps', making the trick phase a plain-tricks game. Strategically correct when the auction winner holds no strong suit.
• Modern meld scoring: some revivals score gleeks and mournivals in points rather than pence, with bonuses replacing coin payments.
• Post and Pair: a closely related 3-player Tudor game that drops the trick-taking phase entirely and is pure meld-plus-vying.
• Gleek for Two (historic variant): 2-player form using a 30-card deck (remove 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s) and abbreviated auction.
• Simplified Gleek (teaching version): skip the auction and ruff; play only melds plus the trick phase with a pre-named trump. Good for beginners learning the Tib/Tom/Tiddy scoring.
• Whist-derived rank: some 19th-century sources switch to standard Ace-high ranking with Ace as trump leader (not Tib); this is anachronistic to true Gleek.

Tips and Strategy

• Bid for the stock only with real asymmetry. The auction costs you 13+ pence paid to opponents; you recover this only if your 13-card hand is clearly stronger than your 12-card opponents. Strong stock auctions require a suit of 5+ cards you believe you can dominate.
• Ruff vying is about bluff. A weak single-suit total can be vied aggressively if opponents seem uncertain. Skilled ruff bidders lose the vie only 20 to 30 percent of the time because bluffs are effective against the hidden-information structure.
• Declare melds even if they seem small. A gleek of Jacks is worth 4 pence from each opponent = 8 pence; the cards return to hand immediately, so there is zero cost to declaring.
• Protect the Ace of trumps (Tib). 15 pence for capturing Tib is the biggest single-trick reward in Gleek. Save your highest non-trump cards for the moment when you can bait out the Ace and then overruff it.
• Kiss when your trump is weak. If your hand has no long strong suit, naming 'no trumps' levels the playing field; Aces and Kings become the only point-capturers.
• Count the 8 stock cards. 7 were discarded by the stock winner; the stock winner is the ONLY player who saw those 7, and they almost certainly discarded their weakest. Deduce the stock winner's strengths from what you now know is NOT in play.
• The Tiddy starts the hand in your favour. If you are dealt the Four of the eventual trump, collect your 2 pence from each opponent and plan to keep the Four; it scores again as Tiddy in the trick phase.

Glossary

• Tiddy: the 4 of trumps, worth 2 pence from each opponent at hand start and a 4-point trick value in play. Also the name for the 8-card stock in some historical sources.
• Tib: the Ace of trumps, worth 15 pence to whoever captures it in a trick.
• Tom: the Jack of trumps, worth 9 pence to whoever captures it in a trick.
• Ruff: the single-suit flush phase; players vie on the sum of their longest suit's point-card values.
• Gleek: three cards of the same rank. A meld scoring 4 to 8 pence per opponent depending on rank. Aces best.
• Mournival: four cards of the same rank. A meld scoring 8 to 16 pence per opponent depending on rank. Aces best; exceptionally rare.
• Kiss: the no-trumps option available to the auction winner when naming the ruff suit.
• Stock / Tiddy pile: the 8-card face-down pile; auction winner takes it and discards 7.
• Vie / See: to bet / to call; the Tudor-era vocabulary preserved in Gleek and its descendants.