Card Game Glossary — 1844 Terms Defined

A

Abondance: Play alone for 9 or more tricks, choosing the trump suit.Used in: Wiezen
Above the line: Bonuses for honours, slams, doubles, and the rubber premium.Used in: Biritch
Abundance: a 9-trick contract with the declarer naming a new trump suit.Used in: Solo Whist
Abundance Declared / Slam: a 13-trick contract; declarer names trumps and leads first.Used in: Solo Whist
Accept (J'accepte): Dealer's acceptance of the proposal; exchange begins.Used in: Écarté
Accuse / Accuso: Declared bonus for holding certain three- or four-card combinations before trick one.Used in: Treseta
Accuso / Dichiarazione: A declaration of a held combination at the start of play that earns immediate bonus points.Used in: Tressette
Ace: The single lowest rank; an Ace on the reveal always loses a counter.Used in: Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round)
Ace (1): The second-highest card; worth 4 points.Used in: Botifarra
Ace of Hearts (The Hearse): The third-highest trump regardless of which suit is trump.Used in: Auction Forty-Fives
Ace-high / Ace-low: The flexible declaration when an Ace is dealt as the first post: rank 14 or rank 1.Used in: Acey Deucey, In Between
Ace-high / high Ace: A ranking convention where the Ace is the highest card, above the King.Used in: Aces Up
Aces removed: The 8 Aces from the two decks are stripped before shuffling and are not used in the game.Used in: Devil's Grip
Acey-Deucey: A home variant that uses a shared pot instead of a casino bank.Used in: Red Dog
Active card: A card you have just flipped from your draw pile and have not yet placed; remains visible on your own pile until you can place it.Used in: California Speed
Active rule list: all invented rules currently in force; keep it written down once it grows past about 5.Used in: Bartok
Active suit: The suit the next player must match, either by following suit on a normal card or by being declared by the player of a 9.Used in: Nines
Addiction: A common 3-redeal variant of Gaps, particularly popular in digital form.Used in: Gaps (Montana)
Adjacent: Sharing a side or a corner with another grid cell (one of the eight neighbours).Used in: Monte Carlo Solitaire
Adjacent-rank opponent's pile: The rule that you may play onto your opponent's reserve or waste top with a same-suit card one rank higher or one rank lower; offensive tactic.Used in: Russian Bank
Airplane (feiji): 2 or more consecutive trios, played alone or with same-count kickers (wings).Used in: Dou Dizhu
Alert: the required notice that a bid carries an unusual, pre-agreed meaning.Used in: Duplicate Bridge
All Bad: A catch-all contract combining penalties from multiple other contracts.Used in: Lorum
All Fours: The parent game, from which All Fives derives. Scores the same 4 end-of-deal points but without trump-capture immediate scoring.Used in: All Fives
All Fours family: The broader family of trick-taking games that evolved into Cinch, Pitch, Setback, and related variants.Used in: Cinch
All-in: Betting all of one's remaining chips.Used in: Poker, Texas Hold'em, Five-Card Draw, Short Deck Hold'em
Alleen (solo): Play alone for 5 tricks with provisional trump.Used in: Wiezen
Alliance: Contract in which the Hombre calls a non-trump King to identify a silent partner.Used in: Quadrille
Alternating colour: The tableau building rule, red on black or black on red.Used in: Solitaire, FreeCell, Yukon Solitaire, Miss Milligan
Alternating colours: Red on black or black on white on consecutive cards of a pile.Used in: Kings in the Corner
Amarreko: A larger counter equal to 5 stone tokens.Used in: Mus
Amsterdams: Rule variant allowing discard when partner is winning a non-trump-led trick.Used in: Klaverjas
Andar: Hindi for 'inside'; the first of the two betting/dealing spots, traditionally the one nearer the dealer.Used in: Andar Bahar
Animal identity: the name (and optionally sound) each player adopts for the round; shouting it is what resolves matches.Used in: Animal
Ante: optional pre-hand contribution by every player.Used in: Brag, Sevens, Bourré, Acey Deucey, Newmarket, Femkort, Seven-Card Stud, Caribbean Stud Poker
Ante Bonus: An additional payout on the Ante for hands of a straight or better, paid regardless of dealer qualification.Used in: Three Card Poker
Anticlockwise: Direction of dealing and play in Binokel.Used in: Binokel, Pusoy Dos, Briscola Chiamata
Apertura: The 'opening'; the first laydown, which must total at least 40 points and contain no Jokers.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Apex: the topmost pyramid card, worth 5 drinks per match and the climax of the game.Used in: Pyramid (Drinking Game)
Armoede: A hand containing only face cards and Aces (no 7, 8, 9, or 10); grounds for a redeal.Used in: Toepen
Arounds: Four cards of the same rank, one per suit (Aces, Kings, Queens, or Jacks).Used in: Pinochle
Arrastre: The must-beat rule; you must play a higher card when following suit if you hold one.Used in: Tute
Arrastre (dragging): Phase 2, after the stock is exhausted. Strict rules.Used in: Guiñote
As: The Ace, worth 11 points and the highest-ranking card.Used in: Brisca
As (Ace, 1): Highest card of a suit. 11 points.Used in: Guiñote
Ask: The action of requesting a specific card from a specific opponent.Used in: Go Fish, Quartets, Authors, Literature
Ask / request: The action of naming a specific card held by a specific opponent and asking for it.Used in: Kwartet
Assaf: The counter-call by an opponent whose hand equals or beats the Yaniv caller's.Used in: Yaniv
Asso (A): Ace, worth 11 pips, the highest-ranking card in each suit.Used in: Briscola
Auction: An open negotiation in which the current best-trump holder invites bids from the other players.Used in: Speculation
Auction / bidding: the opening phase; partners agree a contract through coded bids.Used in: Bridge
Ausmachen: To claim 66 and end the deal on your own turn.Used in: Bummerl
Author family / set: A group of 4 cards all by the same writer.Used in: Authors
Automatic refill: The rule that an empty tableau column must be filled from the reserve whenever the reserve has any cards.Used in: Canfield Solitaire
Auxiliary columns / tableau: The four shared centre columns that build down in alternating colours.Used in: Russian Bank
Available card: The bottom card of a tableau column or a card in a free cell; only these can be moved.Used in: FreeCell, Forty Thieves, Double Solitaire, Russian Bank, Baker's Game, Eight Off

B

B'achra: The fourth (final) matching capture of a rank within one round; 10 bonus points.Used in: Ronda
B'khamsa: The third matching capture of a rank within one round; 5 bonus points.Used in: Ronda
Baazi: A complete match in Seep, traditionally first to a 100-point lead.Used in: Seep
Back: the strongest 5-card hand, placed at the 'back' row of a player's three rows.Used in: Chinese Poker
Back hand / high hand: The five-card hand. Must outrank the front hand.Used in: Pai Gow Poker
Badam Satti: A no-trump variant occasionally interleaved with Court Piece for variety.Used in: Court Piece
Badugi: A hand with four cards of four different suits and four different ranks; the strongest category.Used in: Badugi
Bag / overtrick: a trick taken above the contract; scores 1 point immediately but accumulates toward a 100-point penalty at 10 bags.Used in: Spades
Bagatto (Tarocco I): The lowest numbered trump, worth 5 points, a valuable trick-taker when saved for the end.Used in: Scarto
Baghbough ([2♣]): Worth 2 points to the capturer.Used in: Basra
Bahar: Hindi for 'outside'; the second dealing spot, opposite Andar.Used in: Andar Bahar
Bald (kilo): Capturing all 80 card points; scored double.Used in: Sedma
Balls / ball points: Cumulative partnership score tracked with the 6 cards set aside from the deck; first to 12 wins.Used in: Thunee
Baloot: Both the name of the game and the special declaration of King+Queen of trump for 2 bonus points.Used in: Baloot
Banco: The Banker position (the other side you can bet on). Also house-banked.Used in: Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco
Banco / Banker: The other dealt hand and bet; named for the historic role of the bank.Used in: Baccarat
Bank: The role of dealer who pays and collects bets personally.Used in: Pontoon
Bank card: The face-up card on the left of the layout; the bank wins when it is matched.Used in: Ziginette
Bank fund: The pool of money the banker stakes after winning the auction to deal; the bank's losses are paid from this fund.Used in: Baccarat Banque
Bank stake: The Banker's posted maximum for the deal; Punters' combined stakes may not exceed it.Used in: Lansquenet
Banker: The player holding the deck and paying out or collecting bets.Used in: Ziginette, Pai Gow Poker, Chemin de Fer, Shoot Pontoon, Lansquenet, Lucky 9
Banker / dealer: The player who runs the deal, holds the deck, accepts bets, pays winners, and collects losing stakes.Used in: Andar Bahar
Banker / Mazziere: The player holding the bank; covers every other player's wager.Used in: Sette e Mezzo
Banker's card: The first card turned, placed on the Banker's left; used as the matching target for the Bank.Used in: Lansquenet
Barbu: (1) The name of the whole game; (2) the specific No-K♥ contract within the game; (3) the King of Hearts itself (le barbu = the bearded one in French slang).Used in: Barbu
Barrel / Bochka: The 880-999 score range where only declared 120+ hands progress the score.Used in: Tysiacha (1000)
Base card: The bottom card of a grid pile (a 2 in the top row, 3 in the middle, 4 in the bottom).Used in: Devil's Grip
Base game: the underlying shedding mechanic (Crazy Eights by default) before invented rules are layered on top.Used in: Bartok
Base rank: The rank of the beak; all foundations build upward from this rank and wrap K to A.Used in: Canfield Solitaire, Agnes, Penguin
Base row: The 10-card row of initially face-up cards at the bottom of the tableau; each base card supports two peak cards above it.Used in: TriPeaks
Base Rules: the group's core set of hidden rules, accreted over many sessions.Used in: Mao
Basic strategy: the mathematically optimal action for each hand vs. upcard; printed on pocket cards.Used in: Blackjack
Basra (sweep): Capturing all floor cards in one play with a non-Jack card; scores 10 points.Used in: Basra
Basto: Ace of Clubs, always the third-highest trump.Used in: Ombre, Quadrille, Tresillo
Bate (going bate): failing to meet the bid; all hand points transfer to opponents as penalty.Used in: Tarabish
Bater (go out): To play or discard the last card of your hand and close the deal, legal only after a canasta and after taking the morto.Used in: Tranca
Battle / Round: A single simultaneous flip by both players; the higher card wins both cards.Used in: War
Bauernschnapser: The grand slam contract; win all 5 tricks with trump.Used in: Bauernschnapsen
Baunie: Winning all 13 tricks in one hand; 15 points if a baunie attempt was announced.Used in: Troefcall
Bavney: A full 13-trick sweep; rare and worth triple.Used in: Hokm
Bavney / Baunie: Winning all 13 tricks in a single deal; often worth 2 courts or a house-rule triple.Used in: Court Piece
Baza: A trick; one round of play where every active player contributes one card.Used in: Brisca
Beak: The very first card dealt, which becomes the base rank for all four foundations.Used in: Penguin
Bean: A physical counter used in the scoring-by-beans variant.Used in: Lorum
Beat: Play a higher card of the same suit, or one of your own trump cards, on top of the pile.Used in: Svoi Kozyri
Beg: Elder's request to reject the proposed trump.Used in: All Fours
Begging: The non-dealer's option to reject the turn-up trump. The dealer may gift 1 point or run the cards for a new trump.Used in: All Fives
Bella: The King and Queen of trumps held together; worth a 20-point bonus when declared at play time.Used in: Tarabish, Klabberjass
Belli: 7 of Bells . Second-highest card.Used in: Zwicken, Watten
Belote (or Pilotta bonus): The King + Queen of trumps held by one player; earns +20 points when declared during play.Used in: Pilotta
Belote-Rebelote: The King-Queen of trumps, announced in sequence; 20-point bonus.Used in: Belote, Belote Coinchée
Below the line: The trick score that counts toward game and rubber.Used in: Biritch
Bermila: The seven of diamonds, worth 1 point for its capturer.Used in: Chkobba
Bessere: Call for a redeal when your initial three cards are unplayable; costs 2 penalty points.Used in: Watten
Best trump: The highest trump revealed so far during the deal; its current owner is on course to win.Used in: Speculation
Bet / Raise / Call / Fold: Standard betting actions. A raise increases the current bet; a call matches it; a fold exits the hand.Used in: Indian Poker
Beta: To pay the contract's tariff into the pool after failing.Used in: Vira
Betar and pinnar: The two chip denominations; 1 bet = 8 pinnar.Used in: Vira
Bete: A forfeit; a player who is beted pays a fixed penalty into the next pot.Used in: Zwicken, Reversis, Ramsli
Betl (misère): Win zero tricks; no trump suit.Used in: Mariáš
Betli: Lose every trick.Used in: Ulti
Bettler: Optional contract in which a player tries to win zero tricks.Used in: Bauernschnapsen, Kratzen
Between / Outside: The two main outcomes: between = third card falls strictly between the posts (win); outside = third card is above or below both posts (lose).Used in: Acey Deucey, In Between
Bez: No-trumps. Ranks above hearts in the bidding ladder.Used in: Preferans
Bezique (the meld): Queen of Spades plus Jack of Diamonds, worth 40 points.Used in: Bezique
Bhabhi: Sister-in-law in Hindi/Urdu; the nickname for the round's loser, the last player still holding cards.Used in: Bhabhi
Bid: the exact number of tricks a player claims they will take.Used in: Spades, Oh Hell (Bidding Whist), Pinochle, Napoleon, Gops, Oh Pshaw, Tarneeb, Twenty-Eight
Bidder / declarer: The player who said 'play' to set trump; their partnership becomes the bidding side.Used in: Klaverjas
Big Black Ten (Hei Shi): The 10 of Spades; the only common black-suit card that carries points in most traditions (30 or 40).Used in: Chinese Ten
Big Cassino / Little Cassino: The 10 of Diamonds (2 pts) and the 2 of Spades (1 pt) respectively.Used in: Cassino
Big Pepper: Bid to take all 5 tricks at no trump; scores ±14.Used in: Pepper
Big Ten (10♦) / Little Two (2♣): The two highest-value specific cards: 3 and 2 points respectively.Used in: Pasur
Big trick: The single comparison trick played using everyone's 4-card group.Used in: Hazari
Big Two: the 2 of Spades (2♠), the single highest card in the pack; also the name of the game.Used in: Big Two
Big-Kas / Little-Kas: Regional nicknames sometimes used for valuable spade cards such as or ; group-specific.Used in: Seep
Binokel: The Ober of Leaves + Unter of Bells meld worth 40 points; namesake of the game.Used in: Binokel
Biriba: A run of 7 or more same-suit cards; 200 points clean, 100 dirty.Used in: Biriba
Biribaki / Biribakia (plural): The 11-card reserve packet each partnership picks up after forming their first biriba.Used in: Biriba
Biritch: The game itself, also the name for a no-trump deal; from the Russian for "announcer" or "herald".Used in: Biritch
Bit' (бить) / Otbit' (отбить): 'to beat' / 'to beat back'; the defender's action of covering an attack card.Used in: Durak
Bita (бита): 'the beaten'; the discard pile of completed attacks.Used in: Durak
Black 3: A stop-card; when discarded, the next player cannot take the discard pile.Used in: Canastra, Tranca
Black 3s (♣3, ♠3): stop cards; discard freezes next player for 1 turn; can only be melded when going out.Used in: Canasta
Black Baz: Nickname for , worth 10 penalty points in the full Black Maria rules.Used in: Black Maria
Black Jack deal: The traditional mechanism for choosing the first dealer; the player who receives the first black Jack (J♠ or J♣) during a face-up dealing pass becomes the dealer.Used in: Thunee
Black Maria: Nickname for , worth 13 penalty points.Used in: Black Maria
Black Peter: The German variant and alternative name for the Old Maid card.Used in: Old Maid
Blind: Playing without looking at your cards; bet at half the seen stake.Used in: Brag, Teen Patti
Blind (widow): The 2 face-down cards dealt separately; the picker takes them into hand and buries 2 cards.Used in: Sheepshead
Blind bet: A bet placed without looking at your private cards; costs half the open rate.Used in: Bastard Brag
Blind bid: A bid made before looking at the hand; some variants double the exact-bid bonus.Used in: Kachuful
Blind Man's Bluff: An alternate English name emphasising that you are betting blind on your own card.Used in: Indian Poker
Blind nil: nil bid made before looking at your cards; +200 / -200, usually restricted to teams behind by 100+ points.Used in: Spades
Blinds: forced bets posted by the two players left of the button; small blind and big blind.Used in: Poker, Omaha
Blitz / 31: A hand of exactly 31 points in one suit (Ace + 10 + 10-value in the same suit); ends the round immediately with every opponent losing a token.Used in: Thirty-One
Block: Refusing a forced swap because you hold a King.Used in: Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round), Cruel, Monte Carlo Solitaire, Give Away, Seven Bridge
Block / Stock-out: Outcome in which the stock is exhausted without either side melding 11 cards; the hand is a draw.Used in: Conquian
Blockage: A position where no waste-pile top card matches any next-needed rank; play cannot continue.Used in: Calculation
Blocker: A high card that buries low cards still needed for a foundation.Used in: Beleaguered Castle
Blocking: Flipping a card on top of a Jack before anyone has slapped, burying the Jack; the next Jack becomes the next slap target.Used in: Slapjack
Blocking card: An end-rank card (Ace or 2) or a held 7 that prevents opponents from advancing a row.Used in: Parliament
Blücher: An over-bid on Wellington at triple stakes.Used in: Napoleon, Nap
Bluff: Playing cards that do not match the claimed rank.Used in: Poker, Cheat, Verish' Ne Verish'
Bluffing / Calling: Claiming a matching card you do not hold; opponents may challenge with double stakes both ways.Used in: Ride the Bus
Board: the physical tray holding one fixed, replayable deal, labelled N/S/E/W.Used in: Duplicate Bridge, Cincinnati
Board / community cards: The 5 face-up cards in the centre that all players share.Used in: Omaha
Boerenbridge: 'Farmer's Bridge'; the Dutch national social trick game.Used in: Boerenbridge
Boerenregel (dealer's hook): The rule that forbids the dealer from bidding a number that would make the total bids equal the hand size.Used in: Boerenbridge
Bog: a partnership's score below -500; triggers an immediate match loss.Used in: Five Hundred (500)
Bold stand / Force: A rule requiring everyone to play when the pool contains only the dealer's ante.Used in: Loo (Lanterloo)
Bolshevik: A grand slam misery played solo; the highest-value misery contract.Used in: Skruuvi
Bomb: Four-of-a-kind or a chain of three or more consecutive pairs. Can beat 2s out of turn.Used in: President, Big Two, Tien Len, Pusoy Dos, Zheng Shangyou, Guandan
Bomb (zhadan): four-of-a-kind played as a single combination. Beats any non-bomb play.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Bonus bet: Optional side bet evaluated independently of the main game, often tied to a progressive jackpot.Used in: Let It Ride
Bonus turn: Optional variation rule granting an extra turn when you complete a quartet.Used in: Kwartet
Bonus war: Casino-specific bonus payout when the war is won by a card matching the original tie's rank.Used in: Casino War
Boodle card: one of the four face-up second-deck cards on which chips are staked before each hand.Used in: Newmarket
Boodle cards: The Hearts A-K-Q-J-10 (and in some variants, the K of Clubs, Q of Diamonds, J of Spades).Used in: Michigan Rummy, Tripoli
Book: A set of three or more cards of the same rank.Used in: Go Fish, Whist, Biritch, Liverpool Rummy, Honeymoon Bridge, Bid Whist, May I?, Auction Bridge
Book (or Set, or Quartet): Four cards of the same rank held by one player. Completing a book is the trigger to touch your nose.Used in: Pig (Card Game)
Bookmaker (dealer): The player running the race, setting odds, and banking bets.Used in: Horse Race
Boot: The fixed ante each player contributes before the deal; establishes the initial pot.Used in: Teen Patti
Borrowing / Rearranging: Moving a card from one existing meld to help form another, provided all melds remain valid (3+ cards) at turn's end.Used in: Conquian
Boston: A sweep of all 13 tricks by one team.Used in: Bid Whist
Botifarra: The game's name; also the declaration of 'no trump' for a hand, doubling the hand's score.Used in: Botifarra
Bottom card: The card closest to you in a column; the only one available for moves from that column.Used in: Seahaven Towers
Bouquet: The sixteen cards dealt face up in a single row; unlike bed cards, every bouquet card is available for play at any time.Used in: Flower Garden
Bourré / Booray: The name of the game; also the verb form, meaning to stay in and win zero tricks (suffering the matching penalty).Used in: Bourré
Bouts (the ends): the Excuse, le Petit (trump 1), and the 21, the three cards whose count determines the taker's target score.Used in: French Tarot
Boven: 'Above'; the up-leg of the ladder (1 card to maximum).Used in: Boerenbridge
Bower: Jacks of the trump suit and its same-colour partner, promoted above all other trumps during a hand.Used in: Pepper
Box: One won hand. Each box is worth 25 bonus points at the end of the match.Used in: Oklahoma Rummy
Box / line bonus: 20-point bonus per hand won, added at game end.Used in: Gin Rummy
Bravas: The four highest cards: Ace of Swords, Ace of Clubs, 7 of Swords, 7 of Coins.Used in: Truco
Breaking hearts: the first moment a heart is played (as a sluff) during the hand; until then, hearts cannot be LED.Used in: Hearts
Breaking spades: the moment a spade is first played during a hand; until then, spades may not be LED.Used in: Spades
Brelan: Three cards of the same rank in a player's hand.Used in: Bouillotte
Brelan Carré: Three of a kind in hand plus a fourth of the same rank as the retourné, effectively a hidden four-of-a-kind.Used in: Bouillotte
Brelan Favori: Three of a kind in hand, same rank as the retourné.Used in: Bouillotte
Brelan Simple: Three of a kind in hand that does not match the retourné's rank.Used in: Bouillotte
Brick: A high card or pair dealt on a later street that worsens the hand.Used in: Razz
Bright, animal, ribbon, plain: the four value categories every hanafuda card belongs to, worth 20, 10, 5, and 1 point respectively when counted toward certain yaku.Used in: Koi-Koi
Bring-in: The forced opening bet posted by the highest door card.Used in: Seven-Card Stud, Razz, Baseball
Brisca: The trump suit, and also the informal name of the game itself.Used in: Brisca
Briscola: The trump suit; also the exposed card that names it.Used in: Briscola, Briscola Chiamata
Brisque: Any Ace or Ten captured in a trick; each is worth 10 points at deal end.Used in: Bezique
Broken Intervals: Alternative name for Calculation, from its non-consecutive foundation sequences.Used in: Calculation
Bucking the tiger: Slang for playing Faro; named for the tiger image that hung above many Faro parlours.Used in: Faro
Buffer card: The 33rd card set aside face-down at the deal; used only by specific contracts.Used in: Pandoeren
Build: The act of placing a group onto a face-up card one rank higher of the same suit.Used in: Cassino, Tablanet, Scorpion, Sweep
Build down: To play a card one rank lower than the current top.Used in: Solitaire, Kings in the Corner
Build down by suit: Move a card onto another card of the same suit and one rank higher.Used in: La Belle Lucie, Seahaven Towers
Build sequence: The set of four cards each grid pile must hold in suit (top: 2-5-8-J; middle: 3-6-9-Q; bottom: 4-7-10-K).Used in: Devil's Grip
Build up: Place a card one rank higher than the current top of a foundation, ignoring suit.Used in: Solitaire, Sir Tommy
Building down / up by suit: 'Down' on the tableau means each card placed is one rank lower than the one below it; 'up' on a foundation means each card placed is one rank higher; both require identical suits in Forty Thieves.Used in: Forty Thieves
Bummerl: The Austrian term for a complete match to 7 game points.Used in: Sixty-Six, Snapszli, Bauernschnapsen, Bummerl, Schnapsen
Bummerlbogen / Bummerlzähler: The scoring board or bead counter used to track game points down from 7.Used in: Bummerl
Bundle: A player's face-up capture pile, with only the top card visible to opponents.Used in: Stealing Bundles
Buon gioco: Three matching Aces, 2s, or 3s; worth 3 bonus points when declared.Used in: Treseta
Bura: A set of three trumps in a single lead; in the money version it wins the pot outright.Used in: Kozel, Bura
Buraco: A meld of seven or more cards, clean (no wild cards, 200 points) or dirty (one wild card, 100 points).Used in: Buraco
Buried card: A card in a waste pile with one or more cards on top of it; cannot be played until the cards above are removed.Used in: Sir Tommy
Burn: Discarding cards face down without using them.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew, Palace, Shithead, Pineapple, Casino War
Burn card: A card discarded face down before each community-card deal to prevent cheating.Used in: Omaha
Burned (Sunog): A player who has not made any meld; excluded from winning the round.Used in: Tongits
Bury: The picker's discard of 2 cards face-down after picking; these count as trick points for the picker's side.Used in: Sheepshead, Rook
Bus: The face-down row of cards the rider must clear without hitting a face card or Ace.Used in: Ride the Bus
Busso: Signal when leading meaning 'play your highest card of this suit, partner'.Used in: Treseta
Busso / Volo / Striscio: Tressette's three traditional table signals in partnership play; rarely used in individual Traversone.Used in: Traversone
Busso, Striscio, Volo: The three legal silent signals for partners in Tressette.Used in: Tressette
Bust: Exceed 21 and lose immediately.Used in: Blackjack, Ninety-Nine (99), Pontoon, Shoot Pontoon
Busted: Total over 7.5; immediate loss.Used in: Sette e Mezzo
Button: The dealer position marker; rotates one seat clockwise each hand.Used in: Poker, Omaha, Short Deck Hold'em
Buy: Out-of-turn pickup of the top discard; costs an extra card from stock.Used in: Pontoon, Contract Rummy, Shanghai Rummy, Mexican Rummy, Progressive Rummy, Shoot Pontoon, Baseball
Buy / Buying: Taking the top discard out of turn at the cost of an extra stock card; limited to 3 per player per deal.Used in: Liverpool Rummy
Buying (comprar): Out-of-turn purchase of the top discard at a penalty cost.Used in: Pif Paf

C

Caballo: The Knight of the Spanish deck (worth 3 points), the equivalent of the French-deck Queen.Used in: Brisca
Caballo (Knight, 11): Fourth-highest card. 3 points.Used in: Guiñote
Caballo (Knight): The third-highest court card in Spanish-suited decks; the horse-and-rider card. Substitutes for the Queen in French decks used for Tute.Used in: Tute
Cabo: The round-ending call; costs 10 penalty points if another player ties or beats your total.Used in: Cabo
Caída: Capturing the exact card the opponent just played. +2 points.Used in: Ronda, Cuarenta
Call: Announcing 'Cambio' to end the round after one more round of turns.Used in: Cambio
Call ('James Bond!'): the winning shout and slap, made when every one of your piles is locked.Used in: James Bond
Call (or bid): The number of tricks a player commits to winning in the hand, announced before play begins. Minimum 2.Used in: Call Break
Call / Raise / Fold / Check / Bet: The five betting actions available to a player.Used in: Texas Hold'em
Call / shouting Nertz: The verbal signal that ends the round; said by the first player to empty their Nertz pile.Used in: Nertz
Call / show it: the target's challenge demanding the claimant reveal the card.Used in: Pyramid (Drinking Game)
Called Ace: The fail-suit Ace named by the picker to identify the partner (called-Ace variant).Used in: Sheepshead
Called Ace (Rufsau): The non-trump Ace named by the declarer; its holder is the partner.Used in: Schafkopf
Called card (carta chiamata): The specific rank-and-suit named by the winning bidder; its holder is the silent partner and its suit is trump.Used in: Briscola Chiamata
Called partner: The player holding the card named by the proclaimer; becomes a public team member once that card is played.Used in: Pandoeren
Caller (chiamante): The winning bidder and leader of the hidden partnership.Used in: Briscola Chiamata
Caller penalty: +10 points added to the caller's round score when they do not have the strictly lowest total.Used in: Cambio
Calling: claiming another player's discard when it is not your turn, if you have not yet laid any melds.Used in: Kalooki
Calling / showing the trump: The act by any player (usually a defender) of asking the bidder to reveal the trump card when they themselves are void of the led suit.Used in: Twenty-Nine
Calling the turn: Betting on the exact order of the last three cards in the box.Used in: Faro
Calling Uno: the mandatory announcement made when a player is left with exactly one card.Used in: Uno
Canasta: A meld of seven or more cards; clean (limpa) if all natural, dirty (suja) if wilds included.Used in: Canasta, Tranca, Samba
Canastra: A meld of seven or more cards of the same rank.Used in: Canastra
Cantar / Singing: Declaring a King-Knight marriage after winning a trick; scores bonus points.Used in: Tute
Cantar las 40 / las 20: Declaring a marriage (King + Knight of trumps or non-trumps) in the Brisca Subastada variant only; not used in the classic game.Used in: Brisca
Capot: Winning all 8 tricks; 90-point bonus.Used in: Belote, Piquet, Pilotta, Polignac, Lansquenet, Belote Coinchée
Capot / Kabsh: Winning all 13 tricks; carries a bonus when claimed in the bid (and sometimes when not).Used in: Tarneeb
Capotão / Capot: Taking all 120 card points in one hand; scores 4 games.Used in: Sueca
Capote: Winning all 120 points in a hand, a rare and celebrated achievement.Used in: Brisca, Guiñote
Cappotto: Sweeping all 120 points; doubles the payout.Used in: Briscola, Treseta, Calabresella, Briscola Chiamata
Cappotto (slam): A single-player sweep of all point-counts in a deal; scores 0 for the capturer and 11 for each opponent.Used in: Traversone
Capture: Sweep the entire centre pile into your own face-down pile of won cards.Used in: Concentration, Cassino, Pisti, Seep, Diloti, Stealing Bundles, Sweep, Chinese Ten
Capture by 11: The distinctive Pasur capture rule: your played number card plus one or more table number cards sum to exactly 11.Used in: Pasur
Capture pile: The face-down stack of cards a player has captured during the deal.Used in: Bura, Basra, Escoba, Kseri, Rubamazzo
Card payment: The exchange of cards between hands: each overtrick lets an 'up' player demand the highest card in a chosen suit from a 'down' player, in exchange for any card.Used in: Three Five Eight
Card points: Points scored by capturing high cards (A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2).Used in: Mariage, Twenty-Nine, Briscola Chiamata, Spitzer, 304
Card ranking: 2 lowest, Ace highest; suits irrelevant.Used in: Casino War
Card-points: The in-trick values A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2.Used in: Kozel
Cards bonus: 10 points for winning 7+ of the 12 tricks.Used in: Piquet
Carpet: The 4-by-5 layout of twenty face-up cards.Used in: Carpet
Carry / Rollover: Pot amount that remains in the centre when a tie or bourré prevents a clean winner.Used in: Bourré
Carryover: Chips on unclaimed sections that remain for the next round.Used in: Pope Joan, Tripoli
Carta: 'Card' - the call asking for another card.Used in: Sette e Mezzo
Carte: The most-cards category (21+ of 40).Used in: Scopa
Carte / Cards: The 1-point category for the most captured cards total.Used in: Scopone
Carte blanche: A hand with no face cards; worth an immediate 10-point bonus.Used in: Piquet
Casco: Special contract available only when the Hombre holds both black Aces; the called King's holder names trumps.Used in: Quadrille
Casekeep: The abacus-like tracker showing how many of each rank have been dealt.Used in: Faro
Casino War: The commercial casino-floor adaptation with banker bets; not the traditional game.Used in: War
Cavalier: The third-highest court card in the Trappola pack (equivalent to the Queen in French-suited decks).Used in: Trappola
Cavallo: The Knight (worth 1/3 point), the Italian-deck equivalent of the Queen.Used in: Briscola, Tressette
Cavallo / Fante / Re: The three Italian court cards (Knight, Jack, King), each worth 1/3 point.Used in: Calabresella
Cemented house (pakki): A house built with two or more combinations that each total the announced value; cannot be broken or rebuilt, only captured at its exact value.Used in: Seep
Central pile: The shared stack of face-up cards played to the middle of the table.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew, Slapjack, Beggar-My-Neighbor
Central piles: The two shared piles in the middle of the table where cards are played.Used in: Spit
Centre / Market: the 4 face-up cards players swap with.Used in: Kemps
Centre pile: The 13th pile at the middle of the clock, reserved for Kings.Used in: Clock Patience, Pisti
Centre pile (building pile): one of up to four shared piles in the middle of the table, built Ace through Queen.Used in: Spite and Malice
Centre piles: The two shared face-up piles in the middle of the table, to which both players play cards.Used in: Speed
Centre pool: the 4 face-up cards in the middle of the table, shared by all players.Used in: James Bond
Chain: A run of consecutive plays onto the waste without drawing from the stock.Used in: Trash, TriPeaks, Golf Solitaire
Chain (shunzi): 5 or more consecutive single cards, never including 2s or jokers.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Chain / Counter: When a face card appears during tribute payment, pushing the tribute onto the next player.Used in: Beggar-My-Neighbor
Chain reaction: The sequence of players copying the signal; the last to copy earns the letter.Used in: Donkey
Chained war: A war that ties again on the new face-ups, triggering another war in immediate succession.Used in: War
Chairman: the previous hand's winner; deals the next hand and adds a rule.Used in: Mao
Challenge: A call to reveal the most recent play; the loser of the challenge takes the whole pile.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew, Verish' Ne Verish', Uno
Chances: The number of cards a player may flip during a challenge: Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew
Change: Announce that you are forcing a swap with the player to your left.Used in: Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round)
Chant: The spoken word accompanying each matching card: 'Snip!' for the second, 'Snap!' for the third, 'Snorum!' for the fourth.Used in: Snip Snap Snorum
Chant / couplet: The rhyming phrase spoken with each card of a rank (from 'There's as good as X can be' through 'And there's the Earl of Coventry').Used in: Earl of Coventry
Cheat (the call): The challenge shout that interrupts a claim and forces a reveal of the just-played cards.Used in: Cheat
Chelem: A grand slam; taking all 13 tricks.Used in: Boston, French Tarot
Chemin de Fer: Literally 'railway'; the name refers to the shoe travelling around the table as the bank role passes.Used in: Chemin de Fer
Chiamo: The 1-point contract; soloist calls a specific card from opponents and exchanges with the stock.Used in: Calabresella
Chica: One round of play to 40 points.Used in: Cuarenta
Chien (the dog): the 3 or 6 cards set aside from the deal, seen or unseen depending on the bid.Used in: French Tarot
Chinchón: The 7-card same-suit run that wins the round outright and grants its holder a major bonus.Used in: Chinchon
Chip penalty / pot: The central chip fund fed by passes; the round winner collects it.Used in: Sevens
Chiusa: 'Closed'; going out in a single turn having never opened before, for a 100-point bonus.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Chkobba: A sweep of the entire table, scoring 1 bonus point.Used in: Chkobba
Chorus: four cards of the same rank; the rarest hand.Used in: Primero
Chute / Dedans: A failed contract; defenders score all 162 points.Used in: Belote
Circle of Death / King's Cup: Alternative names for Ring of Fire; the games are functionally identical.Used in: Ring of Fire
Claim: The spoken announcement of quantity and rank a player makes when playing cards.Used in: Cheat
Claim (or declare): Announcing which teammate holds each of the 6 cards in a half-suit.Used in: Literature
Claim / bluff: announcement that you hold a matching rank, whether true or false.Used in: Pyramid (Drinking Game)
Claim 66 / announce: A player stopping play to claim they have reached 66 points.Used in: Snapszli
Clean / dirty: Describes whether a meld contains a wild card (dirty) or not (clean).Used in: Buraco
Clean / Natural canastra: Canastra with zero wild cards; 200-point bonus.Used in: Canastra
Clean canasta: A 7-card same-rank meld with no wild cards; 500 points.Used in: Hand and Foot
Clean sweep: A decisive round win in which the opponent still holds 10 or more cards.Used in: Speed
Clear (10 or four of a kind): Removes the entire discard pile from play; the player who triggered the clear plays again.Used in: Paskahousu
Clearing the pile: when all other players pass on a play and the trick is complete; last player to play leads the next trick.Used in: President
Climbing game: a card-game category in which each play must out-rank or out-type the previous; Big Two, Pusoy Dos, Tien Len, and President are all climbing games.Used in: Big Two
Clock face: The arrangement of 12 piles in a circle matching positions 1 through 12 on a clock; each pile takes the rank of its position.Used in: Clock Patience
Close: End the deal by playing the final card from one partner's hand, after biriba conditions are met.Used in: Biriba
Close (cerrar): Declare the end of the round by laying down a hand that contains only valid melds (and at most 5 points of deadwood, by house rule).Used in: Chinchon
Close / Zudrehen: Flipping the face-up trump card face-down to lock the game into strict follow-suit rules.Used in: Schnapsen
Close the stock: Turn the face-up trump card face-down on top of the stock, committing to follow-suit play with no further draws.Used in: Bummerl
Closed phase: Phase after closing or talon exhaustion; strict follow-suit + head-trick rules apply.Used in: Mariage, Snapszli, Trappola
Closed trump: Trump written down secretly by the first void player.Used in: Mendikot, Dehla Pakad, 304
Closing: Turning the trump indicator face down to stop drawing and commit to 66 from current position.Used in: Mariage, Snapszli
Closing a pile: playing the Queen that completes a centre pile; the pile then recycles into the draw pile.Used in: Spite and Malice
Closing the stock: Voluntarily flipping the face-up trump to face-down to end drawing and force strict suit-following.Used in: Sixty-Six
Coat: capturing all 162 card points in a single hand, earning a bonus.Used in: Tarabish
Codille: A defender wins 5+ tricks, earning the largest payment from the failed hombre.Used in: Ombre, Quadrille, Tresillo
Coinche: In Belote Coinchée, doubling an opponent's bid.Used in: Belote, Belote Coinchée
Coinchée: A double call in Coinchée (Auction) Manille, similar to Bridge's double.Used in: Manille
Collections / Slaps / Lutoosh: Contract 4; -15 per trick taken.Used in: Trex
Colon: a bonus hand made from a matching pair as the first 2 cards, customarily paying a higher rate than an ordinary win.Used in: Lucky 9
Colon Nine: a Colon made from a pair of 9s specifically; the richest common bonus hand.Used in: Lucky 9
Colour: Three cards of the same suit, not consecutive (flush).Used in: Hazari
Colour (Farbe): The four distinct suits of the Elfer Raus deck; rows are kept separate by colour.Used in: Elfer Raus
Colour Run: Three consecutive cards of the same suit (straight flush).Used in: Hazari
Column: One of the 8 tableau stacks; only the bottom card is available to move.Used in: FreeCell, Spider Solitaire, Baker's Game
Column (of the tableau): One of the seven overlapping stacks of 5 cards; only the exposed (bottom) card is playable.Used in: Golf Solitaire
Column pair: two cards of the same rank in the same column of your grid; they cancel to 0.Used in: Golf
Combination type: Single, pair, triple, full house, straight, or bomb; defines what the next player must match.Used in: Zheng Shangyou
Combined bid / contract: the sum of both partners' bids.Used in: Spades
Commission: The 5 percent the house keeps from winning Banker bets.Used in: Baccarat, Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco
Communal cards: The three face-down cards in the centre that are revealed one at a time and shared by all players.Used in: Bastard Brag
Community card: One of the two face-down cards dealt in front of the dealer, shared by all players and revealed one at a time.Used in: Let It Ride, Mississippi Stud
Community cards: The five shared face-up cards (flop, turn, river).Used in: Poker, Texas Hold'em, Short Deck Hold'em
Compartment: A scoring section of the board; paid to whoever holds the specified card(s).Used in: Poch
Compendium game: A game made up of a sequence of sub-contracts (Barbu, Quodlibet, Herzeln, and Bismarck are all compendium games).Used in: Bismarck
Complete information: A game state in which every card is visible to the player from the very first deal, so no stock, hand, or opponent hides anything.Used in: Black Hole
Completed family: A set of 4 members collected by one player, laid face-up for scoring.Used in: Happy Families
Completed sequence: A 13-card King-to-Ace run in one suit that forms at the bottom of a column; automatically removed from play.Used in: Spider Solitaire
Completed set: A 4-card author family collected by one player, scored 1 point.Used in: Authors
Compound build: A multi-stack build of the same value (e.g. two 5+3 piles together announced as 'building 8s').Used in: Cassino
Compra: 'Buying'; the out-of-turn purchase of the current discard (variant rule).Used in: Scala Quaranta
Compression / accordion shift: The automatic left-shift of all piles to the right of a just-emptied slot so the row stays contiguous.Used in: Accordion Solitaire
Compulsion to play: the rule that if a legal play exists, you must make it; holding back is illegal.Used in: Give Away
Concealed out: Going out in one turn without any earlier melds by that player; worth a 200-point bonus.Used in: Samba
Consolidate: Move an entire pile onto another legally, freeing the vacated slot.Used in: Kings in the Corner, Monte Carlo Solitaire
Contra / Sur-contra: Defender double and declarer redouble actions that multiply scoring by 2 or 4.Used in: Pilotta
Contract: the final high bid; how many tricks and in what strain.Used in: Bridge, Kalooki, Solo Whist, Contract Rummy, Shanghai Rummy, Liverpool Rummy, Honeymoon Bridge, Trex
Contrato: The contract (required meld pattern) in the Loba Contrato variant.Used in: Loba
Contro: A doubling call by the opposing team after the trump declaration; doubles the hand score.Used in: Botifarra
Convention: any bid with an agreed meaning beyond its face value (e.g., Stayman, Blackwood).Used in: Bridge
Cooler: a hand where strong cards meet stronger cards and large pots change hands; unavoidable.Used in: Poker
Copper: A hexagonal token placed on a bet to reverse its win/lose meaning.Used in: Faro
Copy: A tie between the banker's hand and a player's hand of identical rank and card values. Copies always go to the banker.Used in: Pai Gow Poker
Copy back: Unique deck design that lets players separate their foundation contributions after the round.Used in: Racing Demon
Corner pile: One of the four initially-empty piles in the diagonal positions; only Kings may open them.Used in: Kings in the Corner
Correct ask: An ask that hits; the asked opponent has the card and hands it over.Used in: Literature
Counter: A life token; each player starts with three.Used in: Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round), Cuttle, Snip Snap Snorum, Earl of Coventry
Counter (marker): The token paid by losers; running out means elimination.Used in: Gnav
Counter-clockwise: The direction of deal and play in Call Break; the player to the dealer's right leads first.Used in: Call Break, Pisti
Countering / bouncing: In Phase 1, playing the same rank as the led card; the trick is discarded out of play.Used in: Skitgubbe
Coup: A single round of Baccarat (one deal and result).Used in: Baccarat, Chemin de Fer, Trente et Quarante
Course: The row of 7 (or variant 9-10) face-up cards laid perpendicular to the Aces, marking the finish line.Used in: Horse Race
Court / Hand / Sar / Ser: The scoring unit; awarded to whichever partnership wins 7 or more of the 13 tricks in a deal.Used in: Court Piece
Court cards: Jack, Queen, King; capture only by direct rank match in Diloti.Used in: Diloti
Cover: playing a high card on a partner's risky trick to protect them (especially when partner is on a nil bid).Used in: Spades
Crack (Kontra): A defender's double-stakes declaration before the first trick.Used in: Sheepshead
Crazy Eights family: The broader category of shedding games (Crazy Eights, Uno, Mau Mau, Switch, Nines) that use a wild card and a match-by-rank-or-suit rule.Used in: Nines
Crib (box): the 4-card extra hand built from all players' discards; scored by the dealer at the end of the hand.Used in: Cribbage
Cuarenta (40): The 40-point bonus for the trump-suit King-Knight marriage.Used in: Tute
Cuckoo / Ranter-Go-Round / Chase the Ace: Regional names for the same game.Used in: Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round)
Cucumbered / Pickled: Eliminated from the match after crossing the penalty threshold.Used in: Cucumber
Cuenta: Phase 1, while the stock is still in play. Relaxed rules.Used in: Guiñote
Cursed suit (variant): In Cupid's Arrow, a suit chosen each round that penalises whoever captures the most of it.Used in: Smoorverliefd
Cut: the counter-call used by opponents who have spotted a Kemps signal. Also: 'Stop Kemps!' or 'Counter Kemps!' or 'Canhão!' by house rule.Used in: Kemps
Cut / chop: To play a trump when unable to follow suit; wins the trick unless over-trumped.Used in: Thunee
Cut card: A coloured card placed near the back of the shoe; when reached, the shoe is reshuffled.Used in: Baccarat, Punto Banco
Cut the stock: The dealer's special option to swap with the top card of the undealt deck.Used in: Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round)
Cutthroat Spades: the no-partnership variant for 2 or 3 players.Used in: Spades

D

Dangler: A hole card that does not connect with the other three; weakens an Omaha starting hand.Used in: Omaha
Dapp: The 3- or 8-card face-down talon picked up by the highest bidder. Sometimes spelled Tapp.Used in: Binokel
DAS: Double After Split (always allowed in Spanish 21).Used in: Spanish 21
Dead card: A card buried in a waste pile below another card that cannot be moved; often causes a loss.Used in: Seven-Card Stud, Calculation, Five-Card Stud
Dead gap: A gap that cannot be filled, typically because it lies immediately to the right of a King or to the right of another gap with no playable card to its left.Used in: Gaps (Montana)
Dead hand: the extra face-down hand dealt to the board; its cards are never played and create hidden stops in sequences.Used in: Speculation, Pope Joan
Dead hand / widow: the extra face-down hand dealt with the others; it is never played and is the main cause of stops.Used in: Newmarket
Dead pile: Any leftover cards set aside when the deal does not split evenly.Used in: Smoorverliefd
Deadwood: Captured cards that don't fit any meld; score 0.Used in: Gin Rummy, Rummy, Chinchon, Rummy 500, Oklahoma Rummy, Tongits, Knock Rummy, May I?
Deadwood / Penalty cards: Cards remaining in a player's hand when the round ends; their values are added to the player's penalty total.Used in: Contract Rummy
Dealer: The player immediately to the trump caller's right; deals five cards to the caller first, then completes the deal after trump is announced.Used in: Troefcall
Dealer (God, Nature): The player who invents and enforces the secret rule.Used in: Eleusis
Dealer button: The disc marking the nominal dealer position; rotates clockwise after each hand.Used in: Texas Hold'em
Dealer qualification: The requirement that the dealer hold Queen-high or better; if not met, Ante pays 1:1 and Play pushes.Used in: Three Card Poker
Dealer's choice: a home-game format in which whoever deals selects the poker variant played that hand, the tradition from which Cincinnati, Baseball, and Anaconda all descend.Used in: Baseball, Cincinnati
Dealing box / Shoe: The spring-loaded box from which cards are dealt one at a time.Used in: Faro
Declaration: An announced combination held in hand (triples, quads, or sequences) that scores extra points.Used in: Trappola, Pilotta, Diloti
Declaration / Annonce: A revealed card combination (sequence or four of a kind) worth bonus points.Used in: Belote, Belote Coinchée
Declaration / Show: the act of laying down all 13 cards arranged as valid melds plus one discard. If valid, you win the hand.Used in: Indian Rummy
Declare 31+: A player's announcement, on their turn, that they have captured 31 or more points and so win the deal.Used in: Bura
Declarer: The player who won the auction; must meet the bid.Used in: Bridge, Solo Whist, Tysiacha (1000), Boston, Honeymoon Bridge, Barbu, Pilotta, Mighty
Declarer / Alleinspieler: The auction winner; plays alone against the two defenders.Used in: Skat
Declarer / maker: the player who wins the auction; plays the contract.Used in: Five Hundred (500)
Decoy: a deliberate fake signal meant to mislead opponents.Used in: Kemps
Defenders: the two opponents of the declaring partnership.Used in: Bridge, Euchre, Solo Whist, Boston
Dehla: Hindi for 10; also the four scoring cards in the deck.Used in: Dehla Pakad
Demon pile / nerts pile: Your 13-card face-down pile. Emptying it ends the round.Used in: Racing Demon
Denari: Diamonds (in French-suited play); the scoring suit.Used in: Scopa, Chkobba
Denari / Coins: The Italian suit with special scoring importance; 1 point for the majority captured.Used in: Scopone
Deuce: the 2 of any suit; the highest-rank cards in the pack.Used in: Big Two
Deuces: an alternative name for the game, emphasising the 2s' special status.Used in: Big Two
Deutsche-Daus: The Bohemian deck's 'Two' card that serves as an Ace equivalent; also called Sau in Bavarian.Used in: Bohemian Schneider
Dhumbal / Jhyap: The call to end the round; also the name of the game.Used in: Dhumbal
Diamonds: Contract 3; -10 per diamond captured.Used in: Trex
Difficulty mode: The number of distinct suits in the 104-card deck (1-suit, 2-suit, or 4-suit).Used in: Spider Solitaire
Diloti (Δηλωτή): 'Declaration'; also the informal name for the 10 of Diamonds, the game's highest single scoring card.Used in: Diloti
Dimidiator: Alliance-like contract in which the Hombre privately swaps cards with the called King's holder and then plays solo.Used in: Quadrille
Dipai (底牌): The 3-card kitty added to the Landlord's hand after bidding.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Director: the tournament official who rules on irregularities and assigns adjusted scores.Used in: Duplicate Bridge
Dirty / Mixed canastra: Canastra including at least one wild card; 100-point bonus.Used in: Canastra
Dirty canasta: A 7-card same-rank meld with at least one wild; 300 points.Used in: Hand and Foot
Discard: a revealed match card, placed face-up out of play; the claimant's hand shrinks.Used in: Aces Up, Pineapple, Pyramid (Drinking Game), Smear, Bhabhi
Discard / sluff: Play a non-led-suit card because you are void in the led suit; cannot win the trick.Used in: Black Maria, Rickety Kate
Discard and draw: The phase after bidding when players shed unwanted cards and refill from the stock back to a 6-card hand.Used in: Pedro, Cinch
Discard pile: The face-up pile of discarded cards.Used in: Crazy Eights, Palace, Golf, Rummy, Spoons, Spite and Malice, Shithead, Yaniv
Discard pile (descarte): The face-up pile; can be taken whole as a substitute for the stock draw.Used in: Buraco
Discard pile (mazzetto): The face-up pile where discarded cards go; the top is available for drawing once you have opened.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Discard pile / Aflegstapel: The face-up pile to which cards are played.Used in: Pesten
Discard pile / Pozo: The face-up pile of cards any player may draw from.Used in: Carioca
Diss / Dix: The 7 of trumps. Worth 10 melded; in some rules can be exchanged with the turned trump card.Used in: Binokel
Dix: The trump Nine; worth 10 meld points each.Used in: Pinochle, Klabberjass
Dix de der: The 10-point bonus for winning the last (8th) trick.Used in: Belote, Belote Coinchée
Dizhu (地主): 'Landlord.' The solo player who plays alone against the two Peasants.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Doble Ronda: Holding 4 cards of the same rank in your hand. Automatic chica win.Used in: Cuarenta
Dog's Life: The optional one-card comeback chance for a just-eliminated player.Used in: Knock-Out Whist
Domino: The shedding contract (Fan Tan); alternative to Trumps or added as an 8th contract in some rule sets.Used in: Barbu
Door card: The first face-up card (third street).Used in: Seven-Card Stud, Razz, Five-Card Stud, Baseball
Doper (Two Pair): Two distinct pairs.Used in: Turkish Poker
Doppelkopf (trick): A trick worth 40 or more card points; earns 1 bonus.Used in: Doppelkopf
Double: Two consecutive same-rank cards on the top of the pile; slap-eligible.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew, Barbu
Double / redouble: bids that multiply the contract's stakes.Used in: Bridge, Twenty-Nine
Double down: double your bet, take exactly 1 more card, stand.Used in: Blackjack
Double Down Rescue: The unique right to surrender after doubling, recovering the double portion.Used in: Spanish 21
Double kseri: Two consecutive kseri (yours plus the opponent's immediate match capture) scoring 20 points instead of 10.Used in: Kseri
Double pair royal: Four of a kind in pegging, scoring 12 points.Used in: Noddy
Double pişti: A 20-point pişti earned by capturing a lone Jack with another Jack.Used in: Pisti
Double run (đôi thông): Three or more consecutive pairs.Used in: Tien Len
Double-down / single-down / anti-tribute: the 3 possible finishing patterns for the winning partnership (1st and 2nd, 1st and 3rd, 1st and 4th), each advancing the level by a different amount.Used in: Guandan
Double/Redouble: a call that multiplies the trick score and undertrick penalty of the last bid; a redouble doubles those values again.Used in: Auction Bridge
Doubled / Redoubled: a defender's bid of 'Double' multiplies contract points and penalties by 2; the declarer may 'Redouble' to multiply by 4.Used in: Honeymoon Bridge
Doubler: No-pick variant where the next hand's stakes double.Used in: Sheepshead
Doublet: Two opening cards of the same rank; Banker wins outright.Used in: Lansquenet
Doubling: Showing a high-penalty card (for example the in Contract 1 or any Queen in Contract 2) before the first trick to double its penalty if captured.Used in: Trex
Doubling / Redoubling: Stake escalation in the auction phase; defenders double, declarer can redouble.Used in: Baloot
Down: Player who fell short of their trick target.Used in: Three Five Eight
Down-and-up: the standard round structure dealing 10, 9, ... 1, 2, ... 10 cards.Used in: Oh Hell (Bidding Whist)
Down-card: A face-down card visible only to its holder.Used in: Seven-Card Stud
Downstream (下游, xiàyóu): The last player holding cards in a round; must pay tribute to the Upstream next round.Used in: Zheng Shangyou
Downtown: A bid direction in which cards rank Ace high (yes, still high) down through 2, 3, 4, ..., Jack, Queen, King low; unusual inversion that punishes big face-card hands.Used in: Bid Whist
Dragon / 13 Unique: a natural hand of all 13 ranks (A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K). Automatic win.Used in: Chinese Poker
Dragon 7 / Panda 8: Side bets on specific 3-card hand outcomes (EZ Baccarat).Used in: Punto Banco
Dragonen (Dragoon): Second-highest; penalises a challenger by one counter.Used in: Gnav
Draw: Taking the top card of the stock after a Go Fish reply.Used in: Go Fish, Turkish Poker
Draw (Tawag): Calling the round to end; requires at least one prior meld. Compares deadwood; lowest wins.Used in: Tongits
Draw / drawing: The act of discarding 0-3 cards and receiving replacements.Used in: Five-Card Draw
Draw pile: the shared face-down pack from which players refill their hands.Used in: Speed, Spoons, Spite and Malice, California Speed, Dhumbal, Ninety-Eight, Uno
Draw pile / Trekstapel: The face-down stock from which cards are drawn.Used in: Pesten
Draw-until-follow rule: Unique to Page One: if you cannot follow suit, keep drawing from stock until you can.Used in: Page One
Drawing: having a hand that needs more cards to improve (flush draw, straight draw).Used in: Poker
Drawn hand: A hand ending 1-1-tie or all-three-tied where nobody scores.Used in: Put
Dressing the board: the dealer's duty at the start of each deal; placing 15 chips across the eight compartments.Used in: Pope Joan
Drop: voluntarily withdrawing from the hand at the start of your turn, for a 20 or 40 point penalty (instead of a possible 80).Used in: Indian Rummy
Drop (knock): Laying your hand face-up before drawing, forcing a comparison of all hand totals.Used in: Tonk
Drop / Out: Fold before the exchange; lose only the ante.Used in: Bourré
Dubbeltabbe: Sweeping a lone layout card by matching it; worth 10 penalty points.Used in: Krypkasino
Dublee: in 21-card Rummy only, a pair in the same suit (valid meld).Used in: Indian Rummy, Marriage
Dullen: The two Tens of Hearts, the highest trump cards.Used in: Doppelkopf
Dummy: The declarer's partner, whose 13 cards are placed face up and played by the declarer.Used in: Bridge, Biritch, Honeymoon Bridge, Auction Bridge, Minibridge
Dummy hand: The extra hand dealt to the dealer's left and never played from; chips for sections held in the dummy roll over to the next round.Used in: Tripoli
Durak (дурак): 'fool'; the last player left holding cards at hand's end.Used in: Durak, Svoi Kozyri
Durch (slam): Win every trick; no trump suit.Used in: Mariáš
Durchmars: Win every trick.Used in: Ulti
Durchmarsch: Winning all three tricks in one deal.Used in: Zwicken

E

Earl (of Coventry): The nickname for the fourth and final card of a rank; the player who plays it earns the next lead.Used in: Earl of Coventry
Edge pile: One of the four piles laid out in the cardinal directions from the stock at setup.Used in: Kings in the Corner
Egalite: A tie between the bank and a tableau; that side's bets push.Used in: Baccarat Banque
Eight-or-better: the qualifying rule for the low half of a high-low split pot, requiring 5 unpaired cards ranked 8 or lower, aces low.Used in: Anaconda
Elder: The non-dealer; leads declarations and trick play.Used in: Piquet
Elder hand: The non-dealer. Proposes or plays first, and leads to the first trick.Used in: All Fours, Écarté
Eldest: the player to the dealer's left; first to act in each hand.Used in: Commerce
Eldest hand: The player to the dealer's right; bids first.Used in: Pitch, Scopa, Knock-Out Whist, Chase the Ace, Napoleon, Oh Pshaw, Preferans, Tarneeb
Eliminated: A player who has run out of cards and can no longer flip; they are out of the round.Used in: Beggar-My-Neighbor
Elimination: Happens when a player has accumulated all six letters of SPOONS.Used in: Snap, Spoons, Toepen, Ninety-Eight
Empty column: A tableau slot with no cards; fillable only by a King.Used in: Klondike, Spider Solitaire
Empty column / Space: A cleared tableau column. In Bernauer, may only be filled with a specific rank; in Sorel, free choice.Used in: Agnes
Empty column fill: The specific rank (one below the base) that is the only legal starter for an emptied tableau column.Used in: Penguin
Empty fan: A fan whose cards have all been moved away; cannot be refilled.Used in: La Belle Lucie
Empty hand: A player who holds no cards; can neither ask nor be asked, though teammates may still claim on their behalf.Used in: Literature
Empty row: A cleared tableau row that can hold any single exposed card; the most valuable temporary storage in the game.Used in: Beleaguered Castle
Empty space: A grid position whose card has just been moved; refilled immediately from the top of the stock.Used in: Devil's Grip
En prison: a house rule that locks a Noir/Rouge stake in place through the next coup instead of settling it immediately after a refait.Used in: Trente et Quarante
En voiture: A no-trump declaration; all points double for the winning team.Used in: Manille
End phase: The final 8 tricks after the stock is exhausted; strict suit-following and trumping rules apply, no more melds.Used in: Bezique
Enflé / Schwellen: German names for Rolling Stone; both describe the swelling of a picker-upper's hand.Used in: Rolling Stone
Entrada / Vuelta / Solo: The three ascending bids.Used in: Ombre
Envido: The minimum opening bet (2 points). Raises are 'envido mas <number>'.Used in: Mus, Truco
Envy Bonus: $50 paid to every other player at the table when someone hits the Super Bonus.Used in: Spanish 21
Equal-or-higher rule: The core follow rule; match the current highest card or play your lowest.Used in: Cucumber
Escala: A run of four or more cards in the same suit in consecutive rank.Used in: Carioca
Escalera ('ladder'): Three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive rank order. May use Jokers as wild cards.Used in: Loba
Escape card: Any card that preserves or lowers the total: King (0), 4 (0 + reverse), 9 (sets to 99 to pass the bust risk), Ace (1), or a negative 10.Used in: Ninety-Nine (99)
Escoba: A sweep of all the cards off the table in one capture; worth 1 bonus point.Used in: Escoba
Espagnolette: A solo declaration made with four Aces (or equivalent), committing to lose every trick or win every trick.Used in: Reversis
Estuches: Small bonus for each consecutive top trump held (Spadille, Spadille + Manille, all three Matadors).Used in: Ombre
Euchre: when the makers fail to take 3 tricks; defenders score 2 points.Used in: Euchre
Exchange: Replace any number of cards with fresh draws from the stock before the first trick is led.Used in: Bourré
Experiment: A play of 1 to 4 cards on a single turn to test a hypothesis.Used in: Eleusis
Exposed card: The outermost card of a row, the only one immediately playable.Used in: Pyramid Solitaire, TriPeaks, Golf Solitaire, Beleaguered Castle
Exposure: Playing a special card face-up before the first trick to double its scoring effect, with the cost that you cannot dump it on the first time its suit is led.Used in: Gong Zhu

F

Face value: The numeric value printed on a card (1 through 20); used for scoring leftover cards at round end.Used in: Elfer Raus
Face-down / Face-up: The orientation of a card; the capture pile is face-down, the central flip is face-up.Used in: War
Face-down card: A tableau card whose value is hidden; flipped face-up when exposed.Used in: Klondike
Face-down cards: the bottom row of 3 cards; played blind, one at a time.Used in: Palace
Face-down pile: your remaining undealt cards, squared in front of you; source for flips.Used in: Animal
Face-down row: The blind cards under the face-up row, played last and revealed one at a time.Used in: Paskahousu
Face-down stack: your private undealt cards; you flip the top card when it is your turn.Used in: Snap, Give Away
Face-downs: The three initial face-down cards each player places on the table; played blind at the very end.Used in: Shithead
Face-up / face-down card: A card turned visible or hidden; Clock Patience starts all cards face-down and the play flips them one at a time.Used in: Clock Patience, Yukon Solitaire
Face-up arrangement: the pre-play step where each player chooses which 3 of their 6 cards to show face-up on their palace.Used in: Palace
Face-up card: the single top card of your stack that you can play on your turn.Used in: Give Away
Face-up pile: your flipped cards, displayed in front of you; only the top card is compared to others.Used in: Snap, Animal
Face-up row: The three (or five) cards visible in front of you; played after your hand is empty.Used in: Paskahousu
Face-up top: The visible top card of a tableau pile, the only card that may be played.Used in: Spit
Face-ups: The three cards laid face-up on top of the face-downs; played after the hand empties.Used in: Shithead
Fail suit: Spades, Hearts, or Clubs minus Queens and Jacks: A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7 per suit (6 cards each).Used in: Sheepshead
Failed ask: An ask that misses; the turn passes to the asked opponent.Used in: Literature
Falling (Saqta): Failure to outscore the defenders; all points go to the defending team.Used in: Baloot
False call: a call made when at least one pile is NOT a four-of-a-kind; loses the round immediately.Used in: Nertz, James Bond
False declaration: Claiming 66 without actually holding that total; forfeits 2 to 3 game points to the opponent.Used in: Sixty-Six
False signal: Performing the signal without holding 4 of a kind; earns an automatic letter.Used in: Donkey
False slap: Slapping when the top card is not a Jack; penalised by giving a card to the last flipper.Used in: Slapjack
Falta Envido: The all-in Envido escalation; the winner scores enough to reach the match target.Used in: Truco
Family: A themed-pack quartet, e.g. the Buns (Baker family) in Happy Families.Used in: Quartets, Happy Families
Family (Familie): The A-10-K-Ober-Unter sequence in one suit; 100 melded (150 in trumps).Used in: Binokel
Fan: The face-down spread of cards offered for an opponent to draw from.Used in: Old Maid, La Belle Lucie
Fantasyland (OFC): an advantage earned by making QQ or better in the front row; next hand you see all 13 cards at once.Used in: Chinese Poker
Fante: The 'Jack' or Page, worth 2 pips.Used in: Briscola, Tressette
Fante, Cavallo, Re: The three Italian court cards (Jack=8, Knight=9, King=10).Used in: Scopa, Scopone
Fiches: Counters or chips used to settle penalties and rewards.Used in: Reversis
Field: the shared row of face-up cards on the table that both players draw from and capture into.Used in: Koi-Koi
Fifteen: a combination of cards totalling 15; worth 2 points each.Used in: Cribbage
Final chance: A single additional slap attempt granted when your stack empties; missing it eliminates you.Used in: Slapjack
Final turn: The single turn each remaining player takes after someone goes out, to meld as much as possible before counting.Used in: Three-Thirteen
Finesse: a play technique leveraging position to win a trick with a card lower than an opponent's known holding.Used in: Bridge
First-meld requirement: In some house rules, your first melds in a round must total at least 30 points before you may meld further.Used in: Jokeren
First-trick restriction: No penalty card may be played on the first trick (of ).Used in: Hartenjagen
Five for Five: Optional rule awarding a 5-point bonus for the Five of trumps at end of deal, in addition to its 5-point pip value captured during play.Used in: All Fives
Five-Card Trick: Any hand of five cards totalling 21 or less; pays 2:1.Used in: Pontoon, Shoot Pontoon
Fixed rank (round rank): The rank chosen by the round's opening player; every following play during that round claims the same rank.Used in: Verish' Ne Verish'
Flek / Re / Tutti: Defender's double / declarer's redouble / further escalation, multiplying stakes ×2, ×4, ×8.Used in: Mariáš
Flip: Turning a face-down card face-up in place, without moving it; how you reveal a card.Used in: Golf, Slapjack, Concentration
Flipper: the player whose turn it is to reveal the next card.Used in: Snap, Penguin
Floor (saha): The face-up cards in the centre of the table available for capture.Used in: Basra
Floor / centre: The face-up pile of cards on the table that players capture from and trail onto.Used in: Seep
Flop / turn / river: the 3, 4th, and 5th community cards dealt.Used in: Poker, Omaha
Flop, Turn, River: The three, one, and one community cards revealed in sequence.Used in: Pineapple, Short Deck Hold'em
Flor: Holding three cards of the same suit; an automatic 3-point bonus where the rule is in use.Used in: Truco
Floş (Flush): 5 cards of the same suit, not in sequence. Ranks above Full House in Turkish Poker.Used in: Turkish Poker
Floş Royal (Royal Flush): A, K, Q, J, 10 of the same suit. Highest hand.Used in: Turkish Poker
Flush: Seven cards of one suit; the winning condition.Used in: Cribbage, My Ship Sails, Loo (Lanterloo)
Fluxus (Flush): four cards of the same suit.Used in: Primero
Fold: Declining a Put; concede 1 game point.Used in: Toepen, Caribbean Stud Poker, Put
Follow suit: play the suit led if you hold one.Used in: Hearts, Oh Hell (Bidding Whist), Knock-Out Whist, Napoleon, German Whist, Oh Pshaw, Femkort, Olsen
Follow-suit (absent): In this game, you are not required to follow the suit led; this is the game's signature mechanic.Used in: Bohemian Schneider
Follow-suit rule: The strict obligation to play a card of the led suit if you hold any; cannot be broken by voluntarily discarding.Used in: Court Piece
Following one's luck: Leaving winnings on the table to carry over onto the next coup instead of collecting them.Used in: Baccarat Banque
Following suit: Playing a card of the same suit as the card that was led.Used in: Smoorverliefd, Forty-Five
Foot: The second 11-card packet, set aside face down until the Hand is emptied.Used in: Hand and Foot
Forced bet: the mandatory opening bet required from the player showing the highest door card, who is not permitted to check.Used in: Five-Card Stud
Forced meld: Rule allowing the opponent to compel you to meld a card that would extend one of your own table melds.Used in: Conquian
Forced pass: A player with no legal play must pass (and commonly pays a chip to the pot).Used in: Parliament
Forced Spadille: Pass-out rule that forces the Spadille holder to play an Alliance contract.Used in: Quadrille
Forced sweep (tvångstabbe): A compulsory sweep when your hand card can capture the full layout.Used in: Krypkasino
Forehand: The non-dealer; leads the first trick of the deal.Used in: Schafkopf, Scopone, Bismarck, Cucumber, Watten, Mariáš, Ulti, Vira
Forehand / Vorhand: The player to the dealer's left, who leads the first trick.Used in: Skat
Forehead card: The single card dealt to you, held against your own forehead facing outward. You never see it until the showdown.Used in: Indian Poker
Foul: setting hands out of order (back < middle, or middle < front). Costs 3 units per opponent, voids royalties.Used in: Chinese Poker
Fouling: Setting the front higher than the back, or failing to set on time. Results in an automatic loss or a forced house-way reset.Used in: Pai Gow Poker
Foundation: One of four piles built up by suit from the base rank.Used in: Solitaire, Nertz, FreeCell, Klondike, Forty Thieves, Yukon Solitaire, Pyramid Solitaire, Canfield Solitaire
Foundation / lake: A shared centre pile, built up by suit from ace to king. Any player may contribute.Used in: Racing Demon
Foundations: The four piles built from the starter cards (A, 2, 3, 4); each builds upward in a fixed arithmetic interval ending in King.Used in: Calculation
Four: a Kalooki run of 4 or more same-suit consecutive cards (minimum 4 cards, unlike standard Rummy).Used in: Kalooki
Four of a kind: The winning combination of 4 cards of the same rank.Used in: Spoons, Donkey
Four-ball penalty: A 4-ball penalty against a team whose player signals or commits certain other infractions.Used in: Thunee
Fourth King: The fourth and last King to be turned face-up; its appearance ends the game whether or not the other piles are complete.Used in: Clock Patience
Fourth-highest lead: The classical opening convention of leading the fourth-highest card of your longest suit; signals length to partner.Used in: Whist
Free cell: one of 8 single-card reserve slots that can each hold exactly one card at a time.Used in: FreeCell, Seahaven Towers, Baker's Game, Eight Off
Freeze: restriction on the discard pile that blocks or limits pick-up.Used in: Canasta, Canastra, Samba
Friend card: The card whose holder becomes the declarer's secret partner.Used in: Mighty
Front: the weakest 3-card hand, placed in front. Uses simplified 3-card ranking (no straights or flushes).Used in: Chinese Poker
Front card: The single playable card of a garden bed, the last one dealt into that bed; playing it exposes the card beneath.Used in: Flower Garden
Front hand / low hand: The two-card hand.Used in: Pai Gow Poker
Fuchs (Fox): The Ace of Diamonds; 1 bonus point if captured from the opponents.Used in: Doppelkopf
Ful (Full House): Three of a kind plus a pair. Ranks below Flush in Turkish Poker (unlike standard poker).Used in: Turkish Poker
Full count / Maximum score: the 80-point cap on unmelded cards in a single hand.Used in: Indian Rummy

G

Gahwa: A multiplier rule in tournament Baloot that doubles or quadruples the stakes of a hand.Used in: Baloot
Galleries: Spectators who bet on outcomes in club-level Écarté au Cercle.Used in: Écarté
Game: 1-point score for the most pip-value in captured tricks (A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, 10=10).Used in: All Fours, Setback, All Fives, Pope Joan
Game / part-score / slam: trick-point thresholds that trigger bonus scoring (100+ game, 12-tricks small slam, 13-tricks grand slam).Used in: Bridge
Game bonus: 100 points for winning a game; 200 if the loser scored zero.Used in: Gin Rummy
Game point: A match-scoring unit, earned per successful or failed bid.Used in: Twenty-Eight, Smear
Game points: The session-level scoring unit (1, 2, or 3 per deal); first to 7 wins the match.Used in: Mariage
Gang: A contract to win all 5 tricks with a named trump suit (similar to Bauernschnapser but team-based at lower stake).Used in: Bauernschnapsen
Gap: An empty space in the layout. At game start there are exactly 4 gaps (where the 4 Aces were removed).Used in: Gaps (Montana)
Garden bed: One of the six fanned piles of six cards dealt at the start; only its front (last-dealt) card is available to play.Used in: Flower Garden
Gathered pile: A player's private pile of cards won in Phase 1 tricks; merges into the active hand at the start of Phase 2.Used in: Skitgubbe
Gehts?: Call to raise the stake. Literally 'does it go?'Used in: Watten
Geier: A Solo in which only the four Obers/Queens are trump.Used in: Schafkopf
General: An alternative name for capot in some groups, with a slightly different scoring (bidder gains a bonus instead of zeroing).Used in: Polignac
General Rams / Grand Slam: A declaration to win all 5 tricks in the hand; triples the pot on success, triples the bete on failure.Used in: Ramsli
Gepest worden: 'Being pestered'; having a 2, Joker, or 8 played on you.Used in: Pesten
German suits: Acorns (Clubs), Leaves (Spades), Hearts, Bells (Diamonds); used in traditional Hungarian packs.Used in: Lorum
Gespannt (tight): State of a team within 2 points of victory; cannot raise.Used in: Watten
Get away: Successfully play your last card, exiting the round without penalty.Used in: Getaway
Getaway / Get Away: A Pakistani variant where the trick loser leads next.Used in: Bhabhi
Gezwickt: 'Pinched' ; another word for having to pay a bete.Used in: Zwicken
Gift (one for your gift): The dealer's 1-point concession to elder, keeping the proposed trump.Used in: All Fours
Gin: Knocking with 0 deadwood. Earns the gin bonus and prevents lay-offs.Used in: Gin Rummy, Oklahoma Rummy
Give 2 Take 2: The 4s action in the Kings variant; the drawer assigns 2 drinks and takes 2 drinks themselves.Used in: Kings (Drinking Game)
Gjøken (Cuckoo): Highest card; reveals to end the round instantly on a swap attempt.Used in: Gnav
Gleek: three cards of the same rank. A meld scoring 4 to 8 pence per opponent depending on rank. Aces best.Used in: Gleek
Gnav: The game name; also the name of the lowest card (the Fool/Narren); also the penalty-letter word GNAV.Used in: Gnav
Go: A declaration that you cannot play without exceeding 31.Used in: Cribbage, Muggins, Noddy
Go again (extra turn): After a successful match, the capturing player takes another turn in the standard rules.Used in: Concentration
Go Fish: The reply given when a player does not hold the requested rank; prompts the asker to draw from the stock.Used in: Go Fish
Go fish / No, I don't have that: The traditional reply when you do not hold the requested card; ends the asker's turn.Used in: Authors
Go Fish crossover: The draw-pile variant where failed asks force drawing from a centre pool.Used in: Authors
Go out: Play your last card; ends the round.Used in: Rummy, Contract Rummy, Liverpool Rummy, Nines, Loba, May I?, Three-Thirteen, Bhabhi
Go out / shed: To play the last card from your hand, ending the round.Used in: Elfer Raus
Go to war: Choose to double the bet on a tie; dealer burns 3 cards then deals one to each side.Used in: Casino War
Going out: Playing your final card; ends the round.Used in: Canasta, Crazy Eights, President, Kalooki, Cheat, Hand and Foot, Michigan Rummy, Buraco
Going rummy: Completing the meld requirement in a single uninterrupted final turn; a bragging-rights variant scored at double stake in some circles.Used in: Conquian
Goofspiel: An alternative name; the game is also called Game of Pure Strategy in academic writing.Used in: Gops
Gora (dump): The penalty column. Failed contracts and raspasovka tricks go here.Used in: Preferans
Grab: Picking up a spoon from the centre once you have four of a kind.Used in: Spoons
Grand slam / little slam: Winning all 13 or exactly 12 of the 13 tricks.Used in: Biritch
Grid: The 2 x 2 (or 2-2-1) arrangement of face-down cards in front of you.Used in: Golf, Concentration, Devil's Grip, Cambio
Group: A face-up card plus every card stacked on top of it, moved as a single unit.Used in: Scorpion, Continental Rummy
Group (move): A block of cards taken together: any face-up card plus everything sitting on top of it.Used in: Yukon Solitaire, Penguin
Gruppo / Terzetto: A set; three or four cards of the same rank in different suits.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Guiñote: The Aragonese cousin with Jack-Knight rank swap.Used in: Tute
Gurka, Agurk, Kurkku: Swedish, Danish, and Finnish names for the same game.Used in: Cucumber

H

H.O.R.S.E.: The mixed-game rotation (Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Seven-Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo Eight-or-Better) in which Stud is central.Used in: Seven-Card Stud
H17 / S17: Dealer Hits / Stands on soft 17. Affects house edge by about 0.3%.Used in: Spanish 21
Hakem: The player who calls trump for the deal; literally 'ruler'.Used in: Hokm
Hakem / Caller: The player designated to receive 5 cards first and choose the trump suit.Used in: Court Piece
Half-suit (or set, or book): A 6-card subset of a suit; either the low half (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) or the high half (9, 10, J, Q, K, A). There are 8 half-suits total.Used in: Literature
Hanafuda: the 48-card 'flower card' deck used for Koi-Koi, divided into 12 monthly suits of 4 cards each.Used in: Koi-Koi
Hand: the 5 cards each player holds privately.Used in: Speed, Spite and Malice, Hand and Foot, Authors
Hand cards: The three cards held privately; always the first layer to play from.Used in: Shithead
Hand game: Contract played without picking up the skat; earns a +1 multiplier.Used in: Skat
Hand out: Handing a requested card to the asker when you have it; mandatory in the base game.Used in: Kwartet
Hand pile: The remaining 35-card face-down pile held in hand; flipped three at a time to a waste pile.Used in: Racing Demon
Hand suit: Each player's private collection of 13 cards (clubs and spades in the 2-player game); used to place bids.Used in: Gops
Hand total: Sum of the point values of all cards still in your hand.Used in: Dhumbal
Happy Families: The 1851 John Jaques and Son named themed variant; the original marketed form of Quartets.Used in: Quartets
Happy Families / Authors / Go Fish: International cousins of Kwartet with minor rule differences.Used in: Kwartet
Happy Families / Go Fish: Close-relative card games using the same ranked-pair matching, with draw-on-request mechanics instead of blind draw.Used in: Old Maid
Hard hand: a hand with no Ace, or an Ace forced to count as 1 to avoid busting.Used in: Blackjack
Hauptschlag / Right Striker: The Striker card that also matches the trump suit. Fourth-highest card overall.Used in: Watten
Hazari: 'One thousand' in Hindi/Urdu/Bengali; also the target score.Used in: Hazari
HCP (High Card Points): hand strength measure; Ace=4, King=3, Queen=2, Jack=1.Used in: Bridge
Head the trick: Strict rule requiring a player who can win the trick to do so.Used in: Femkort, Loo (Lanterloo), Écarté
Heart breaking: The convention that Hearts cannot be led until one has been discarded. Applies in No Hearts and Barbu.Used in: Barbu
Hearts breaking: The first time a Heart is played on a non-Heart trick; once broken, Hearts may be led.Used in: Gong Zhu
Hearts broken: The rule that a player cannot lead a heart until one has been discarded on a non-heart trick.Used in: Olsen, Hartenjagen, Black Maria, Rickety Kate
Hearts variant: Hearts as trump doubles every component's score.Used in: Ulti
Hearts-broken: Contract 1's rule preventing a heart lead until a heart has been discarded on a non-heart trick.Used in: Trex
Heel bet: A bet that persists from turn to turn until resolved.Used in: Faro
Hesten (Horse) / Huset (House): Fourth and fifth; redirect a challenger to the next player.Used in: Gnav
Hi-Lo / 8 or Better: The split-pot variant where a low hand of 5 unpaired ranks 8 or below qualifies for half the pot.Used in: Omaha
High: 1-point score for holding the highest trump in play.Used in: All Fours, Setback, All Fives
High (point): 1 point for capturing the Ace of trumps.Used in: Smear
High card points (HCP): the 4-3-2-1 count for [A], [K], [Q], and [J] used to value a hand without bidding.Used in: Minibridge
High, Low, Jack, Game: The four scoring categories, worth one point each.Used in: Pitch, Pedro, Cinch
His Heels (His Nibs): 2 points pegged by the dealer immediately if the starter is a Jack.Used in: Cribbage
His Nob: A 1-point bonus in hand scoring for holding the Jack of the starter's suit.Used in: Noddy
His Nobs: 1 point scored during the show if your hand contains the Jack of the same suit as the starter.Used in: Cribbage
Hit: take another card; signal with a table tap.Used in: Blackjack, Tonk, Phase 10
Hit (exact): Taking exactly the number of tricks bid; earns the full bonus.Used in: Kachuful
Hitting the moon (slam): Capturing every penalty card in a deal; under the optional slam rule, the capturer scores -43 instead of +43.Used in: Black Maria
Hláška (marriage): King + Queen of one suit; scores 20 (non-trump) or 40 (trump) when declared at the lead.Used in: Mariáš
Hoc: The final card in the box; dead card, bets on its rank are returned.Used in: Faro
Hochzeit (Wedding): Holding both Queens of Clubs; the holder takes the first opponent who wins a trick as partner.Used in: Doppelkopf
Hokm: The trump suit; also the name of the game itself.Used in: Hokm
Hokum: Trump-suit contract; declarer names the trump suit (originally the upturned card's suit).Used in: Baloot
Hole: one complete deal and round; a match is usually 9 holes.Used in: Golf
Hole card: the dealer's face-down card, revealed only after players act.Used in: Blackjack, Five-Card Stud
Hole cards: The two initial face-down cards.Used in: Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, Five-Card Draw, Pineapple, Anaconda, Short Deck Hold'em
Hombre: The declarer; the player who won the auction and plays the contract.Used in: Quadrille, Tresillo
Honors: A, K, Q, J, 10 of trumps (or all four Aces in no-trump); held collectively by a partnership for a bonus.Used in: Vint
Honour: Any of the five scoring ranks: Ace/Daus, King, Queen/Ober, Jack/Unter, 10. Non-honours (7, 8, 9) are worthless.Used in: Bohemian Schneider
Honour cards: Aces, Kings, Queens, and Jacks; the cards that carry a penalty value.Used in: Reversis
Honours: Jacks, 9s, Aces, and 10s; the only cards carrying point value.Used in: Bridge, Whist, Biritch, Twenty-Eight, Skruuvi
Hook / Screw the Dealer: the rule forcing the dealer's bid to make the total mismatch the trick count.Used in: Oh Hell (Bidding Whist)
Hook rule: The dealer's bid cannot make the sum of all bids equal the available tricks; forces at least one miss per round.Used in: Oh Pshaw, Kachuful
Hop-and-jump: The cutting ritual that can trigger a redeal or a mandatory payout before cards are even played.Used in: Zwicken
Horses: The 4 Aces, one per suit, racing along the course.Used in: Horse Race
Hour pile / rank pile: A clock-position pile that accepts cards of a specific rank (for example, the 5-o'clock pile takes 5s).Used in: Clock Patience
House: A pile assembled on the floor by combining hand and floor cards, tagged with a specific capture value (9 to 13). Ordinary houses can be broken; cemented (pakki) houses cannot.Used in: Seep
House edge: The long-run percentage the bank keeps from total stakes; depends on the posted payouts and first-side rule.Used in: Andar Bahar
House way: The printed rule sheet dictating exactly how the banker must split every possible seven-card combination.Used in: Pai Gow Poker
House-maker: The player on the dealer's right in a 4-player deal who receives the first 4-card hand and opens the bid.Used in: Seep
Hra (base game): The standard contract requiring 51+ of 90 card points.Used in: Mariáš
Hukum: The trump suit; a Hindi and Marathi term meaning "command".Used in: Mendikot
Hukum (rang): Trump suit; set by the first void play.Used in: Dehla Pakad
Hypp / Kille / Cuccù: Cognate Scandinavian, Swedish, and Italian versions of the game.Used in: Gnav

I

If you please: The polite phrasing expected on every ask in the traditional game.Used in: Happy Families
Il Matto (The Fool): The unique untrumpable card that excuses following suit and returns to its player at trick's end.Used in: Scarto
IMP (International Match Point): the unit of comparison in teams scoring, converted from a raw point difference using a published scale.Used in: Duplicate Bridge
Impure Sequence: a sequence that uses one or more Jokers as substitutes.Used in: Indian Rummy
In: Declaring you will play the hand (play-or-fold).Used in: Guts, Ramsli
In the bog: Having a negative running score from one or more set-backs.Used in: Pitch
Indi: Three unmatched, non-consecutive, mixed-suit cards; the weakest category.Used in: Hazari
Initial meld: The first melds a player lays down; some variants require a minimum point value.Used in: Canasta, Buraco, Machiavelli, Samba
Ino-Shika-Cho: the yaku formed by capturing the Boar, Deer, and Butterflies animal cards together.Used in: Koi-Koi
Instant Tonk: A dealt hand totaling exactly 49 or 50 points, wins immediately for double stake.Used in: Tonk
Insurance: side bet on dealer's natural when dealer shows Ace; pays 2:1.Used in: Blackjack
Intentional losing: Deliberately losing a Phase 1 trick to avoid taking a weak face-up card in favour of a hidden one.Used in: German Whist
Interval: The arithmetic step for each foundation: 1, 2, 3, or 4.Used in: Calculation
Intrigue: the combination of Queen and Jack of trumps played consecutively by the same player. Worth 2 chips.Used in: Pope Joan
Invented rule: a new rule added by the round winner that applies to all future rounds of the session.Used in: Bartok

J

Jack: Steals one opponent point card on play.Used in: All Fours, Setback, All Fives, Cuttle, Kseri
Jack (point): 1 point for capturing the Jack of trumps.Used in: Smear
Jack (top card): Worth 3 points and always the highest-ranking card in its suit. The highest card in the deck when in trump.Used in: Twenty-Nine
Jack (Valet in French): The face card between 10 and Queen; the sole penalty card in Polignac.Used in: Polignac
Jack of trump: The highest card in the game; worth 30 card points when captured.Used in: Thunee
Jack of trumps (Right Bower): The second-highest trump, always.Used in: Auction Forty-Fives
Jack power: The Jack's ability to capture all floor cards regardless of rank.Used in: Basra
Jack-capture: Playing a Jack to scoop every non-K/Q card on the table.Used in: Pasur
Jacks or Better: Variant requiring a pair of Jacks or higher to open the first betting round.Used in: Five-Card Draw
Jaques variant: The original John Jaques Jr. 11-family deck with Victorian occupational puns.Used in: Happy Families
Jass: The Jack of trumps; the highest card in the hand, worth 20 points.Used in: Tarabish, Klabberjass
Jiǎn Hóng Diǎn (撿紅點): Mandarin name; literally 'picking red points'. Refers to collecting the red scoring cards.Used in: Chinese Ten
Jiao Dizhu / Qiang Dizhu: Call-Landlord / Grab-Landlord bidding phases used in many modern apps.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Jick (point): 1 point for capturing the Jack of the same-colour non-trump suit (for example, when spades are trump).Used in: Smear
Jink: Declaring an intent to win all 5 tricks for a bonus.Used in: Auction Forty-Fives, Spoil Five, Forty-Five
Jodhi / Double / Khanuck: Named declaration calls with specific timing and bonus/penalty scoring.Used in: Thunee
Jogo: Portuguese for 'game'; the informal word for any meld on the table.Used in: Pif Paf, Tranca
Joker: the top card of the deck and highest trump.Used in: Kalooki, Five Hundred (500), Pif Paf, Jokeren, Shanghai Rummy, Mighty, Loba, Mexican Rummy
Joker (Big / Little): The two wild cards added to the deck; they are the two highest trumps in suit rounds and worthless in no-trump.Used in: Bid Whist
Joker (middle card): The single face-up card drawn at the start of the round whose rank the deal is trying to match. Not a wild joker in the Western sense; it is a regular 52-deck card.Used in: Andar Bahar
Joker (points): Each joker captured is worth 1 point; jokers act as low trumps.Used in: Smear
Joker swap: Replacing a joker in a table meld with its natural card, reclaiming the joker for your own use.Used in: Contract Rummy, Liverpool Rummy

K

Kachuful / Kachufool / Kachoofool: The South Asian name for the game; from the Hindi/Urdu mnemonic of the trump cycle (Kari-Chukat-Falli-Lal).Used in: Kachuful
Kaiser bid: A 12 no-trump bid; the maximum and most prestigious call.Used in: Kaiser
Kang: A four-of-a-kind held when the fourth is drawn; awarded bonus in some house rules.Used in: Tongits
Kansas City Lowball: A historical name for the aces-high, straights-and-flushes-count ranking system used in Deuce-to-Seven games.Used in: Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Kap: One quarter of 52 cards, equal to 13; by extension, one full round of tricks played.Used in: Troefcall
Kap partij (kap!): Winning the first 7 tricks in an unbroken sequence; 5 points when announced by the trick winner.Used in: Troefcall
Kap Tai Shap: Cantonese name; means 'picking up tens'. Same game.Used in: Chinese Ten
Karanlık (Dark / Blind): Betting without looking at one's cards.Used in: Turkish Poker
Kare (Four of a Kind): Four cards of the same rank.Used in: Turkish Poker
Karlchen: The Jack of Clubs; 1 bonus point for taking the last trick with it.Used in: Doppelkopf
Katten (Cat): Third-highest; penalises a challenger and reverses all prior swaps.Used in: Gnav
Keeper hand: the no-pass hand, every fourth deal.Used in: Hearts
Keinuak: The legal facial signals partners use to communicate hand strength.Used in: Mus
Kemps: the target combination: 4 cards of the same rank in one player's hand. Also the name of the game and the 5-letter penalty word.Used in: Kemps
Kent (Straight): Five cards in consecutive rank, mixed suits.Used in: Turkish Poker
Kereltje: A Jack-based partnership contract with specific callable-Jack rules.Used in: Pandoeren
Kicker: A side card used to break ties between equally ranked hands.Used in: Poker, Texas Hold'em, Five-Card Draw, Short Deck Hold'em
King: the player who deals and chooses the contract order for their own Kingdom.Used in: Cuttle, Trix
King (12), Knight (11), Knave (10): Face cards ranked below the Ace in the Manille system; worth 3, 2, 1 points respectively.Used in: Botifarra
King block: A player holding a King reveals it instead of swapping; the attempted swap fails.Used in: Chase the Ace
King of Hearts (Roi de Coeurs): Contract 1; -75 penalty for capturing .Used in: Trex
King of trumps: The highest card in the deck when trumps are in play; 1 bonus point for declaring or turning up.Used in: Écarté
King reset: Playing a King instantly sets the running total to 98, threatening the next player.Used in: Ninety-Eight
King-headed group: A group whose bottom face-up card is a King; the only kind of group that can fill an empty column.Used in: Scorpion
King-only empty column rule: Only a King (or King-headed sequence) may move into an empty tableau column.Used in: Seahaven Towers
King's Cup: The central empty cup into which each King-drawer pours some of their drink; the fourth King drawer finishes it.Used in: Ring of Fire, Kings (Drinking Game)
Kingdom: A 5-deal span in which one player (the holder) chooses the contract order; each of the five contracts is played exactly once.Used in: Trex
Kingdom (Mamlakah): the block of 5 consecutive deals, 1 per contract, owned by a single King.Used in: Trix
Kings-only empty column: the rule restricting any newly emptied tableau column to accept only a King, or a King-led sequence, as its first card.Used in: Eight Off
Kiss: the no-trumps option available to the auction winner when naming the ruff suit.Used in: Gleek
Kitty: The 8-9-10 chip section and the bonus pot for the stops winner.Used in: Newmarket, Michigan Rummy, Bismarck, Sergeant Major, Bid Whist, Mighty, Three Five Eight, Tripoli
Kitty / widow: the 3-card face-down packet dealt to the centre; picked up by the declarer after the auction.Used in: Five Hundred (500)
Klondike: The specific solitaire variant described here; the most common form of 'Solitaire' globally.Used in: Solitaire, Double Solitaire
Knave Noddy / His Heels: The dealer's 1-point bonus if the starter is a Jack.Used in: Noddy
Knock: Ending the round by placing your discard face-down; triggers a showdown.Used in: Golf, Commerce, Gin Rummy, Thirty-One, Oklahoma Rummy, Skruuvi, Knock Rummy
Knock out: Elimination from the game; happens when a player wins zero tricks in a round.Used in: Knock-Out Whist
Knock value (knock ceiling): The maximum deadwood total that permits a knock on this hand.Used in: Oklahoma Rummy
Koi-Koi: the declaration made after completing a yaku to keep playing for a bigger score instead of stopping immediately.Used in: Koi-Koi
Kontra / Re: Doubling and redoubling calls by defenders and declarers before the second card of trick 2.Used in: Schafkopf
Kontra / Re / Sup: Defender/declarer/defender calls that double the Bummerl stake at each level.Used in: Bauernschnapsen
Kontra / Rekontra: Defender's double / declarer's redouble.Used in: Ulti
Köpet: The purchase, the phase in which the declarer (and sometimes opponents) exchange cards with the talon.Used in: Vira
Kot: Capturing all four tens and all thirteen tricks; the top result.Used in: Hokm, Mendikot
Kot (or court): A run of 7 consecutive round wins; the standard match goal.Used in: Dehla Pakad
Kot / Kap / Double Sar: A 2-court award, triggered typically by winning the first 7 tricks consecutively.Used in: Court Piece
Kotah (double): Optional defender's double of the deal's stakes.Used in: Twenty-Eight
Kotka: The 4-card kitty set aside at the deal; the declarer takes it and discards four cards.Used in: Skruuvi
Kozel: Russian for "goat"; the penalty mark or loser's title in this game.Used in: Kozel
Kozyr (козырь): 'trump'. Kozyri = plural trumps.Used in: Durak
Kratzen: To fold or scratch; opt out of the current deal, losing only the ante.Used in: Kratzen
Kritische (Criticals): The three permanent high cards: Max, Belli, Spitz.Used in: Watten
Krypa: 'To creep'; play a card that captures nothing and leave it on the layout.Used in: Krypkasino
Kseri: Greek for 'dry' or 'empty'; both the name of the game and the 10-point bonus for capturing a single-card table by match.Used in: Kseri

L

L'Excuse: the unnumbered special card that may be played to any trick without following suit or trumping.Used in: French Tarot
Laatste kaart!: 'Last card!'; the mandatory announcement when your hand drops to one card.Used in: Pesten
Laatste slag: The last trick of the deal; +10 to the winning side.Used in: Klaverjas, Manillen
Ladder auction: Bid progression stepping through card ranks (2, 3, ... Ace) where each bid restricts which rank the caller may later name.Used in: Briscola Chiamata
Laizi: a designated wild card in laizi variants; substitutes for any card in combinations.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Lakdi: Nepali colloquial name for the game.Used in: Call Break
Lake: The shared central area where Ace-to-King foundation piles are built; only lake cards score points.Used in: Nertz
Landsknecht: The German mercenary profession that gave the game its name.Used in: Lansquenet
Lanzichenecco: The Italian name for a Landsknecht (German mercenary) and an older name for this game.Used in: Ziginette
Last: 1 point awarded to the player who played the final card of a pile before it closed.Used in: Muggins
Last capture: The final capture of the last deal; the player takes all remaining table cards automatically.Used in: Pasur, Sweep
Last capture rule: The final player to capture in the deal sweeps any remaining face-up table cards.Used in: Rubamazzo
Last card call: The required 'Last card' announcement when you play a card leaving one in hand.Used in: Switch
Last trick: The 4th (and final) trick of each hand; its winner loses the hand.Used in: Pinochle, Toepen
Last trick bonus: The 1 extra point awarded for winning the 10th trick.Used in: Treseta, Twenty-Nine, Pilotta, Guiñote
Last-trick bonus: 10 extra points for winning the final trick of the deal.Used in: Sedma
Laufende (runners): A run of top trumps held by the winning side, starting with Ober of Eichel/♣.Used in: Schafkopf
Lay down: Placing a completed 4-card quartet face up in front of you. The cards are locked out of further play.Used in: Quartets
Lay down / complete: Placing all four cards of a quartet face-up in front of you once you have them; this locks them in as a scored set.Used in: Kwartet
Lay off: Adding a card from your hand to a meld already on the table.Used in: Rummy, Rummy 500, Oklahoma Rummy, Shanghai Rummy, Liverpool Rummy, May I?, Mexican Rummy, Progressive Rummy
Layoff: after a knock (not Gin), the opponent extends the knocker's melds with their own non-melded cards to reduce their deadwood.Used in: Gin Rummy
Layout: The four rows of cards on the table, one per suit.Used in: Kings in the Corner, Trash, Parliament, Faro, Fan Tan, Trente et Quarante
Layout pile: One of the four face-up shared piles in the centre of the table; only its top card matters for matching.Used in: California Speed
Le Petit: trump numbered 1, the lowest trump but one of the three bouts.Used in: French Tarot
Le point: Winning 3 or 4 of the 5 tricks. Scores 1 (or 2 if elder played without proposing).Used in: Écarté
Le vole: Winning all 5 tricks. Scores 2 (or 3 if elder played without proposing).Used in: Écarté
Lead: The first play in a trick; the leader chooses the combination type.Used in: Newmarket, Tien Len, Femkort, Letzter Stich, Linger Longer, Pusoy Dos, Getaway, Trix
Lead / free lead: the opening play of a trick; the leader chooses the combination type.Used in: Big Two
Lead / leader: The player who plays the first card of a new rank; the player of the fourth card (Snorum) becomes the next leader.Used in: Snip Snap Snorum, Earl of Coventry
Lead / leading: Playing the first card of the deal (the opener).Used in: Sevens
Leader: the player who plays the first card of a trick. After a completed trick, the trick winner leads next; after a void and pickup, the voided player leads next.Used in: Rolling Stone
Leaster: No-pick variant where the lowest-point taker wins.Used in: Sheepshead
Led suit: The suit of the first card played to a trick; the weakest suit for that trick only.Used in: Sticheln, Rolling Stone, Black Maria, Rickety Kate
Left Bower: the Jack of the same colour as trump; third-highest.Used in: Euchre, Five Hundred (500), Pepper, Buck Euchre
Left Pedro: The 5 of the same-colour non-trump suit (for example, if spades are trump, the 5 of clubs is the Left Pedro). Worth 5 points. Ranks as part of the trump suit for that hand.Used in: Cinch
Left Pedro (Off Pedro): The 5 of the same-colour non-trump suit (for example, if hearts are trump, the 5 of diamonds is the Left Pedro); counts as trump for this hand and scores 5 points.Used in: Pedro
Leftmost column: The first position in each row; a gap there may be filled by any 2 to start a suit sequence.Used in: Gaps (Montana)
Let it ride: The action of tapping the table to keep an ante in play; the game is named after this action.Used in: Let It Ride
Letter: A mark earned by the losing player of each round, spelling S-P-O-O-N-S.Used in: Kemps, Spoons, Donkey
Level: the rank, from 2 through Ace, a partnership is currently trying to clear; advancing through all of them wins the match.Used in: Guandan, Tractor
Level card: any of the 4 cards matching the current level rank; they outrank ordinary cards but rank below the Jokers.Used in: Guandan
Lie down: To throw your remaining hand face up into the pool because you cannot capture; drops you out of the round.Used in: Laugh and Lie Down
Life: The single unit of account; lost lives leave the game and are tracked per player.Used in: Chase the Ace, Toepen, Marriage
Lillan: The 2 of spades; 2 penalty points.Used in: Krypkasino
Limpia: Sweeping the table (capturing every card). +2 points.Used in: Cuarenta
Little Pepper: Bid to take all 5 tricks with a named trump suit; scores ±12.Used in: Pepper
Live card: A rank or suit not yet visible in a discard or known opponent hand.Used in: Razz, Badugi
Live out: a card that would improve your hand and has not already appeared among opponents' up-cards or folded hands.Used in: Seven-Card Stud, Five-Card Stud
Loba: The Argentine rummy game. 'Loba' means 'she-wolf' in Spanish; folk etymology says the game is a 'hunt' for melds.Used in: Loba
Loba de Mas: The positive (score-build) form; meld-maximisation.Used in: Loba
Loba de Menos: The negative (knockout) form; penalty-minimisation. The default household Loba.Used in: Loba
Lock / locked pile: a pile turned face-up because it contains four of the same rank; locked piles cannot be touched again.Used in: James Bond
Loco (pl. locos): A wild eight: it may be played on any card, and the player names a new active suit.Used in: Ochos Locos
Lone / Alone: An optional variant where the maker plays a Pepper bid without the partner's hand, doubling the score.Used in: Pepper
Loner: a maker playing alone (their partner sits out); pays 4 for all 5 tricks.Used in: Euchre
Long suits: Bastoni and Spade, where number cards rank high to low 10 down to Ace.Used in: Scarto
Long Whist: Game to 9 points. The older traditional form.Used in: Whist
Loo / Looed: Losing a deal by playing and winning zero tricks; triggers the loo penalty.Used in: Loo (Lanterloo)
Lorum / Kirako: A layout contract similar to Fan Tan; the game's namesake contract.Used in: Lorum
Low: The point for holding the lowest trump at the start of the hand.Used in: All Fours, Setback, All Fives
Low (point): 1 point for capturing the lowest trump that was actually played during the hand (not merely dealt).Used in: Smear
Ltoosh / Eltoosh: a regional name for the No Tricks contract.Used in: Trix

M

Made bid: the bid was matched exactly; score 10 + tricks.Used in: Oh Hell (Bidding Whist)
Main line: The horizontal row of correctly played cards, read left to right.Used in: Eleusis
Majority: Side with more than half of the 52 cards captured wins a 3-point bonus at round's end.Used in: Pisti, Diloti
Majority bonus: 6 points for capturing 20 or more of the 40 cards (even-number rounding beyond 20).Used in: Cuarenta
Make / Set: Make = bidding team meets or exceeds their bid (scores points). Set = bidding team falls short (loses the bid amount from their score).Used in: Kaiser
Maker: The highest bidder; undertakes to capture at least the bid in points.Used in: Pedro, Pepper, Buck Euchre
Maker / bidding team: The highest bidder's side; undertakes to capture at least their bid in points.Used in: Cinch
Makers: the partnership that named (ordered up or called) trump this hand.Used in: Euchre
Mallure: The mandatory declaration that you hold 3 aces; the holder of the 4th ace becomes your automatic partner.Used in: Rikken
Mandatory play: A move required by the priority hierarchy; failing to make it exposes you to a Stop! call.Used in: Russian Bank
Manilha: The Seven of trumps, the second-highest trump and a key card.Used in: Sueca
Manilla: The 9 of any suit; the highest-ranking card in Botifarra and worth 5 card points.Used in: Botifarra
Manille: the 9 of trumps, worth 14 points. Second-highest trump.Used in: Manille, Ombre, Quadrille, Tresillo, Tarabish, Manillen
Manille / Malilla: The 10 of each suit, the highest-ranking and most valuable card (5 pips).Used in: Malilla
Manillon: The Ace, the second-highest card in each suit (4 pips).Used in: Manille, Malilla, Manillen
Manipulation: Breaking apart and recombining existing melds during a single turn.Used in: Machiavelli
Mano: Italian term for 'hand' or 'deal' (one complete distribution and play).Used in: Briscola, Mus, Truco
Mao: a close cousin in which rules are NEVER explained; purely inferred by watching penalties.Used in: Bartok
Mao / Mao Mao: the ritual phrases said on the penultimate and final card, respectively.Used in: Mao
March: winning all 5 tricks in a hand.Used in: Euchre
Marriage: K-Q of the same suit; 40 in trumps, 20 in non-trumps.Used in: Pinochle, Mariage, Tysiacha (1000), Ulti
Marriage (20/40): A King and Queen of the same suit held by one player; worth 20 points in a non-trump suit or 40 in the trump suit.Used in: Bummerl
Marriage (hlášení / királypár): King + Queen of one suit declared when leading; 20 plain, 40 trump.Used in: Snapszli
Marriage (Hochzeit / Paar): The King and Queen of the same suit held by one player; worth 20 points if declared in non-trumps and 40 if declared in trumps.Used in: Sixty-Six
Marriage / Ehepaar: The King + Queen of trumps.Used in: Poch
Marriage / Zwanziger (20) / Vierziger (40): King-Queen pair of the same suit, scoring 20 or 40 when declared.Used in: Schnapsen
Marsch (or Stich): Winning all nine tricks; +100 bonus before multiplier.Used in: Jass
Mat: Capturing all 8 tricks in a deal; pays the maximum bonus (typically 8 pinde).Used in: Sjavs
Matador: Any of the five top-ranked special cards (Cuckoo, Dragoon, Cat, Horse, House).Used in: Ombre, Gnav
Matadors: The three permanent top trumps: Spadille, Manille, Basto.Used in: Skat, Quadrille, Tresillo
Match: A card of the same rank as the up-card; suits are ignored.Used in: Andar Bahar, Trash, Ziginette, Animal, Pitty Pat, Lansquenet
Match (Jogo): A series of hands; first to 4 (or 10) games wins.Used in: Sueca
Match (the pot): The penalty paid by every in-player who lost the showdown: each pays the size of the pot they just lost into the next round's pot.Used in: Guts
Match capture: Taking a table card of the same rank as your played card.Used in: Basra, Sweep
Match point: A tally point scored for making or breaking a bid; matches are usually played to 6 or 7.Used in: Twenty-Nine
Match points: The scoring units accumulated across hands; (points earned) - 30 per successful hand.Used in: Manillen
Match the Dealer: Optional side bet on whether player cards rank-match the dealer's upcard.Used in: Spanish 21
Match-discard: A simultaneous play of a same-rank card from any player's row onto the discard pile, costing nothing if correct and a penalty draw if wrong.Used in: Cabo
Matching card: A card that either has the same rank as the lead or is a 7.Used in: Sedma
Matching rank: same card value regardless of suit; e.g., 8♠ matches 8♥.Used in: Snap
Matchpoint: the unit of comparison in pairs scoring, earned by beating or tying other pairs' results on the same board.Used in: Duplicate Bridge
Mate: A drink-buddy chosen when an 8 is drawn. Mates drink whenever each other drinks for the rest of the game.Used in: Ring of Fire, Kings (Drinking Game)
Matrimonio común (common marriage): Rey + Caballo of any non-trump suit. 20 points each.Used in: Guiñote
Matrimonio real (royal marriage): Rey + Caballo of trumps. 40 points when declared.Used in: Guiñote
Matrimony: the combination of King and Queen of trumps played consecutively by the same player. Worth 2 chips.Used in: Pope Joan
Matta: The wild card (King of Coins or King of Diamonds); counts as any value the holder names.Used in: Sette e Mezzo
Matto / Jolly: The Joker; a wild card that substitutes for any one card in any meld, but only one per meld.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Mau Mau: the German-speaking family of near-identical shedding games.Used in: Crazy Eights
Maw / Cúig Tréan: the older and Irish-language names of the game.Used in: Spoil Five
Max / Maxi: King of Hearts . Highest card in the deck.Used in: Watten
Maximum / family doubles: Special doubles that target every other player at once (maximum) or both flanking players (family).Used in: Barbu
Mazzo: An Italian word meaning both 'deck' and 'pile'; the capture pile is your mazzo.Used in: Rubamazzo
Meegaan (I join): Accepting a vraag as partner.Used in: Wiezen
Meld: Any valid set or run on the table.Used in: Canasta, Gin Rummy, Rummy, Pinochle, Bezique, Conquian, Pandoeren, Rummy 500
Meld (Bahay, 'house'): A set of 3+ same-rank cards or a run of 3+ consecutive same-suit cards.Used in: Tongits
Meld (combinación): A set of 3-4 cards of the same rank, or a run of 3+ consecutive cards in the same suit.Used in: Chinchon
Member: One of the 4 individual cards in a family (Mr, Mrs, Master, or Miss).Used in: Happy Families
Menagerie: an alternate name, especially in the UK and in older British parlour-game collections.Used in: Animal
Mendikot: Capturing all four tens in a single deal; the game's namesake.Used in: Mendikot
Menel (also Manille): The 9 of trumps; the second-highest trump, worth 14 points.Used in: Klabberjass
Merci (mercy) draw: In the Three Shuffles and a Draw variant, lifting one buried card after both redeals are exhausted.Used in: La Belle Lucie
Mesa: A match of 2 or 3 chicas (first to 2).Used in: Ronda, Cuarenta
Middle: the intermediate 5-card hand, placed between front and back.Used in: Chinese Poker
Middle / Second-Upstream: In 4+ player play, the second and third finishers; they do not pay tribute.Used in: Zheng Shangyou
Middle hand: The third player (between eldest and dealer in seating order). Target = 3 tricks.Used in: Sergeant Major
Mighty: The strongest card in the game; usually the Ace of Spades, replaced by the Ace of Diamonds if Spades is trump.Used in: Mighty
Milestone: Reaching exactly 50 or 100 penalty points, which halves your total.Used in: Yaniv
Minör Floş (Minor Straight Flush): The Ace-low straight flush, using the deck's lowest rank as the bottom of the run.Used in: Turkish Poker
Minör Kent (Minor Straight): The Ace-low straight.Used in: Turkish Poker
Misääri: The misery contract; declarer must win 0 tricks solo.Used in: Skruuvi
Misär / Köpmisär: Contracts in which the declarer aims to lose every trick, with or without a talon purchase.Used in: Vira
Misdeal: A deal declared invalid because of a dealing error; the cards are gathered and redealt.Used in: Escoba, Ochos Locos
Misère: a 0-trick contract with no trump.Used in: Five Hundred (500), Solo Whist, Napoleon, Preferans, Boston, Rikken, Nap
Miserie: Lose every trick playing solo with no trump.Used in: Wiezen
Misery: A solo contract where the proclaimer must win exactly 0 tricks.Used in: Pandoeren
Mishtara ([10♦]): Worth 3 points to the capturer.Used in: Basra
Miss: Taking more or fewer tricks than bid; scores 0 (or negative in some variants).Used in: Kachuful
Miss (3-card Loo): An extra face-down 3-card hand dealt for the table; any player may swap their whole hand for it sight-unseen before play.Used in: Loo (Lanterloo)
Missed bid: any number of tricks OTHER than the bid; no score (or penalty).Used in: Oh Hell (Bidding Whist)
Mixed strategy: A randomised play pattern that cannot be exploited by a pattern-reading opponent; the game-theoretic optimum for Gops.Used in: Gops
Miz / Misère: Optional dealer call that reverses the goal (lowest tricks wins).Used in: Three Five Eight
Molodka: A four-card lead of one suit, or three of a suit plus the 6 of spades; outranked by a Moscow.Used in: Kozel
Morto: A face-down reserve of 11 cards awarded to a player who empties their hand; also called the pot.Used in: Buraco, Tranca
Moscow (Moskva): A four-card special lead containing aces, tens, and optionally the 6 of spades, including at least one ace.Used in: Kozel
Most cards: The 3-point bonus to the player or partnership with the largest capture pile.Used in: Kseri
Most Clubs: The 7-point bonus awarded to the player (or team) holding 7 or more of the 13 Clubs at deal end.Used in: Pasur
Mournival: Four cards of the same rank; the whole set is laid aside at once for an instant capture.Used in: Gleek, Laugh and Lie Down
Movement: the schedule telling pairs which table and boards to play each round; Mitchell and Howell movements are the most common.Used in: Duplicate Bridge
Muflis: Lowball Teen Patti where the worst hand wins.Used in: Teen Patti
Muggins: A call by an opponent taking points the active player forgot to claim.Used in: Cribbage, Muggins
Multi-card 21: Any 21 reached with three or more cards; pays bonuses.Used in: Spanish 21
Multi-card attack: A lead of 2 or 3 cards of the same suit in a single trick. The responder must match cards one-for-one and beat each.Used in: Bura
Multiplier: A constant per contract that multiplies a partnership's total for the deal (1, 2, 3, or 4 in Schieber).Used in: Jass
Mus / Mus ez: The pre-betting question 'discard and redraw?'; answered Mus (yes) or Mus ez (no, go to betting).Used in: Mus
Muss: The mandatory phase in which every player must play; triggered by prior failures or a Seven as the trump card.Used in: Kratzen
Mussolini: A grand slam no-trump played solo; win all 13 tricks alone.Used in: Skruuvi
Must-beat: Phase 2's follow rule: you must play a card higher than the current top in the led suit, or a trump, or pick up.Used in: Skitgubbe
Must-head: Obligation to play a card that beats the current winner when you can, both when trumping and when following suit.Used in: Bourré
Must-overtrump rule: When you cannot follow the led suit and you hold a spade higher than any spade already in the trick, you must play it.Used in: Call Break
Must-play rule: The standard convention that a player who has a legal play must take it; cannot voluntarily pass.Used in: Sevens
Must-win / overtrump: The strict Botifarra obligation to play a trump (or higher trump) when you cannot follow suit and opponents are winning.Used in: Botifarra
My ship sails: The traditional call uttered to claim the round.Used in: My Ship Sails

N

Nabor (набор): 'draw-up'; taking cards from the stock at round's end.Used in: Durak
Naked: Capturing every trick in the deal; scored triple.Used in: Sedma
Nap (Napoleon): A bid to win all 5 tricks; the game's namesake.Used in: Napoleon, Nap
Napoletana: Ace, 2 and 3 of one suit; 3 declared points.Used in: Tressette
Napoletana (Napoli): 3-2-A of one suit; worth 3 bonus points when declared.Used in: Treseta
Narren (Fool / Gnav): Lowest card; automatic loser if revealed.Used in: Gnav
Nat (wet): The bidding side failing to score more than half the points; all 162 plus Roem go to the defenders.Used in: Klaverjas
Natural: A two-card 21 (Ace + 10-value).Used in: Spanish 21, Baccarat, Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco, Lucky 9, Baccarat Banque
Natural / Blackjack: an Ace + 10-value card dealt as the first 2 cards, unsplit; pays 3:2.Used in: Blackjack
Natural card: Any 4 through Ace (not a wild, not a 3); may form melds without restriction.Used in: Tranca
Nell: The 9 of the trump suit. Second-highest at 14 points.Used in: Jass
Nertz pile: The 13-card private pile each player races to empty; the only pile whose remaining cards are penalised at scoring.Used in: Nertz
Nest (widow): the extra cards dealt face-down at the start of the hand; the winning bidder picks them up and discards back down to a full hand.Used in: Rook
Neutral: a middle-ranked player with no tax or privilege.Used in: President
New lead / 'bagong pasok': A fresh lead when all other players have passed; the last player to play leads any new combination.Used in: Pusoy Dos
Newmarket / Pope Joan: English ancestor games of the stops family; Michigan is the American adaptation.Used in: Michigan Rummy
Next card needed: The specific rank required to extend each foundation by one.Used in: Calculation
Nil: a bid of 0 for a 100-point bonus if successful, 100-point penalty if failed.Used in: Spades
Nine (second card): Worth 2 points and the second-highest-ranking card in its suit.Used in: Twenty-Nine
Nineteen: slang for a zero-point hand (since 19 is an impossible score).Used in: Cribbage
No Trumps (NT): a bid with no trump suit; highest card of the suit led wins every trick.Used in: Five Hundred (500)
No-friend: Declarer plays alone against all four defenders for doubled stakes.Used in: Mighty
No-play declaration: A claim that none of your cards can legally be played; verified by the Dealer.Used in: Eleusis
No-trump: The mode in which no suit outranks others; only the led suit can win a trick.Used in: Smoorverliefd, Bid Whist, Kaiser, Sviten Special
No-trump (Sun): A round in which no suit is trump; highest card of the led suit wins every trick.Used in: Kachuful
No-Trump / All-Trump: Bid options that change the card ranking to non-trump-only or trump-in-all-suits respectively.Used in: Pilotta
No-trump plain-trick game: Any trick-taking game in which no suit ranks above the others; the highest card of the led suit wins.Used in: Treseta
Non-trump team: The opposing side, formed by whichever players do not hold or .Used in: Spitzer
Nongmin (农民): 'Peasant.' One of the two cooperating defenders.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Nose-touch: The silent signal that you have completed a book; others must copy it as soon as they notice.Used in: Pig (Card Game)
Not at home: The traditional British reply when you do not have the requested card; ends the asker's turn.Used in: Happy Families
Nul: A bid of zero; often safe with weak hands.Used in: Boerenbridge
Null: Contract to lose every trick.Used in: Skat
Nullo / Nil: a bid of 0.Used in: Oh Hell (Bidding Whist)
Number one / a 75: The best possible hand, 7-5-4-3-2 of mixed suits.Used in: Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Numerus: the weakest hand class; 2 or 3 cards of one suit with no Primero or Fluxus.Used in: Primero
Nut low / Wheel: A-2-3-4 rainbow, the best possible badugi.Used in: Badugi

O

Obenabe: A no-trump contract played upward (high cards win), Aces high.Used in: Jass
Ober: The Queen equivalent in German-suited Binokel; ranks between King and Unter.Used in: Binokel
Ober / Unter: German-suited Bohemian court cards equivalent to Queen and Jack in a French deck.Used in: Schafkopf, Bohemian Schneider, Bauernschnapsen, Lorum
Obers (Damenlos): The No-Obers contract; 2 points per Ober captured.Used in: Lorum
Obrigação: The forced-trump rule in Sueca Italiana.Used in: Sueca
Odd trick: Any trick above the book (tricks 7-13); each scores 1 point.Used in: Whist, Auction Bridge
Odds: The dealer's published payout ratio per suit; based on course composition.Used in: Horse Race
OFC / Open-Face Chinese Poker: the incremental-placement variant, now the dominant tournament form.Used in: Chinese Poker
Off-Jack: In Ten-Point Pitch, the Jack of the same colour as the trump suit; scores an extra point when captured.Used in: Setback
Off-suit play: Playing a card in a suit other than the one led; usually wins the trick.Used in: Sticheln
Oh Hell / Up and Down the River: The international English name for the same game family.Used in: Boerenbridge
Oh Hell! / Judgement / Call Bridge: Alternative names for the same basic game family across different regions.Used in: Kachuful
Old Mor / Old Mother: Nickname for the Queen of Clubs, the highest permanent trump in Sjavs.Used in: Sjavs
Ombre / Hombre: The declarer who won the auction; Spanish for 'man'.Used in: Ombre
Omnibus: The variant that adds as a -10 bonus card.Used in: Hearts, Hartenjagen
On the county / on the bus: A player down to zero tokens who has one more grace round before elimination.Used in: Thirty-One
Onder: 'Below'; the down-leg of the ladder (maximum back to 1).Used in: Boerenbridge
One for his heels: 1 point awarded to the dealer when the turn-up is a Jack.Used in: All Fours
One-off: Playing a number card for its rank's single-use effect, then sending it to the scrap.Used in: Cuttle
Open: To make the first bet in a betting round.Used in: Five-Card Draw
Open / seen: playing with knowledge of your cards; bets cost the full stake.Used in: Brag
Open bet: A bet placed after looking at your cards; must be at least double any current blind bet.Used in: Bastard Brag
Open contracts: Declarer plays with hand exposed; pays double.Used in: Ulti
Open draw phase: The first phase of play, while the stock contains cards; no follow-suit obligation.Used in: Trappola
Open information: All cards are visible from the start; no hidden cards or stock.Used in: Seahaven Towers
Open Misère: Misère played with the declarer's hand face-up; 500-point bid.Used in: Five Hundred (500)
Open Misère / Misère Open: Solo bid to take zero tricks with all cards face-up after the first trick.Used in: Rikken
Open phase: Phase while the talon is still face up; no obligation to follow suit.Used in: Mariage, Snapszli
Open solitaire: A solitaire with no hidden cards; Beleaguered Castle is one of the canonical examples.Used in: Beleaguered Castle
Open trump: Trump declared before play begins.Used in: Mendikot, Dehla Pakad
Opener: The player who makes the first bet in the pre-draw round; must hold at least a pair of Kings (in the standard opener rule).Used in: Turkish Poker
Opener / starter: A 7; the only card that can start a new row.Used in: Sevens
Opening lead: the first card played, always by the defender seated to declarer's left.Used in: Minibridge
Opening meld: The first melding turn by a player, which must total at least 40 points (house-rule variable).Used in: Hand and Foot, Robbers' Rummy
Ordago: The all-in declaration that, if accepted, settles the entire vaca on a single category showdown.Used in: Mus
Order up: accepting the turn-up card's suit as trump in the first bidding round.Used in: Euchre
Oros: The Coin/Gold suit in Spanish decks; substituted by Diamonds in a French-suited deck.Used in: Escoba
Oros / Copas / Espadas / Bastos: The four Spanish suits (coins, cups, swords, clubs); decorative only in Ronda.Used in: Ronda
Osmosis filter / cascade rule: A card may only enter a foundation if its rank already appears in every foundation above it.Used in: Osmosis
Other base cards: The three other cards of the base rank. They move to the remaining foundations as they surface during play.Used in: Penguin
Out: Folding without penalty (no chip in fist).Used in: Old Maid, Give Away, Guts
Out (or 'Nerts!'): The call that ends the round when the demon pile is empty.Used in: Racing Demon
Out / Fold: Declaring you will not play; your cards are set aside and you pay no penalty, but you win nothing.Used in: Ramsli
Outs: the remaining cards that would improve your hand to a winning one.Used in: Poker
Ouvert: Contract played with the declarer's hand face-up on the table.Used in: Skat
Over / under / even: A scorekeeper announcement summarising whether the total of all bids is greater than, less than, or equal to the tricks to be won this round.Used in: Oh Pshaw
Over-trump: The requirement to play a higher trump than the one already in the trick, if possible.Used in: Manille, Tysiacha (1000), Tarabish, Ramsli
Over-trumping: Playing a higher trump than the one currently winning the trick; required when you have a higher trump and are forced to play trump.Used in: Manillen
Overtake obligation: The rule that requires you to play a higher card of the same suit if you can, when following suit or trumping.Used in: Preferans
Overtrick: A trick won in excess of your call; scores 0.1 each.Used in: Sergeant Major, Call Break
Overtrick / Undertrick: tricks taken above the contract / below the contract.Used in: Honeymoon Bridge, Three Five Eight
Overtrump (surcoupe): playing a higher trump than one already in the trick when compulsorily trumping.Used in: French Tarot
Overtrump rule: In the Trumps contract, a trump lead obligates the next player to play a higher trump if they hold one.Used in: Barbu
Overtrumping obligation: Strict rule requiring a player, when trumping, to play a higher trump than the current best trump if possible.Used in: Pilotta

P

Pack: Fold; you lose your already-committed chips and exit the hand.Used in: Teen Patti
Packed sequence: A run of cards on a tableau column in alternating colour (Bernauer) or same colour (Sorel).Used in: Agnes
Packet of three: The three cards flipped together from the hand pile. Only the top card is playable.Used in: Racing Demon
Page One (ページワン): Both the name of the game and the mandatory announcement when you drop to two cards.Used in: Page One
Pai Gow: A seven-card hand with no pair, no straight, and no flush. The term comes from the original Chinese tile game.Used in: Pai Gow Poker
Pain suit (Schmerzfarbe): The secret suit you pick at the start of each round; winning cards of this suit costs you points equal to their rank.Used in: Sticheln
Pair: Two cards of the same rank plus one unmatched kicker.Used in: Old Maid, Monte Carlo Solitaire, Hazari
Pair / match: Two cards that satisfy the agreed matching rule (typically same rank and same colour).Used in: Concentration
Pair / Pitty Pat: The two-card discard made on a matching turn; one card matches the up-card, the other is any card from hand.Used in: Pitty Pat
Pair of 13: Two cards whose rank values total 13 (A+Q, 2+J, 3+10, 4+9, 5+8, 6+7); Kings count 13 on their own and are removed alone.Used in: Pyramid Solitaire
Pair Plus: The independent side bet on the player's hand quality (pair or better), resolved regardless of the dealer.Used in: Three Card Poker
Pair posts: Two posts of the same rank; the active player bets higher-or-lower instead of between, and a third matching card costs triple.Used in: In Between
Pair royal: Three of a kind in pegging, scoring 6 points.Used in: Cribbage, Noddy
Pakad: Hindi for 'catch'; the action of capturing.Used in: Dehla Pakad
Palace / palace row: the 3 face-up cards stacked on top of each player's 3 face-down cards; playable after hand is empty.Used in: Palace
Pam (5-card Loo): The Jack of Clubs, the single highest card in the entire deck.Used in: Loo (Lanterloo)
Pam-flush: A flush that includes the Jack of Clubs.Used in: Loo (Lanterloo)
Pam, be civil: Phrase uttered when leading the Ace of trumps in 5-card Loo, protecting the lead from being overtrumped by Pam.Used in: Loo (Lanterloo)
Pandoer (contract): The highest-value contract, requiring the proclaimer's team to win all 8 tricks.Used in: Pandoeren
Paplu: the Indian (Hindi) name for the game; also the name for an optional bonus card (one rank above the wild Joker) in some house rules.Used in: Indian Rummy
Par: The 8 cards per player dealt in the opening; capturing more than par scores chips, fewer pays chips.Used in: Laugh and Lie Down
Par / stroke: Golf-themed scoring terms; a stroke is any card left uncleared, and par is the agreed target for a round.Used in: Golf Solitaire
Parda: A tied trick (both highest cards of equal rank); broken by the next non-tied trick.Used in: Truco
Pari-mutuel: A variant in which all bets pool and winners share the pool proportionally; no fixed odds.Used in: Horse Race
Parker Brothers deck: The classic 44-card 11-author edition, the dominant commercial version of Authors for over a century.Used in: Authors
Parlée / Muette: Spoken and silent Manille traditions; parlée allows limited partner communication.Used in: Manille, Malilla
Partage: a house rule that returns half of a Noir/Rouge stake immediately when a refait occurs.Used in: Trente et Quarante
Partie: A full 6-deal match.Used in: Piquet
Partition: The private arrangement of your 13 cards into four locked groups before any trick is played.Used in: Hazari
Partner (J♦ partner): The holder of the Jack of Diamonds in base rules; the picker's hidden ally. In called-Ace variants, the holder of the called Ace.Used in: Sheepshead
Partner seat: the team arrangement where teammates cannot sit side-by-side; must face each other across the table.Used in: Kemps
Partnership: Two fixed partners seated across the table; all captures pool for the side's count.Used in: Pepper, Malilla
Partnership / Parceria: The two-player team; fixed for the match.Used in: Sueca
Partnership capture pile: The face-down accumulated cards held by a side; counted at deal end.Used in: Twenty-Eight
Partscore, game, slam: the 3 broad point-count tiers used to guide the target trick count, borrowed directly from full contract bridge's scoring tiers.Used in: Minibridge
Paskahousu: Finnish for the last player holding cards; the loser of the round.Used in: Paskahousu
Pass: Declaring you cannot play; costs one chip to the pot.Used in: Big Two, Spoons, Sevens, Tien Len, Klondike, Bismarck, My Ship Sails, Pusoy Dos
Pass / Call / Raise / Fold: Standard betting actions during the single betting round.Used in: Bouillotte
Pass / passing phase: the 3-card exchange before play starts; direction rotates.Used in: Hearts
Pass the trash: the informal name for Anaconda's 3-round card-passing phase, since players are effectively discarding cards they judge unnecessary to a neighbor.Used in: Anaconda
Pass through the stock: Cycling all cards in the stock to the waste and back, one full traversal of the 24 cards.Used in: Solitaire
Pass token: A chip representing the right to pass a turn when unable to play; each player has three.Used in: Seven Bridge
Passing phase: The pre-play 3-card exchange between players.Used in: Hartenjagen
Passing rotation: The continuous simultaneous pass of one card to the left (and pickup from the right) that every player performs throughout the round.Used in: Pig (Card Game)
Pasur / Pâsur / Pasoor: Persian name of the game. The word relates to 'sweep' in Persian.Used in: Pasur
Pat: Drawing zero cards on a draw round; usually signals a made badugi.Used in: Badugi
Pat hand: A 4-of-a-kind hand dealt on the opening deal; immediate signal.Used in: Donkey, Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Patience: The general British term for single-player card games; synonymous with 'Solitaire' in North America.Used in: Solitaire
Peak: One of the three four-row triangular formations at the top of the tableau. Each peak has a single top card that scores a clearance bonus when exposed and removed.Used in: TriPeaks
Peak top: The single top card of a peak; clearing it counts toward the peak-clearance bonus.Used in: TriPeaks
Peek, Spy, Swap: The three special-power families; 7-8 peek at your own card, 9-10 spy on an opponent's card, J-Q swap cards blindly.Used in: Cabo
Peg / Pegging: Scoring points during the play phase, typically counted on a Cribbage board.Used in: Noddy, All Fives
Pegging: scoring during the play phase by moving your pegs along the board.Used in: Cribbage
Penalty: one draw-pile card added to the offender's hand for a rule violation.Used in: Mao
Penalty / Face card: Ace, King, Queen, or Jack; these trigger tribute obligations.Used in: Beggar-My-Neighbor
Penalty card: A heart (1 point) or (13 points); captured in tricks, scores against you.Used in: Olsen, Hartenjagen, May I?
Penalty cards: Extra cards drawn from the stock after an incorrect play.Used in: Eleusis
Penalty draw: the default consequence for breaking any rule; usually 1 card from stock.Used in: Bartok
Penalty points: The score accumulated for losing deals; reaching 12 eliminates a player or team.Used in: Crazy Eights, Kozel
Penalty score: the sum of unmelded card values at hand end; you want this LOW.Used in: Kalooki
Per (Pair): Two cards of the same rank.Used in: Turkish Poker
Perevodnoy (переводной): 'translating / transferable'; Durak variant allowing the defender to pass the attack to the next player.Used in: Durak
Permanent trump: Any Queen or Jack; outranks every other card and is treated as a trump regardless of its printed suit.Used in: Sjavs
Permissive trump: Rule allowing a player to trump in even when able to follow suit.Used in: All Fives
Permissive trumping: The rule allowing a player to trump even when able to follow suit.Used in: All Fours, California Jack
Personal stack: Each player's face-down pile of cards in front of them; only the top card is flipped on a turn.Used in: Slapjack
Pesten: Literally 'to pester'; the verb used for inflicting an action card on an opponent.Used in: Pesten
Phase: one of the ten fixed combinations of sets, runs, and colored groups that must be completed in order across the ten rounds of a full game.Used in: Phase 10
Phase 1: The four-question guessing opener (red/black, higher/lower, inside/outside, suit).Used in: Ride the Bus
Phase 1 (Stock Phase): The first 13 tricks during which players acquire cards from the stock to reshape their hands.Used in: German Whist
Phase 1 / Phase 2: The two halves of a Schnapsen deal, before and after the stock is empty or closed.Used in: Bummerl
Phase 2 (Play Phase): The final 13 tricks after the stock is empty; pure trick-taking with the trump set at the start.Used in: German Whist
Piccolo: A solo contract where the proclaimer must win exactly 1 trick.Used in: Pandoeren
Pick up: Taking the whole discard pile into your hand when you cannot play.Used in: Palace, Paskahousu, Getaway
Pick-up (penalty): In the pick-up version, the penalty for being unable to follow suit: you absorb every card played to the current trick into your hand.Used in: Bhabhi
Picker (declarer): The player who takes the blind and plays as the leader of the picking side.Used in: Sheepshead
Pickup: Cards taken back from the play pile when refusing; the count depends on whether the top card was non-trump (3), your trump (5) or your trump Ace (entire pile).Used in: Svoi Kozyri
Pickup / scoop: a voided player collects all cards already played in the current trick and takes them back into their hand.Used in: Rolling Stone
Pico: Optional mini-contract to win exactly one trick with no trump.Used in: Wiezen
Pico / Slem: Solo bid to take all 13 tricks; the rarest and highest-scoring contract.Used in: Rikken
Piek: Solo bid to take exactly one trick.Used in: Rikken
Pierna ('leg'): Three cards of the same rank in three different suits. Cannot use Jokers.Used in: Loba
Pif Paf direto: Going out on your very first turn for a doubled score.Used in: Pif Paf
Pig: The player who is last to notice a nose-touch and the round's loser.Used in: Pig (Card Game)
Pig (猪 zhū): ; -100 base, -200 if exposed.Used in: Gong Zhu
Pile: One of the twelve tableau stacks of up to four cards.Used in: Cheat, Accordion Solitaire, Aces Up, Muggins, Cruel, James Bond, Verish' Ne Verish'
Pinde: Chips or sticks used to track score; teams start at 24 and work toward 0.Used in: Sjavs
Pinke / Centre: The shedding-phase pot; biggest single compartment.Used in: Poch
Pinochle (the meld): Jack of Diamonds + Queen of Spades; 40 points.Used in: Pinochle
Pinochle deck: The 48-card specialised deck with two of each Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Jack, Nine in every suit.Used in: Pinochle
Pinta: The face-up card placed under the stock that shows the trump suit.Used in: Brisca, Tranca
Pip value: the point weight of a captured card used only to decide the Game point (Ten = 10, Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1).Used in: California Jack
Pips: The scoring value of captured cards; 60 total per deck, neutral share 30.Used in: Malilla
Pique: 30-point bonus for elder reaching 30 total before younger scores.Used in: Piquet
Piquet pack: The 32-card deck (7 through Ace in each suit) used in Klabberjass and related games.Used in: Manille, Écarté, Klabberjass, Polignac
Pishti / Pisti: The Turkish name for the same game; the bonus is also called pishti.Used in: Kseri
Pişti (pisti): The signature 10-point bonus for capturing a lone face-up card by rank match. Turkish for 'caught'.Used in: Pisti
Pit (march): Winning all 8 tricks; +100 bonus.Used in: Klaverjas
Pitch: The opening lead, which sets trumps.Used in: Pitch, Setback
Pitcher: The highest bidder, who leads the first trick and thereby sets the trump suit.Used in: Pitch
Pitcher (or Maker): The winning bidder, who leads trick 1.Used in: Setback
Pitcher / maker: The highest bidder; leads the first trick (a trump) and is responsible for making the bid.Used in: Smear
Plate: 2 or more consecutive triples played together as a single combination.Used in: Guandan
Play: The second bet placed (equal to the Ante) to commit to the showdown instead of folding.Used in: Three Card Poker
Players' card: The face-up card on the right of the layout; punters win when it is matched by the next draw.Used in: Ziginette
Pochbrett: The physical Poch board with nine labelled compartments.Used in: Poch
Pochen: The bluffing-round name; from the German 'pochen' meaning 'to knock / to boast'.Used in: Poch
Podkidnoy (подкидной): 'throw-in'; the classic Durak form where other players may add matching-rank attack cards during a round.Used in: Durak
Poignée: a bonus for revealing an unusually trump-heavy hand before the first card is played.Used in: French Tarot
Point: Declaration for the longest suit.Used in: Commerce, Piquet, Baccarat Banque
Point card: A number card (A-10) played face up in front of you for its face value.Used in: Cuttle
Point cards: Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and 10s; the 20 cards worth 1 point each.Used in: Mighty
Point hand: A non-brelan hand evaluated by highest single-suit total using own cards plus the retourné when suit-matched.Used in: Bouillotte
Point of order: a formal pause during which cards are placed face-down and players may speak freely.Used in: Mao
Point-card: any 5, 10, or 14, or the Rook card; the only cards worth score at the end of a hand.Used in: Rook
Point-count: The fractional or whole point value of a captured card; 1 for Aces, 1/3 for 2s, 3s, and face cards in the traditional scoring.Used in: Traversone
Points auction: Alternative bid progression where players bid in card points rather than ranks.Used in: Briscola Chiamata
Polignac: The , worth 2 penalty points (double the other Jacks); named after a historically unpopular French prince.Used in: Polignac
Polish Polka / Polish Poker: regional names for 4-Card Golf.Used in: Golf
Pone: archaic term for the non-dealer.Used in: Cribbage, Put
Ponto: Fourth-highest trump; the Ace of the trump suit when trumps are red, the King when trumps are black.Used in: Quadrille
Ponto / Punto: The fourth-highest trump in red-trump suits (the plain Ace of that suit).Used in: Ombre
Pontoon: An Ace plus a 10-value card as the first two cards, the top-ranking hand.Used in: Pontoon, Shoot Pontoon
Pool: The central chip pot, built from antes and loo penalties.Used in: Quadrille, Loo (Lanterloo), Spoil Five
Pool (basket): The ante collected before each deal; paid out for special events like Reversis or Quinola discards.Used in: Reversis
Pool / Melee: The face-up cards in the middle of the table available for capture.Used in: Laugh and Lie Down
Pope Joan: the 9 of Diamonds, the game's most valuable card. Named after the legendary medieval female pope.Used in: Pope Joan
Pope Joan family: the broader historical category of stops games from which Newmarket descends.Used in: Newmarket
Position: Your seat relative to the button. Late position (button, cutoff) is strongest; early position (UTG, UTG+1) is weakest.Used in: Texas Hold'em
Post: One of the two face-up cards dealt at the start of a turn; also the name for an exact-match third card that pays double.Used in: Acey Deucey
Post-match: An exact match between the third card and one of the two posts; pays double (4x for Ace-Ace).Used in: In Between
Post-matched: An exact match between the third card and either post; pays double (or quadruple for Ace-Ace).Used in: Acey Deucey
Posts: The two face-up cards dealt at the start of a turn; also the name for an exact-match third card that pays double.Used in: In Between
Pot: The poker chip section, won by the best 5-card hand.Used in: Bourré, Acey Deucey, Parliament, In Between, Tripoli, Ramsli
Pot cap: A house rule limiting the pot's maximum size; recommended for friendly play.Used in: Guts
Pot odds: the ratio of a call's cost to the current pot size; the threshold for a profitable call.Used in: Poker
Pot-limit: The maximum raise on any street equals the pot total after the player has called.Used in: Omaha
Pounce: in the Pounce variant, calling dibs on a fourth rank-matching card from the widow to build a 4-card hand.Used in: Commerce
Power card: A card with a special effect beyond simple matching (2, 8, Jack, Ace by default).Used in: Switch, Cambio
Pre-flop, flop, turn, river: The four streets (betting rounds) of a Hold'em hand.Used in: Texas Hold'em
Preference suits: The ranked order of suits (Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Spades) used to resolve equal bids.Used in: Boston
Preserved sequence: A left-anchored run of 2-3-4-5-... in a single suit, starting from the leftmost column of a row, that is kept in place during a redeal.Used in: Gaps (Montana)
President / Asshole / Scum / Daihinmin: the game's name in different regions. All describe the same game.Used in: President
Prial: Three cards of the same rank; the highest Brag hand.Used in: Brag, Laugh and Lie Down, Bastard Brag
Prikup (talon): The two face-down cards set aside after the deal. Taken by the declarer, who then discards two.Used in: Preferans
Primeras: Bonus for winning the first 5 tricks and resigning the rest.Used in: Ombre
Primero: the name of the game AND of a specific hand (one card of each suit).Used in: Primero
Primiera: A rare Italian-style bonus point, not standard in Tunisian Chkobba.Used in: Scopa, Scopone, Chkobba
Privileged trumps: The three trumps above that may be held back (reneged) from lower trump leads.Used in: Auction Forty-Fives
Prize pile: All the cards sitting face-up and face-down in the centre during a war; the war's winner takes the whole pile.Used in: War
Prize suit / prize deck: The face-down pile of cards (traditionally diamonds) whose top card is revealed each round as the contested prize.Used in: Gops
Proclaimer (pandoer): The player who won the auction and must fulfill the named contract.Used in: Pandoeren
Progressive: A linked jackpot that grows with every $1 side-bet wager until someone hits a qualifying hand.Used in: Caribbean Stud Poker
Prop-and-Cop: a partnership contract; Prop proposes, Cop accepts. Target is 8 tricks.Used in: Solo Whist
Prophet: A player who takes over judging duty once enough evidence is on the table; loses the role if they err.Used in: Eleusis
Propose (Je propose): Elder's request to exchange cards with the stock.Used in: Écarté
Provisional trump: Suit of the last card dealt, exposed to all and then returned to the dealer's hand.Used in: Wiezen
Proyezdnoy (проездной): 'drive-by'; a perevodnoy sub-variant where a trump is shown (not played) to pass.Used in: Durak
Puesta: The hombre ties with the defenders, paying into an ongoing pool.Used in: Ombre, Tresillo
Pull back: The action of sliding an ante back into the player's chip stack and out of play; the ante is safe regardless of the final hand.Used in: Let It Ride
Pulya (bullet): The main pool-score column; the target of the game.Used in: Preferans
Punter: Any non-banker player placing bets.Used in: Andar Bahar, Ziginette, Chemin de Fer, Lansquenet, Lucky 9
Punters' card: The second card turned, placed on the Banker's right; used as the matching target for the Punters.Used in: Lansquenet
Punto: the 7, worth 21 points; the single highest card in Primero.Used in: Primero, Punto Banco
Punto / Player: One of the two dealt hands and the corresponding bet.Used in: Baccarat
Pure Sequence: Straight flush. A-2-3 is the highest.Used in: Indian Rummy, Teen Patti
Push: tie with dealer; bet returned.Used in: Blackjack, Casino War, Red Dog, Pai Gow Poker, Punto Banco, Mississippi Stud
Pusoy / Shi San Zhang: the game's Filipino and Cantonese names.Used in: Chinese Poker
Put: The bluff call that offers the opponent doubled stakes or a forced fold.Used in: Put
Puur (or Bauer): The Under (Jack) of the trump suit. Highest card in the deal at 20 points.Used in: Jass
Pyramid: The 5-row Phase 2 layout of flipped cards used to assign drinks.Used in: Pyramid Solitaire, Ride the Bus, Pyramid (Drinking Game)

Q

Q-6-4: The optimal-play rule for A-K-high hands: raise if your fourth card is Q or higher, OR your fourth card is lower but your fifth card is 6 or higher AND matches the dealer's upcard.Used in: Caribbean Stud Poker
Q-6-4 rule: The optimal play-or-fold threshold: play with Queen-6-4 or better, fold worse.Used in: Three Card Poker
Qualify / Non-qualifying dealer: The dealer's hand must contain at least A-K-high or a pair. If not, the Raise pushes.Used in: Caribbean Stud Poker
Qualifying hand: A 5-card combination of pair of tens or better (the minimum for any remaining ante to be paid).Used in: Let It Ride, Mississippi Stud
Quartet: A group of 4 cards sharing a common theme. The deck is composed of several quartets (8 is the standard).Used in: Quartets, Kwartet
Quattro bello: All four Aces, 2s, or 3s; worth 4 bonus points when declared.Used in: Treseta
Queen: Protects your point cards and royals from targeted effects while in play.Used in: Cuttle
Queens: Contract 2; -25 per queen captured.Used in: Trex
Question Master: Current Queen-drawer; anyone who answers their questions drinks until the next Queen is drawn.Used in: Ring of Fire, Kings (Drinking Game)
Quiero / No quiero: Accept or reject any pending bet.Used in: Mus, Truco
Quinola: The Jack of Hearts; the single most penalising card if captured.Used in: Reversis
Quota: The minimum number of times a non-dealer must double their dealer across the 7 contracts of that dealership; failure to meet the quota forfeits points.Used in: Bismarck, Barbu

R

Race deck: The remaining face-down deck (41 cards) turned one at a time to advance horses.Used in: Horse Race
Rainbow: A set of cards all of different suits.Used in: Badugi
Raise: An optional extra bet, capped at the original wager, placed after the spread is announced.Used in: Red Dog
Raise / Play bet: The additional wager (exactly twice the Ante) placed to stay in the hand for the showdown.Used in: Caribbean Stud Poker
Raise / re-raise (3-bet): increasing the current bet; a second raise in the same round is a 3-bet.Used in: Poker
Ramsch: The 'rubbish' round played when nobody bids; fewest pips wins.Used in: Skat, Schafkopf
Ramsli / Rams / Ramscheln: Names for this gambling trick-taking game across Alsace, Austria, and Germany.Used in: Ramsli
Rang / Rung / Rung-Bazi: Alternate South Asian names for the game, particularly in Pakistan.Used in: Court Piece
Rank: The number or face identity of a card (Ace, 2, 3, ..., Jack, Queen, King), ignoring suit.Used in: Snip Snap Snorum, Earl of Coventry
Rank sequence: The Ace-2-3-...-K-Ace cycle that determines what claim each player must make.Used in: Cheat
Rank wrap: The standard rule that treats Ace as adjacent to both King and 2, making the rank sequence a closed circle.Used in: TriPeaks
Ranking order in every suit: Ace, 7, King, Jack, Queen, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (from high to low).Used in: Sueca
Raspasovka (all-pass): A deal where nobody bids; played at no-trump with the goal of taking zero tricks.Used in: Preferans
Ratscrew: The slang origin of the name; the 'screw' references the penalty of giving up your stack on a bad play.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew
Re / Kontra: The two partnerships, based on who holds the Queens of Clubs.Used in: Doppelkopf
Re-deal (stuck): The action both players take together when no legal play is possible, flipping four fresh cards from their draw piles onto the layout piles to create new tops.Used in: California Speed
Reale: A two-card hand totalling exactly 7.5, paid 2:1 and (by default) transfers the bank to its holder.Used in: Sette e Mezzo
Reclaim: Pick up a joker from a table meld by replacing it with the natural card from your hand.Used in: Jokeren
Recontro: A redoubling call by the declaring team; quadruples the hand score.Used in: Botifarra
Red 3: Bonus card worth 100 each; laid down immediately and replaced from stock.Used in: Canastra, Tranca
Red 3s (♥3, ♦3): bonus cards; lay down immediately for +100 each (+800 for all 4). -100 each if partnership never melds.Used in: Canasta
Red King: A King of hearts or diamonds; the most valuable card in the game (worth -1).Used in: Cabo
Red points: The hearts and diamonds that carry the scoring values.Used in: Chinese Ten
Redeal: The rare optional reshuffle of the waste back into the stock.Used in: Forty Thieves, La Belle Lucie, Cruel, Sir Tommy, Gaps (Montana), Osmosis, Carpet, Chkobba
Redemption: Swapping a Joker in a table meld for the card it was standing in for; the Joker goes to your hand.Used in: Robbers' Rummy
Redouble: A response to a double by the doubled player that further multiplies scores (usually by 2 again).Used in: Barbu
Reds (Herzlos): The No-Hearts contract; 1 point per heart captured.Used in: Lorum
Reenganche ('re-hook'): Buying back into the match after elimination; maximum two re-buys per player.Used in: Loba
Refait: a tie that occurs when both rows total exactly 31 in the same coup.Used in: Trente et Quarante
Refuse: Decline (or be unable) to beat; pick up a fixed number of cards from the top of the pile as a penalty.Used in: Svoi Kozyri
Refuse (Je joue): Dealer's refusal of the proposal; play begins immediately with original hands.Used in: Écarté
Remise: Outcome when the Hombre takes exactly 5 tricks; pool is doubled, no payout.Used in: Quadrille
Renege: failing to follow suit when you held the suit led; a rules violation that usually forfeits the hand.Used in: Spades, Spoil Five
Renege (revoke): failing to follow suit when you hold the suit led; a rules violation with serious penalties.Used in: Euchre, Bid Whist
Renege / revoke: Failure to follow suit when able; penalised.Used in: Pedro, Napoleon, Oh Pshaw, Hartenjagen, Black Maria, Cinch, Nap, Polignac
Reneging: Legally refusing to follow a trump lead when holding a higher privileged trump.Used in: Auction Forty-Fives, Forty-Five
Repique: 60-point bonus for reaching 30 from declarations alone before opponent scores.Used in: Piquet
Replace: swap a drawn card into your grid, sending the existing card to the discard pile.Used in: Golf
Reprieve: The temporary right to rearrange cards outside the normal building rules, granted the moment a column empties and lasting until a King is placed there or the player stops.Used in: Miss Milligan
Reserve: The three face-down cards set aside at deal, released onto the first three columns once no useful move remains.Used in: Canfield Solitaire, Russian Bank, Scorpion
Reserve pile: One of four 4-card face-down stacks with only the top card face-up; source of early cards.Used in: Osmosis
Reserve row (Bernauer only): A row of 7 face-up cards dealt from stock below the tableau. New reserve rows cover earlier ones.Used in: Agnes
Reset: playing a 2; allows any rank to be played next.Used in: Palace, Ride the Bus, Ninety-Eight
Reset card (2): Playable on most cards and resets the pile so any card may follow.Used in: Paskahousu
Reshuffle rule: Whether an emptied face-down stock may be rebuilt by shuffling the capture pile; a house-rule choice.Used in: War
Restore penalty: The obligation to put the table back as it was and draw a card if a manipulation cannot be completed legally.Used in: Machiavelli
Retourne: The card turned up after the initial 5-card deal; proposes trump in the first bidding round.Used in: Belote, Bouillotte
Reveal: The simultaneous showing of all cards at round end to determine who holds the lowest rank.Used in: Twenty-Eight, Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round)
Reverse: The effect of a 4 that flips play direction (clockwise becomes counter-clockwise and vice versa).Used in: Ninety-Nine (99)
Reversis: Winning every trick of a deal, earning the largest reward.Used in: Reversis
Revoke: Failing to follow suit when able to. Penalty: 3 tricks to the opponents.Used in: Whist, Boston
Revolution: House rule inversion of rank order when a four-of-a-kind is played.Used in: President, Pusoy Dos
Rey: The King of the Spanish deck (worth 4 points).Used in: Brisca
Rey (King, 12): Third-highest card. 4 points.Used in: Guiñote
Rickety Kate: The nickname for the Queen of Spades (), the chief penalty card worth 13 points.Used in: Rickety Kate
Ride the Bus: a popular post-game penalty mini-game played by the player with the most remaining cards.Used in: Pyramid (Drinking Game)
Rider: The player who finishes Phase 2 with the most cards and must attempt the Phase 3 bus.Used in: Ride the Bus
Right Bower: the Jack of the trump suit; highest card in the deck.Used in: Euchre, Five Hundred (500), Pepper, Buck Euchre
Right Pedro: The 5 of the trump suit; worth 5 points when captured.Used in: Pedro, Cinch
Rik: The base partnership contract; declarer + partner take 8 of 13 tricks.Used in: Rikken
Rikavond: A 'Rikken evening', a regular weekly social-cum-card session in Brabant pubs and homes.Used in: Rikken
Ring: The circle of 52 face-down cards surrounding the King's Cup.Used in: Ring of Fire
Ring break: Accidentally disturbing the ring while drawing; costs the drawer a penalty drink in most house rules.Used in: Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire: Strict ring variant; Kings is the loose-pile cousin.Used in: Kings (Drinking Game)
River: The four-column personal tableau, built down in alternating colours like Klondike.Used in: Nertz
Rob / Robbing the Pack: a holder of the Ace of trumps exchanges any card from hand for the face-up trump indicator.Used in: Spoil Five
Robbing / Manipulating: Rearranging existing table melds to incorporate cards from your hand.Used in: Robbers' Rummy
Robbing the pack: Exchanging a card in hand for the trump Ace when it is the upcard.Used in: Auction Forty-Fives, Forty-Five
Robbing the trump 7: Trading the 7 of trumps in your hand for the trump indicator card; legal once per deal, only on your lead.Used in: Mariage
Rocket (wangzha): both jokers together; the highest combination in the game. Beats any bomb.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Roem: A meld of consecutive cards or four-of-a-kind, declared during play for bonus points.Used in: Klaverjas
Roll your own: the reveal phase in which each player exposes their chosen best 5 cards 1 at a time in an order they picked themselves, rather than having cards dealt or exposed by the dealer.Used in: Anaconda
Ronda: Holding 3 cards of the same rank in your hand, declared on your turn. +2 points.Used in: Ronda, Cuarenta
Rospisat': Declaring forfeit before playing; each opponent scores 60 and declarer loses the bid.Used in: Tysiacha (1000)
Rotterdams: Rule variant requiring overtrump always when void.Used in: Klaverjas
Rough: A low hand with high secondary cards, for example a rough 9 like 9-8-7-6-2.Used in: Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Rough low: A low hand with high secondary cards (for example, 8-7-6-5-A).Used in: Razz
Rounce: The American descendant of Ramsli, played in the Midwestern US in the early 20th century.Used in: Ramsli
Round: One complete deal of 13 tricks per player.Used in: Trash, Gops, Dehla Pakad, Verish' Ne Verish'
Round / Hand: One deal of the game; hand sizes change each round per the descend-ascend cycle.Used in: Kachuful
Round suits: Coppe and Denari, where number cards rank high to low Ace at middle, then 2 to 10.Used in: Scarto
Round vs match: A round ends with a Cabo call; a match ends when one player crosses the agreed total.Used in: Cabo
Round-the-corner: A run wrapping from K through A to 2. Not legal in Rummy 500; Aces play either high or low, not both.Used in: Rummy 500
Rovescino / Ciapanò / Ko Manje: Regional names for the same reverse-scoring game.Used in: Traversone
Row: One of the 4 horizontal lines of 13 spaces.Used in: Elfer Raus, Gaps (Montana)
Row / ladder: One suit's build, growing up toward Ace and down toward 2 from the opening 7.Used in: Parliament
Row / sequence: The face-up line of cards for one suit on the table, growing outward from the 7 up to King and down to Ace.Used in: Sevens
Row value: the drink count assigned on a successful match at that row (1 at the base up to 5 at the apex).Used in: Pyramid (Drinking Game)
Royal: A face card (Jack, Queen, or King) played for its persistent effect.Used in: Cuttle
Royal Abundance: a 9-trick contract using the turn-up trump suit (ranks above regular Abundance in the auction).Used in: Solo Whist
Royalty: a fixed bonus payment for premium hands such as straight flush, four of a kind, or full house, paid in addition to normal hand wins.Used in: Chinese Poker
Rubamazzo: Italian for 'to steal the pile'; pile-stealing is the defining rule.Used in: Rubamazzo
Rubber: Best-of-three games; the session unit of Whist.Used in: Whist, Biritch, Honeymoon Bridge, Skruuvi, Vint, Auction Bridge
Rubber / Chicago / Duplicate: the three main scoring formats.Used in: Bridge
Rubicon: The 100-point threshold; failing to reach it magnifies the loss margin in Rubicon Piquet.Used in: Piquet
Ruff: To play a trump when void in the led suit.Used in: Bridge, Hokm, Gleek
Rufspiel / Sauspiel: The standard partnership contract with Hearts trump; the declarer calls a suit Ace to name a hidden partner.Used in: Schafkopf
Rule: The secret predicate the Dealer wrote down that determines legal plays.Used in: Eleusis
Rule card: The written or agreed mapping of ranks to actions. Every group is expected to set their own before play.Used in: Kings (Drinking Game)
Rummikub: The tile game directly descended from Robbers' Rummy, published 1978 by Ephraim Hertzano.Used in: Robbers' Rummy
Rummy: Laying down your entire hand in a single turn without any prior melds (bonus in some variants).Used in: Rummy
Rummy (Going): Having zero deadwood; entire hand in melds. Earns a 25-point bonus.Used in: Knock Rummy
Run: A-10-K-Q-J of the trump suit; 150 points.Used in: Brag, Pinochle, Yaniv, Jokeren, Shanghai Rummy, Machiavelli, May I?, Mexican Rummy
Run (sảnh): Three or more consecutive cards in rank, suits mixed.Used in: Tien Len
Run (Sequence): 3 or more consecutive same-suit cards.Used in: Cribbage, Contract Rummy, Knock Rummy
Run / Sequence: Three or more consecutive cards of the same suit.Used in: Conquian, Rummy 500
Run / sequence / straight: 3+ consecutive same-suit cards.Used in: Gin Rummy, Rummy
Run the cards: Dealer's refusal of a beg, dealing 3 more cards and turning a fresh trump.Used in: All Fours
Rundfier: Four of a kind, one from each suit.Used in: Binokel
Running flush: Three consecutive same-suit cards.Used in: Brag, Bastard Brag
Running the cards: Dealing 3 extra cards each and turning a new trump after a beg; repeats if the new turn-up matches the old suit.Used in: All Fives
Running total: The cumulative sum of card values played so far in the current round.Used in: Ninety-Nine (99), Muggins, Ninety-Eight
Runout: Going out in a single turn without previously having laid any spread; pays a double-stake bonus in some house rules.Used in: Tonk

S

Sabot: The dealing shoe holding the shuffled decks.Used in: Baccarat Banque
Sacada: The hombre successfully wins 5 or more tricks.Used in: Ombre, Tresillo
Sacred Rule: the only statement veterans may say aloud about the rules.Used in: Mao
Samba: A seven-card suited run, worth 1,500 bonus points.Used in: Samba
Same-suit building: The tableau rule unique to Baker's Game: a card may only be placed on another card of identical suit, one rank higher.Used in: Baker's Game, Eight Off
Same-suit sequence (run): A contiguous block of descending-rank same-suit cards at the bottom of a column; can be moved as a unit.Used in: Spider Solitaire
Sancho: The 9 of trump in Pedro Sancho variant; worth 9 points.Used in: Pedro
Sandbagging: deliberately under-bidding to stockpile bags; punished by the 10-bag rule.Used in: Spades
Sandwich: Two same-rank cards separated by exactly one other card on the pile; slap-eligible.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew
Sans Atout: a no-trump contract; no suit is trump and every Ace is worth 19 points.Used in: Belote Coinchée
Sant Vicenç: A further redoubling by the opposing team; 8x the hand score.Used in: Botifarra
Sapaw: Laying off cards onto any existing meld on the table, including opponents' melds.Used in: Tongits
Sau: 'Sow', Bavarian nickname for the Ace (used in 'I call the Eichel-Sau', the Acorn Ace).Used in: Schafkopf
Scala: A sequence; three or more consecutive cards of the same suit.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Scala Quaranta / Scala 40: 'Forty Staircase', the Italian rummy game with a 40-point opening meld requirement.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Scarto: The act of discarding after picking up the talon; also the name of the game.Used in: Scarto
Schieben: To 'push' the trump-naming choice to the partner; partner must then choose one of the five non-Schieben contracts.Used in: Jass
Schlag / Striker: Any card of the rank chosen by forehand. Four exist (one in each suit).Used in: Watten
Schmeiss: An offer to throw the hand in unless the opponent insists on the proposed trump.Used in: Klabberjass
Schmerzkarte: The single card you flipped face-down at round start to indicate your pain suit.Used in: Sticheln
Schnapser: The base trump contract; score 66+ of 120 points.Used in: Bauernschnapsen
Schneider: 91+ points for one side; 2x stakes.Used in: Skat, Sixty-Six, Bohemian Schneider, Snapszli, Trappola, Sjavs, Bummerl, Sheepshead
Schneider / Pelada / Pontos: Taking 91-119 points in one hand; scores 2 games.Used in: Sueca
Schneider / Schwarz: Bonus conditions for winning side (≤ 30 points / zero tricks for losers).Used in: Schafkopf
Schwarz: Winning every trick.Used in: Skat, Bohemian Schneider, Snapszli, Trappola, Bummerl, Schnapsen, Spitzer
Schwarz / No-tricker: All 6 tricks for one side; 3x stakes.Used in: Sheepshead
Scientific Scopone: The variant with no opening table cards; pure strategy with no starting luck.Used in: Scopone
Scoop: winning both the high and low halves of a split pot with a single hand.Used in: Chinese Poker, Anaconda
Scopa: Clearing the table with a single capture; worth 1 point.Used in: Scopa, Scopone
Score pile: The personal pile of heart cards captured from winning tricks.Used in: Smoorverliefd
Scramble: The moment all remaining players realise a spoon has been taken and race for the rest.Used in: Spoons
Scrap pile: The discard pile. Cards here can be resurrected with a 3 one-off.Used in: Cuttle
Scratch: Eliminating a horse from the race (used in the fall-down variant).Used in: Horse Race
Scuttle: Playing a higher number card on an opponent's point card, sending both to the scrap.Used in: Cuttle
Secret: A hidden meld kept in hand; in some variants earns a bonus if revealed last.Used in: Tongits
Sedma (seven): Win the last trick with the 7 of trumps.Used in: Mariáš
See: Accepting a Put and playing on for doubled stakes.Used in: Brag, Put, Bastard Brag
Seen / Chaal: Playing after looking at your cards; bet at double the blind stake.Used in: Teen Patti
Seep / sweep: Capturing every loose card from the floor in one play; scores a 50-point bonus (25 on the opening play, 0 on the final play).Used in: Seep
Señas: The conventional table signals partners may use to communicate their trump holdings.Used in: Brisca
Sequence: A run of cards in descending rank, alternating colours.Used in: Commerce, Piquet, Michigan Rummy, Klondike, Skitgubbe
Sequence (Tierce, Quarte, Quinte): Three, four, or five consecutive cards of the same suit, worth 20, 50, or 100 points respectively.Used in: Klabberjass
Sequence / Run: Four or more cards of the same suit in consecutive rank order.Used in: Liverpool Rummy
Sequence / Sequenz: The 7-8-9 of trumps (or other three-card trump run).Used in: Poch
Sequence leap (8-9-10 gap): Because the deck omits 8s, 9s, and 10s, sequences jump from 7 directly to Jack (then Queen, King).Used in: Cuarenta
Sequence move: Moving a group of consecutive same-suit cards in one action; capacity equals 1 + number of empty free cells.Used in: Seahaven Towers
Sequência: A run of three consecutive same-suit cards.Used in: Pif Paf
Sergeant Major: British armed forces nickname, after the non-commissioned officer rank. The name is traditional; the 3-5-8 scheme has no regimental meaning.Used in: Sergeant Major
Series: the full match, made up of one deal per player so that everyone deals once.Used in: Continental Rummy
Session: the multi-round sitting in which invented rules accumulate; separate sessions start with a clean slate.Used in: Bartok, Duplicate Bridge
Set: Two or more cards of the same rank.Used in: Five Hundred (500), Piquet, Pedro, Pepper, Conquian, Yaniv, Tarneeb, Auction Forty-Fives
Set (euchred): when the maker fails to win at least 3 of the 5 tricks, triggering the 5-point penalty.Used in: Buck Euchre
Set (Going Set): Failing to make the bid; the bid amount is deducted from the partnership score.Used in: Pinochle
Set (Group): 3 or more cards of the same rank.Used in: Contract Rummy
Set (Trio/Quad): 3 or 4 same-rank cards in different suits.Used in: Indian Rummy
Set / Book: Three or four cards of the same rank, any suits.Used in: Rummy
Set / Group: Three or four cards of the same rank; a valid meld.Used in: Rummy 500
Set / group / book: 3 or 4 cards of the same rank in different suits.Used in: Gin Rummy
Set back: When the pitcher fails to make the bid; the bid amount is subtracted from their score.Used in: Smear
Set, or set-back: Failing a bid; the bid amount is subtracted from your score.Used in: Pitch
Setback: Optional rule flipping course cards to move a reaching horse one space back.Used in: Setback, Horse Race
Setenta / Primera: The best one-card-per-suit combination, scored at the end of each hand.Used in: Escoba
Settebello: The 7 of Coins; 1 point to whoever captures it.Used in: Scopa, Scopone, Rubamazzo
Seven: Anchor card for each suit; the first card placed for that suit.Used in: Seven Bridge
Seven of Diamonds ([7♦]): The second and last trump card; together with these are the only two trumps.Used in: Spitzer
Sevens / Dominoes / Parliament: Alternate names for Fan Tan.Used in: Fan Tan
Shed: To play a card from your hand onto the layout.Used in: Fan Tan
Shed / shedding game: A family of card games whose goal is to be the first to have no cards left in hand.Used in: Ochos Locos
Shedding game: A family of card games whose goal is to empty one's hand before opponents.Used in: California Speed, Bartok, Snip Snap Snorum, Earl of Coventry
Sheep (羊 yáng): ; +100 base, +200 if exposed.Used in: Gong Zhu
Shestyorka (шестёрка): 'the six'; the lowest card in the 36-card pack, often a liability to hold.Used in: Durak
Shichi Narabe: Japanese name, literally 'sevens in a row'.Used in: Seven Bridge
Shithead: The last player still holding cards at the end of the round.Used in: Palace, Shithead
Shoe: the two 54-card packs combined into 108 cards.Used in: Blackjack, Kalooki, Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco, Trente et Quarante
Shoe / Sabot: The dealing box holding the shuffled decks.Used in: Baccarat
Shokha: The 6 of spades, super-trump that outranks every other card in the pack.Used in: Kozel
Shoot: The side-bet kitty posted by the banker; winning Shoot bets are paid from it, losing ones are added to it.Used in: Shoot Pontoon
Shoot bet: A Punter's side stake against the kitty, over and above the main stake.Used in: Shoot Pontoon
Shoot the moon: Capturing every penalty card in a hand; scores 0 for the shooter and 26 for each opponent.Used in: Olsen, Hartenjagen, Rickety Kate
Shooting the Moon: Capturing all the Heart penalties and the Pig in a single hand, converting penalties into bonuses.Used in: Gong Zhu
Shooting the moon (hitting the moon): collecting all 13 hearts + Q♠ in one hand; invert scoring.Used in: Hearts
Short Whist: Game to 5 points. The standard form since the mid-19th century.Used in: Whist
Shortfall: Tricks short of your call; no matter the size, the full call is deducted.Used in: Call Break
Shout race: the moment of matching ranks, both involved players attempt to shout the other's animal name first.Used in: Animal
Show: Compare hands at the end of a head-up contest; pays the show cost first.Used in: Teen Patti, Marriage
Showdown: the reveal-cards phase after the final betting round.Used in: Poker, Thirty-One, Texas Hold'em, Seven-Card Stud, Guts, Indian Poker, Bastard Brag, Five-Card Stud
Shutout: A loss where the player never played a card (13 cards remaining), triggering the triple-penalty multiplier.Used in: Pusoy Dos
Side pile: Each player's face-down flanking pile of 5 cards used to break a stuck position.Used in: Speed
Side pot: The pot created when some players have more chips than an all-in player; only covering players can win it.Used in: Texas Hold'em
Side-fee: The one-chip premium paid by each non-announcing player to the announcer of a brelan, collected regardless of the hand result.Used in: Bouillotte
Sideline: Cards placed below a main-line card to indicate they were rejected after that state.Used in: Eleusis
Sideshow / Compromise: Private hand comparison between a seen player and the previous seen player; weaker hand folds.Used in: Teen Patti
Siete de Velo: The 7 of Oros, awarded 1 bonus point for whoever captures it.Used in: Escoba
Sift Smoke: an older name for the same game.Used in: Linger Longer
Signal: the pair's agreed-upon secret gesture or behaviour that means 'I have four of a kind'. Pairs must agree before each match.Used in: Kemps
Silent partner (compagno): Holder of the called card; hidden ally of the caller.Used in: Briscola Chiamata
Simple Game (Parti): The lowest contract; reach 41+ of 90 points.Used in: Ulti
Simultaneous / alternating play: The two pacing styles; simultaneous is a race, alternating is a turn-based contest.Used in: Double Solitaire
Simultaneous play: The absence of turns; both players act whenever they see a legal move, so speed and perception win games.Used in: California Speed
Single / Pair / Triple: One, two, or three cards of the same rank.Used in: Tien Len
Single pass: A convention that the stock is turned face-up only once during a deal (the strict rule); relaxed play allows redeals.Used in: Pyramid Solitaire
Siri / Fifty / Hundred: The three project (declaration) tiers, scoring 2/5/10 in Hokum or 4/10/20 in Sun.Used in: Baloot
Sirr: Capturing all four 10s in a single round; instant match win.Used in: Dehla Pakad
Six Card Bonus: An optional side bet scoring the best 5-card poker hand from the combined 6 cards.Used in: Three Card Poker
Sjavs: Danish corruption of German 'Schafkopf' (sheep's head); the name of the game.Used in: Sjavs
Skat: The two face-down cards placed in the middle during the deal; also the name of the whole game.Used in: Skat
Skat pack: The 32-card German deck of Sevens through Aces used in this and many other German games.Used in: Letzter Stich
Skip: The effect of a 3 that forces the next player to miss their turn.Used in: Ninety-Nine (99)
Skip card: an action card that forces a chosen opponent to lose their next turn; worth 15 points if left in hand when a round ends.Used in: Phase 10
Skitgubbe: The loser; the final player still holding cards when everyone else has gone out.Used in: Skitgubbe
Skruuvi: The game itself; also the metaphorical 'screw' the defenders put on the declarer.Used in: Skruuvi
Skunk: Winning the match 52-0; a bragging-rights victory.Used in: Kaiser
Skunk (lurch): loser fails to reach 91; double game. Double skunk: loser fails to reach 61; quadruple game.Used in: Cribbage
Slag: Dutch for 'trick'; one round of four cards played.Used in: Boerenbridge
Slam: Capturing all 13 tricks in a single hand; awards a +25 bonus.Used in: Vint, Sviten Special
Slap: The hand-slap action that claims a central pile at the end of a round.Used in: Slapjack, Spit
Slap-back-in: A player with no cards reclaiming the pile via a valid slap, re-entering the game.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew
Slapdown (variant): Ending the round by slapping the table when your hand drops to 0 after a draw.Used in: Yaniv
Slot: one of the numbered positions in your layout, corresponding to a card rank from Ace (1) through 10.Used in: Trash
Slough: To intentionally play a low, worthless card when you cannot or do not want to win a trick.Used in: Letzter Stich
Sloughing: Discarding a card of an already-led rank in Phase 1 without contesting the trick; legal in 3- and 4-player games.Used in: Skitgubbe
Sluff / discard: to play a card from a different suit than the led suit, because you are void.Used in: Hearts
Small bet / big bet: The two fixed wager sizes in a limit game; the big bet, usually double the small bet, applies from the third betting round onward.Used in: Seven-Card Stud, Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Small blind, big blind: Forced pre-flop bets by the two players clockwise of the button.Used in: Texas Hold'em
Small tricks: The three comparison tricks played using everyone's 3-card groups.Used in: Hazari
Smooth: A low hand whose secondary cards are also small, for example a smooth 8 like 8-4-3-2-A-equivalent low structure (8-5-4-3-2).Used in: Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Smooth low: A low hand whose secondary cards are also small (for example, 8-4-3-2-A is a smooth 8).Used in: Razz
Smother: dropping the Q♠ on a spade trick won by an opponent.Used in: Hearts
Smudge: A bid of 4 (all four points). Typically wins the match if successful.Used in: Pitch
Smudge (or Shoot the Moon): A 4-point bid that, if made, may win the match outright.Used in: Setback
Snap pool: a central pile formed by a tie-snap or a wrong call; claimable by 'Snap pool!' when a new flip matches its top card.Used in: Snap
Snap!: the called word (or slap) that claims a match between two showing cards.Used in: Snap
Snorum: The fourth and final card of a rank; the player who plays it claims the next lead.Used in: Snip Snap Snorum
Snow: Betting a weak hand as if it were strong, often by standing pat on bluff.Used in: Badugi
Snow / Bluff: Aggressive betting representing a hand you do not hold; Pineapple discourages pure bluffing because more hands connect with the flop.Used in: Pineapple
Snow / snowing: Standing pat with a bad hand to represent a strong one and bluff opponents into folding.Used in: Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Snowball pot: The phenomenon where matched losses cause the pot to grow exponentially round over round.Used in: Guts
Soda: The first card exposed at the start of the deal; dead card.Used in: Faro
Soft hand: a hand containing an Ace counted as 11.Used in: Blackjack
Solissimo: The 4-point contract; soloist plays without the stock.Used in: Calabresella
Solissimo dividete: The 8-point contract; defenders each exchange 2 cards with the stock.Used in: Calabresella
Solissimo scegliete: The 16-point contract; defenders see the stock face-up and divide it between them.Used in: Calabresella
Solo: Solo bid to take 8+ tricks with named trumps.Used in: Solo Whist, Schafkopf, Doppelkopf, Quadrille, Rikken, Sheepshead, Tresillo, Calabresella
Solo / Nolo: Optional bid types: Solo plays alone for double; Nolo bids to take zero tricks.Used in: Sjavs
Solo Slim: Play alone for every trick, choosing trump; highest bid in the ladder.Used in: Wiezen
Soloist (chiamante): The player who wins the auction and plays alone against the other two.Used in: Calabresella
Sorting: The end-of-round step in which lake cards are distributed back to each player's deck by back design.Used in: Nertz
Sota: The Jack of the Spanish deck (worth 2 points).Used in: Brisca
Sota (Jack, 10): Fifth-highest card. 2 points.Used in: Guiñote
Sota (Jack): The lowest court card.Used in: Tute
Sota / Caballo / Rey: The Spanish-deck face cards (Jack/10, Knight/11, King/12 in rank; 8/9/10 in deadwood value).Used in: Chinchon
Spade double: The rule that all points from a hand with a spade upcard are multiplied by 2.Used in: Oklahoma Rummy
Spader: The positive contract with Spades as trumps.Used in: Bismarck
Spades (permanent trump): The trump suit on every deal; any spade beats any non-spade.Used in: Call Break
Spadille: Ace of Spades, always the highest trump.Used in: Ombre, Quadrille, Tresillo
Spanish Deck: A 48-card deck with all 10-spot cards removed (Jacks, Queens, and Kings remain).Used in: Spanish 21
Spanish suits: Copas (cups), Oros (coins), Espadas (swords), Bastos (clubs); the classical Conquian pack uses these.Used in: Conquian
Spanish-suited deck: A 40- or 48-card pack with suits Coins, Cups, Swords, Batons; used across Iberia and parts of Latin America.Used in: Botifarra
Special cards: (+5) and (-3); replace the 7 of Hearts and 7 of Spades respectively in the 32-card deck.Used in: Kaiser
Spel: The plain no-trump positive contract.Used in: Bismarck
Spine: The row of consecutive cards of one suit that extends out from its Seven.Used in: Seven Bridge
Spine edge: The lowest or highest card currently placed in a suit; the only positions where a new card can extend.Used in: Seven Bridge
Spit pile: The personal face-down stack of unused cards each player holds beside their tableau.Used in: Spit
Spit!: The verbal start signal, also the action of flipping a new central-pile card when both players are stuck.Used in: Spit
Spite / blocking: making a play or discard that hurts the opponent more than it helps you.Used in: Spite and Malice
Spitz / Spitzer: 7 of Acorns . Third-highest card.Used in: Watten
Spitzer: Both the name of the game and the nickname for the , the highest trump.Used in: Spitzer
Split: Both cards of a turn of the same rank; banker takes half.Used in: Blackjack, Faro, Pontoon, Shoot Pontoon
Split half-suit: A half-suit with cards held by both teams; still claimable under most rule sets if all 6 locations are correctly named.Used in: Literature
Spoil: a hand in which no player wins 3 tricks. The pool carries over to the next deal.Used in: Spoil Five
Spoons (variant): The physical-grab version where tokens replace the copy-the-signal rule.Used in: Donkey
Spoons / Donkey: Object-grabbing variants in which the physical scramble for a central object replaces the silent nose-touch.Used in: Pig (Card Game)
Spread: The number of ranks strictly between the two posts.Used in: Tonk, Acey Deucey, Red Dog, In Between
Spread Misère / Misère Ouverte: a 0-trick contract with the declarer's hand placed face-up after the first trick.Used in: Solo Whist
Spring (chun): shutout bonus; Landlord wins while Peasants played zero cards, doubling the stake.Used in: Dou Dizhu
Stacking: playing another card of the same 'special' rank to pass along or compound its effect.Used in: Mao, Switch, Uno, Mau Mau
Stacking / Opleggen: Playing an action card of the same rank onto a previous action card to pass the penalty forward and compound it.Used in: Pesten
Stake: the current bet amount required to stay in the hand.Used in: Brag, Tonk, Toepen
Stake / ante: A chip (cash or token) used for settlement; pre-paid equally into a pool.Used in: Napoleon, Nap
Stale centre: a market state where no player wants any of the 4 face-up cards. Dealer discards and flips 4 new cards.Used in: Kemps
Stalemate: the situation where no player can play and the round ends by count of remaining cards.Used in: Give Away
Stand: Keeping your card on your turn.Used in: Blackjack, Chase the Ace, Gnav, Cuckoo (Ranter-Go-Round)
Stand pat: Discarding zero cards in the draw round.Used in: Five-Card Draw
Starter: the first card flipped face-up at the start of play to seed the discard.Used in: Crazy Eights
Starter (cut card): the face-up card turned up after discards; acts as a shared 5th card for every hand and the crib.Used in: Cribbage
Starter (Noddy card): The single face-up card turned from the stock after the deal; it joins each hand for scoring.Used in: Noddy
Starter cards: The two face-down cards flipped at the start of the round to seed the two centre piles.Used in: Speed
Starter rank: The rank of the first card dealt to the top foundation; every foundation below the first must start with this rank.Used in: Osmosis
Stay / In: Declare that you will play the hand and risk being bourréd.Used in: Bourré
Stay in: Accept a toep and keep playing at the new, higher stake.Used in: Toepen
Steal: Taking an opponent's entire bundle by matching the rank of its top card.Used in: Stealing Bundles
Stechen: The rule that when you cannot follow suit you must trump if you can.Used in: Kratzen
Stich-Zwang: The must-win-if-able rule; when you can win the trick you must do so.Used in: Mariáš, Bauernschnapsen
Stichlos: No Tricks; 1 point per trick captured.Used in: Lorum
Stick: Stand; requires a total of 15 or higher.Used in: Pontoon, Shoot Pontoon, Cambio
Stick 'Em: The English-language title of Sticheln.Used in: Sticheln
Stick the dealer: house rule forcing the dealer to name trump in round 2 rather than throw in.Used in: Euchre
Sto: 'I stand' - the call to stop drawing.Used in: Sette e Mezzo
Sto/kilo (hundred): 100+ card points with the trump marriage included.Used in: Mariáš
Stock: The face-down draw pile.Used in: Solitaire, Golf, Rummy, Briscola, Kings in the Corner, Jass, Chase the Ace, Conquian
Stock (draw pile): the face-down reserve from which players draw when unable to play.Used in: Crazy Eights
Stock (mazzo): The face-down pile from which players draw new cards.Used in: Scala Quaranta
Stock (monte): The 4 cards set aside after the initial deal; handled differently by each contract.Used in: Calabresella
Stock (Ocean, Pool): The face-down draw pile in the centre of the table.Used in: Go Fish
Stock (or Talon): The face-down pile from which both players draw after each trick; the bottom card is the face-up trump.Used in: Sixty-Six
Stock / Discard pile: The face-down draw pile and the face-up discard pile, standard rummy terminology.Used in: Tonk, Chinchon
Stock / draw pile: The face-down reserve of undealt cards.Used in: Aces Up, Ochos Locos
Stock / Mazo: The face-down pile from which cards are drawn in turn.Used in: Carioca
Stock / Pile: Each player's personal face-down pile of cards; the top card is the only one consulted per round.Used in: War
Stock / Talon: The face-down undealt pack, topped by the face-up trump card.Used in: German Whist, Schnapsen
Stock / Tiddy pile: the 8-card face-down pile; auction winner takes it and discards 7.Used in: Gleek
Stock / waste: Reserve piles used in Klondike; Yukon has neither.Used in: Yukon Solitaire, Baker's Dozen Solitaire
Stock and waste: The face-down draw pile and the face-up running pile of dealt cards in front of each player; only the top of the waste is playable.Used in: Nertz
Stock phase: The first part of the deal during which players draw replacement cards from the stock and may meld.Used in: Bezique
Stockpile (goal pile, payoff pile): the 26-card face-down stack each player races to empty; only the top card is face-up.Used in: Spite and Malice
Stop: the end of a sequence when no player can play the next ascending card in the suit.Used in: Newmarket, Michigan Rummy, Pope Joan
Stop! / Tunj! / Crapette!: The opponent's call when you skip a mandatory play or make an illegal move; ends your turn immediately if correct.Used in: Russian Bank
Stops: A stopped sequence in the third phase (when no player holds the next-higher card of the suit).Used in: Tripoli
Storan: The 10 of diamonds; the single most expensive card (3 penalty points).Used in: Krypkasino
Stormvira: All 13 tricks without taking any talon card, the highest contract in the ladder.Used in: Vira
Straddle: a voluntary extra forced bet posted before the deal to build a bigger pot.Used in: Short Deck Hold'em
Straight flush: five consecutive same-suit cards; the top five-card hand.Used in: Big Two
Straight Flush, Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush, Pair, High Card: The six ranked hand categories in 3-card poker.Used in: Three Card Poker
Stramazzo: Winning all card points without all tricks (or vice versa); triples the game-point payout.Used in: Calabresella
Streak reset: A round with 0-2 tens captured, which resets the partnership's kot count to zero.Used in: Dehla Pakad
Street: one betting round, named for the total number of cards dealt so far (3rd street through 7th street).Used in: Seven-Card Stud, Baseball, Mississippi Stud
Strict ask rule: A house rule that penalises asking for a card you do not already hold a member of.Used in: Quartets
Strict-follow / strict-overtrump: Rules requiring players to follow suit if able and to overtrump if unable to follow suit.Used in: Malilla
Strike: A record of elimination in multi-round play; three strikes removes a player from the match.Used in: Ninety-Eight
Striker (Schlager): The dealer of the deal; obliged to win two tricks.Used in: Kratzen
Strip Jack Naked: Alternate British name for the same game, especially common in northern England.Used in: Beggar-My-Neighbor
Stripped deck: a standard pack with low cards removed so the hand size divides evenly.Used in: Rolling Stone, Bouillotte
Striscio: Signal meaning 'I hold many more cards of this suit'.Used in: Treseta
Stub: The remaining undealt portion of the deck used to supply replacement cards during the draws.Used in: Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
Stuck: The state where neither player can play any card from their tableau onto either central pile.Used in: Speed, Spit, Flower Garden
Stuk: The King + Queen of the trump suit; +20 to the side that wins the trick where the second of the pair is played.Used in: Klaverjas
Subtract-10 (10): The option to play a 10 as a subtraction of 10 from the running total.Used in: Ninety-Eight
Sudden death: A single-card tiebreaker deal between the last two players when both lose their final life simultaneously.Used in: Chase the Ace
Sueca: The game name; from Portuguese 'Sueca' meaning 'Swedish', though the game is not Swedish in origin. The etymology is disputed; some theorists link it to 'sueca' meaning 'partner's shuffle' in regional dialect.Used in: Sueca
Suit / rank build: Moving a card (or same-suit run) onto a higher card of the same or different suit, in strictly descending rank.Used in: Spider Solitaire
Suit change: Using a wild Jack (in the Wild Jack variant) to declare a new suit that the next player must match.Used in: Switch
Suit led (札の色): The suit of the first card played in each trick; others must follow it.Used in: Page One
Suit sequence: A complete King-to-Ace run of a single suit; the winning goal four times over.Used in: Scorpion
Suit tie-break: An optional convention (often Spades > Hearts > Diamonds > Clubs) used to break ties between equal ranks; by default the pot is split.Used in: Indian Poker
Sum capture: Taking a set of table cards whose values add to your played card's value.Used in: Basra, Sweep
Sun (Shams): No-trump declaration; an optional bid type used in some variants.Used in: Tarneeb
Sun (Shams) / Ashkal: No-trump contract; Aces are highest, declarations score double.Used in: Baloot
Super Bonus: $1,000 or $5,000 fixed bonus for three suited 7s against a dealer 7.Used in: Spanish 21
Supermove: A multi-card move allowed by the current free cells and empty columns, limited to cards that already form a legal same-suit descending run.Used in: FreeCell, Baker's Game
Supremus: in Italian variants, the specific three-card combination A, 6, 7.Used in: Primero
Sur: A sweep; clearing the entire table with one capture. Scores 5 points.Used in: Pasur
Surcoinche: Redoubling after a coinche.Used in: Belote, Belote Coinchée
Surrender: forfeit half the bet on your first action; ends the hand.Used in: Blackjack, Casino War
Svoi Kozyri: Russian for 'one's own trumps'; both the name of the game and the rule that each player owns a personal trump suit.Used in: Svoi Kozyri
Swap: Exchanging your card with the next player's (your left) on your turn.Used in: Gnav, James Bond, Cambio
Swap / Change: Force the player on your left to exchange their card with yours.Used in: Chase the Ace
Sweep: Capturing every face-up table card in one turn; a bonus in some variants.Used in: Knock-Out Whist, Cassino, Michigan Rummy, Chinese Ten
Sweep (alle harten): Capturing every Heart in a round for a doubled score.Used in: Smoorverliefd
Sweep (Jhadu): Capturing every card currently on the table in a single play; worth 1 bonus point.Used in: Sweep
Sweep the pot: Take the entire accumulated pot of chips by winning the fifth and final trick.Used in: Femkort
Sweeper: A rank cluster (three or four cards of the same rank) that, when reached, can stack through several matches in quick succession.Used in: Accordion Solitaire
Switch / UNO: close cousins; Switch shares the British heritage, UNO is a proprietary commercial adaptation.Used in: Crazy Eights

T

Tabbe: A sweep; capturing every card on the layout in one play. Heavily penalised in Krypkasino.Used in: Krypkasino
Tabla (tablić): A sweep of every card from the table in a single play; worth 1 bonus point.Used in: Tablanet
Table / House: The shared set of face-up cards in the middle of the table, available for capture.Used in: Sweep
Table card / Face-up card: A card currently face-up on the table, available for capture.Used in: Pasur
Table card / Pool: A face-up card in the centre, available for capture by rank-matching.Used in: Stealing Bundles
Table cards: Cards face-up in the centre, available for capture.Used in: Rubamazzo, Chinese Ten
Tableau: The seven dealt columns where all play occurs.Used in: Solitaire, FreeCell, Klondike, Spider Solitaire, Forty Thieves, Yukon Solitaire, Canfield Solitaire, Baker's Dozen Solitaire
Tableau column: One of the 10 face-up columns of cards.Used in: Seahaven Towers, Penguin
Tableau row: One of the eight rows of six cards radiating from the centre.Used in: Beleaguered Castle
Tacking: adding a single legal card to any existing meld on the table, after you have met the contract.Used in: Kalooki
Taker (le preneur): the auction winner, who plays alone against the other players for the deal.Used in: French Tarot
Taker / Preneur: a member of the partnership that won the auction and must fulfil the contract.Used in: Belote, Belote Coinchée
Talon: The 13 cards left face down after the deal.Used in: Piquet, Zwicken, Bohemian Schneider, Mariáš, Ulti, Trappola, Vira, Bauernschnapsen
Talon (stock): The face-down 10-card pile from which players draw between tricks.Used in: Snapszli
Talon / Prikup: The 3-card widow set aside after the deal; goes to the bid winner.Used in: Tysiacha (1000)
Talon / stock: The face-down draw pile remaining after the initial deal.Used in: Ombre, Carpet, Skitgubbe
Tarabish: the game's name; pronounced 'tar-a-bish' or colloquially 'tar-bish' in Cape Breton.Used in: Tarabish
Target: The agreed score (typically 61 or 100) required to win the match.Used in: Muggins, Cuttle
Target suit: The suit a player is trying to collect seven of.Used in: My Ship Sails
Tarneeb: Arabic for 'trump'; both the name of the game and of the trump suit.Used in: Tarneeb
Tarocchi: Italian for trumps, the 22 numbered trump cards of the deck.Used in: Scarto
Tarocco Piemontese: The 78-card Italian tarot deck used in Piedmont, with the specific ranking and artwork for Scarto.Used in: Scarto
Tax: the card exchange at the start of each hand: Asshole gives 2 best cards to President and receives 2 unwanted cards back, and Vice Asshole gives 1 best card to Vice President for 1 unwanted card back.Used in: President
Tens slap (optional): The just-played card plus the card beneath sum to 10.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew
The Black Lady: the Queen of Spades; 13 penalty points on her own.Used in: Hearts
The nuts: The best possible hand given the board.Used in: Omaha
The Old Maid: The single unmatched Queen that circulates until the last player holds it.Used in: Old Maid
The play: the phase where players alternately lay cards to a running total capped at 31.Used in: Cribbage
The Show: The hand-scoring phase that follows pegging.Used in: Cribbage, Noddy
The signal: The agreed gesture (nose-touch, chin-tap, or spoon-grab) performed by whoever first collects 4 of a kind.Used in: Donkey
The wheel: The lowest straight A-2-3-4-5; treated as Ace-low.Used in: Five-Card Draw
Theme: The category name printed on a card (e.g., 'Dutch painters', 'Dinosaurs'); cards in one quartet share a theme.Used in: Kwartet
Themed deck: Modern re-skinned editions using a different visual family theme; rules are identical.Used in: Happy Families
Three: a Kalooki set of 3 or more same-rank cards.Used in: Kalooki
Three of a kind: The only winning outcome when the opening cards are a pair; pays 11 to 1.Used in: Thirty-One, Red Dog
Threshold: The score at which a player is eliminated (commonly 30 or 21).Used in: Cucumber, Polignac
Throwing: Playing face-down cards that cannot win, sacrificed to avoid handing card-points to the trick winner.Used in: Kozel
Thunee call: A solo declaration to win every trick; scored large for success, penalised for failure.Used in: Thunee
Tib: the Ace of trumps, worth 15 pence to whoever captures it in a trick.Used in: Gleek
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.Used in: Gleek
Tie: Player's first card and dealer's first card share the same rank.Used in: Casino War, Lucky 9
Tie / stand-off: equal-ranked hands at a see; the non-seer (the player who was seen) wins.Used in: Brag
Tie round: A round in which both players bid the same rank; the prize is discarded (or carried over in the alternative rule).Used in: Gops
Tie side bet: Optional separate wager paying 10:1 if the first comparison ties.Used in: Casino War
Tied trick: A trick where both players play the same rank; counts as neither a win nor a loss.Used in: Put
Tien Len: 'Go forward' in Vietnamese; also called Thirteen, VC, or Vietnamese Cards.Used in: Tien Len
Tierce / Quart / Quint: 3 / 4 / 5+ card same-suit consecutive runs. Score 20 / 50 / 100.Used in: Tarabish
Tjall / Troef: Trump.Used in: Troefcall
Toep: A knock on the table that raises the current stake by 1 life.Used in: Toepen
Token: One of the 3 lives each player begins with. Also called chip or life.Used in: Ninety-Nine (99), 304
Token (life, counter): one of a player's three starting counters; lost when you hold the worst hand.Used in: Commerce
Token / life: A chip or coin representing a player's remaining resilience; three starting tokens, elimination on zero (plus one 'on the bus' grace round in some variants).Used in: Thirty-One
Tom: the Jack of trumps, worth 9 pence to whoever captures it in a trick.Used in: Gleek
Tongits (Tong-its): Emptying your hand via melds or sapaw during your turn; instant round win.Used in: Tongits
Tonk: (verb) To go out or declare the instant 49/50 win; (noun) the game itself.Used in: Tonk
Top card: The last-dealt (and only playable) card of a pile.Used in: Accordion Solitaire, Aces Up, Svoi Kozyri, La Belle Lucie, Cruel, Stealing Bundles, Black Hole
Top card (of a column): The card currently sitting at the bottom of the overlapping stack: the only card that can be taken from that column.Used in: Baker's Dozen Solitaire
Top three trumps: 5 of trumps, Jack of trumps, Ace of Hearts. Permanent super-cards with reneging privilege.Used in: Spoil Five
Top trumps: The 5 of trumps, Jack of trumps, and Ace of Hearts; unbeatable except by each other.Used in: Forty-Five
Top-bottom: The just-played card matches the rank of the bottom card of the pile; slap-eligible.Used in: Egyptian Ratscrew
Tout Atout: an all-trump contract; every suit uses the trump ranking.Used in: Belote Coinchée
Tractor: 2 or more unbroken, consecutive same-suit pairs led or played together as 1 combination.Used in: Guandan, Tractor
Trail: Playing a card to the floor without capturing.Used in: Scopa, Cassino, Scopone, Pasur, Tablanet, Basra, Sir Tommy, Seep
Trail / Trio: Three of a kind; the highest hand in classic Teen Patti.Used in: Teen Patti
Tranca: A 'lock' that freezes the discard pile against capture (a wild card or black 3 on top).Used in: Tranca
Transformer (变压器 biànyāqì): ; doubles your special-card score (or scores +50 alone). Quadruple effect if exposed.Used in: Gong Zhu
Transparent card: A card (typically the 8 or 3) that does not update the effective rank of the pile for the following player.Used in: Shithead
Trappola deck: The specialised 36-card Italian pack with ranks A, K, C (Cavalier / Queen), J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 2 in each suit.Used in: Trappola
Trash card: a Queen or King (or Jack in the alternate rules) that ends your turn when drawn.Used in: Trash
Tre (3): The Three, worth 10 pips, ranks just below the Ace.Used in: Briscola
Tres (3): Second-highest card. 10 points.Used in: Guiñote
Tres de Clubs (3♣): The lowest card in the deck. Opens the first trick of the match.Used in: Pusoy Dos
Tressette (parent game): The positive-scoring Italian trick-taking partnership game of which Traversone is the reverse-scoring variant.Used in: Traversone
Tressette / Treseta / Trešeta: Italian trick-taking partnership game; variant spellings for the same core game.Used in: Treseta
Trex: Contract 5; shedding layout around the four Jacks; positive scoring for finishing position.Used in: Trex
Trey (point): 3 points for capturing the 3 of trumps (in the 10-point version).Used in: Smear
Tribute: The cards the next player must pay after an Ace or face card is played (A = 4, K = 3, Q = 2, J = 1).Used in: Beggar-My-Neighbor, Zheng Shangyou, Guandan
Trick: Four cards played in rotation, one from each player.Used in: Hearts, Spades, Euchre, Oh Hell (Bidding Whist), Pitch, Whist, Big Two, Knock-Out Whist
Trick (presa): One round of play in which each player plays a card; the winner takes all four cards into their capture pile.Used in: Tressette
Trick pile: The face-up shared collection of cards a partnership has won during the trick phase.Used in: Sticheln, Sviten Special
Tricon: three of a kind; the top hand rank. 'Tricon' is from the Italian 'tre di conio', three of the same die.Used in: Commerce
Trimmed deck: The subset of the standard deck used to ensure 7 cards per player across 4 to 7 players.Used in: My Ship Sails
Trinca: A set of three cards of the same rank.Used in: Pif Paf
Tringa: Three of the same rank held in your initial hand; scores 5 points when declared.Used in: Ronda
Trio: A three-of-a-kind (three cards of the same rank).Used in: Carioca
Tripoley / Rummoli: Commercial three-phase boards combining poker, Michigan, and rummy into a single hand.Used in: Michigan Rummy
Troef: Dutch/Flemish for trump; the suit named by the bidder.Used in: Boerenbridge, Manillen
Troel: A holder of three aces forces a partnership with the fourth-ace holder.Used in: Wiezen
Troy: Three of a kind; the highest-ranked 3-card category.Used in: Hazari
Truco / Retruco / Vale Cuatro: The escalating-stake calls on the hand of tricks (2 / 3 / 4 points if accepted).Used in: Truco
Trump: The suit set by the most recent marriage declaration.Used in: Spades, Euchre, Oh Hell (Bidding Whist), Pitch, Whist, Knock-Out Whist, Schafkopf, Bourré
Trump (absent): No suit outranks another in standard Bohemian Schneider.Used in: Bohemian Schneider
Trump (adut): The suit named by the declarer; trumps beat all non-trump cards regardless of rank.Used in: Ulti
Trump / strain: the suit that outranks others, named in the contract; 'no trump' means no trump.Used in: Bridge
Trump / Triunfo / Pinta: The trump suit for the hand; determined by the turn-up card.Used in: Tute
Trump 7: The 7 of the trump suit; can be exchanged for the upturned trump card for a 10-point bonus.Used in: Bezique
Trump caller: The player who names the trump suit; rotates one seat clockwise each hand.Used in: Troefcall
Trump card: A card of the suit named as trump; ranks by the trump order (J > 9 > A > 10 > K > Q > 8 > 7).Used in: Pilotta
Trump cycle: The fixed rotation of trump suits round by round (classically Spades-Diamonds-Clubs-Hearts).Used in: Kachuful
Trump exchange: The 7 of trumps may be swapped for the face-up trump at the base of the stock during Phase 1.Used in: Guiñote
Trump indicator: The face-up card beneath the talon; determines trump suit.Used in: Mariage, Snapszli, Trappola, 304
Trump marker: The face-down card the high bidder sets aside to name the trump suit, hidden until called.Used in: Twenty-Nine
Trump Nine exchange: The special action of trading your Nine of trumps for the face-up trump card at the bottom of the stock.Used in: Sixty-Six
Trump suit: The suit declared by the Hakem; beats all other suits in trick resolution.Used in: German Whist, Court Piece, Sticheln, Thunee, Skitgubbe
Trump team: The two players (or one, in solo play) who hold the Spitzer and the 7 of diamonds. Teams are hidden until those cards are played.Used in: Spitzer
Trump-chooser's gamble: The rule that the trump-chooser must outscore the opponent or forfeit all points in the hand.Used in: Klabberjass
Trunfo (Trump): The trump suit for the hand, determined by the dealer's final card.Used in: Sueca
Trut: The Scandinavian cousin of Put with a trump suit and similar bluff mechanics.Used in: Put
Tunnela: in 21-card Rummy only, a three-of-a-kind in the same suit (valid meld).Used in: Indian Rummy, Marriage
Türk Pokeri: Turkish name for the game. Literally 'Turkish poker'.Used in: Turkish Poker
Turn-the-corner: An optional rule allowing Ace-to-King wrap sequences.Used in: Parliament
Turn-up: The dealer's last card dealt face-up to name trumps.Used in: Euchre, Whist, Solo Whist, Bourré, All Fours, Tute
Turn-up / Trump indicator: the face-up card placed on top of the stock after the deal, showing the trump suit.Used in: Spoil Five
Tute: The game itself, or the instant-winning declaration of four Kings or four Knights.Used in: Tute
Tute Individual / en Parejas / Cabrero / Subastado: The four main regional variants.Used in: Tute
Twenty-Five / Forty-Five: the partnership descendants played throughout Ireland and Atlantic Canada.Used in: Spoil Five
Twist: Draw the next card face-up, free of extra stake.Used in: Pontoon, Shoot Pontoon
Two-Card / Three-Card Guts: The two main variants, distinguished by how many cards are dealt and which hand rankings apply.Used in: Guts

U

Ulti: Win the final trick with the trump 7.Used in: Ulti
Ultimo: The trick that takes the Bagatto or Il Matto wins a 5-point bonus (in some house rules).Used in: Scarto
Undenufe: A no-trump contract played downward (low cards win), 6 highest.Used in: Jass
Undercut: When another player's hand total is equal to or less than the caller's; earns the caller a heavy penalty.Used in: Gin Rummy, Oklahoma Rummy, Thunee, Knock Rummy, Dhumbal
Undertrick: A trick the contracting side fell short of its bid; the defenders score penalty points per undertrick.Used in: Sergeant Major, Vint
Unlimited Loo / Limited Loo: Loo penalty equals the whole pool, or a fixed cap, respectively.Used in: Loo (Lanterloo)
Unopposed win: The single in-player wins the pot without showing cards and without anyone matching.Used in: Guts
Unsuccessful pair (solo scoring): A flip of two cards that do not match; the metric to minimise in solitaire Concentration.Used in: Concentration
Unter: The Jack equivalent; ranks between Ober and 10.Used in: Binokel
Unter / Ober: The Jack and Queen in a William Tell Austrian deck, equivalent to J and Q in a French-suited pack.Used in: Bummerl
Up: Player who exceeded their trick target on the last hand.Used in: Three Five Eight
Up / Down: Terms for meeting target (0), exceeding it (up), or failing it (down). Used for scoring and exchange.Used in: Sergeant Major
Up-card: A face-up card visible to all players.Used in: Blackjack, Gin Rummy, Seven-Card Stud, Caribbean Stud Poker, Oklahoma Rummy, Pitty Pat, Five-Card Stud
Upcard (turned card): the card turned face up after the deal to propose a trump suit.Used in: Buck Euchre
Upcard / Discard: The face-up pile beside the stock; a player may take its top card only by melding it immediately.Used in: Conquian
Upstream (上游, shàngyóu): The first player to empty their hand in a round; the top of the class ladder.Used in: Zheng Shangyou
Uptown: A bid direction in which cards rank Ace high down to 2 low in every suit and in trump; standard Whist ordering.Used in: Bid Whist

V

Vaca / Juego: A vaca is best-of-3 juegos; a juego is first to 30 or 40 points.Used in: Mus
Valfri: The positive contract in which forehand picks the trump suit (or plays no-trump, by agreement).Used in: Bismarck
Value bet: betting with a strong hand to get called by worse.Used in: Poker
Vatikan: The Turkish card-rummy version of Robbers' Rummy; near-identical rules.Used in: Robbers' Rummy
Veinte (20): The 20-point bonus for a plain-suit (non-trump) King-Knight marriage.Used in: Tute
Vice President / Vice Asshole: the 2nd and 2nd-to-last finishers; exchange 1 card each new hand.Used in: President
Vie / See: to bet / to call; the Tudor-era vocabulary preserved in Gleek and its descendants.Used in: Primero, Gleek
Vint: Literally 'screw' in Russian; the name reflects the auction mechanics that 'screw up' the bidding from contract to contract.Used in: Vint
Vira: The contract demanding all 13 tricks after taking the whole talon; the game takes its name from this bid.Used in: Vira
Void: holding no cards of a given suit.Used in: Hearts, Spades, Euchre, Oh Hell (Bidding Whist), Five Hundred (500), Whist, Mendikot, Reversis
Vole: Declared attempt to win all 9 tricks; bonus on success, heavy loss on failure.Used in: Ombre, Quadrille
Volo: Signal played on the last card of a suit meaning 'I am now void in this suit'.Used in: Treseta
Vorbehalt: A reservation called before the opening lead that replaces the normal hand with a special contract.Used in: Doppelkopf
Vraag (proposal): A bid to win 8 tricks with a partner to be found.Used in: Wiezen
Vuelta: A bidding option to turn the top stock card as trump, then exchange cards.Used in: Tresillo
Vulnerability (vul / non-vul): a game state doubling bonuses and penalties.Used in: Bridge
Vulnerable: a side that has already won one game of the current rubber; penalties and bonuses are higher when vulnerable.Used in: Honeymoon Bridge

W

War: The state triggered by a tied flip; each player commits extra cards and the prize pile grows.Used in: War
Waste: The face-up pile of stock cards turned over but not yet played.Used in: Solitaire, Klondike, Canfield Solitaire, Double Solitaire, Russian Bank, Golf Solitaire, Carpet
Waste pile: The face-up pile fed by the stock; its top card is always available to be played.Used in: Forty Thieves, Pyramid Solitaire, TriPeaks, Sir Tommy, Osmosis
Waste pile (reserve): One of four face-up piles for storing cards not immediately playable.Used in: Calculation
Waterfall: The Ace action; a continuous chain of drinking around the circle where each player may stop only when the player before them stops.Used in: Ring of Fire, Kings (Drinking Game)
Weis: A meld declared in trick one (sequence of three or more, or four of a kind); see Weis section.Used in: Jass
Weli: The Bells 6 (or Joker) that serves as a permanent second-highest trump.Used in: Watten, Kratzen
Wellington: An over-bid on Nap at double stakes.Used in: Napoleon, Nap
Wenz: A Solo in which only the four Unters/Jacks are trump.Used in: Schafkopf
Wheel: The hand 5-4-3-2-A, the best possible Razz hand.Used in: Razz
Whist: Defender's choice to oppose the contract; also the name of the point type earned by successful defenders.Used in: Preferans
Whist family: The broader family of partnership and two-player trick-taking games descended from English Whist; German Whist is a two-player member with a stock-draw innovation.Used in: German Whist
Widow: the three face-up shared cards in the centre; a pool for exchanges.Used in: Commerce, Buck Euchre
Widow (dead hand): The face-down extra hand dealt as though for an additional player; acts as a source of hidden stopper cards.Used in: Michigan Rummy
Wild: A Joker, which substitutes for any card in a meld.Used in: Spite and Malice, Trash, May I?, Uno
Wild 8: any 8; playable on any card, and the player announces the new suit.Used in: Crazy Eights
Wild card: A Joker substituted for any card in a meld.Used in: Canasta, Buraco, Canastra, Tranca, Five-Card Draw, Contract Rummy, Biriba, Carioca
Wild card (9): A card that may be played on any top card regardless of suit or rank; the player of a 9 declares the new active suit.Used in: Nines
Wild Jack: The Jack as a table-clearing card; plays legally on any table, capturing all face-up cards at once.Used in: Tablanet
Wild Joker: the face-up card drawn at hand start; its rank becomes Joker for the hand (8 cards + 2 printed = 10 Joker cards).Used in: Indian Rummy, Marriage
Wild rank: The rank designated as wild for the current round (3s, 4s, ..., 9s).Used in: Mao, Mexican Rummy
Work pile / river column: One of your four tableau columns, built down in alternating colours.Used in: Racing Demon
Wrap: The rule that Aces connect Kings and 2s; a card is 'one rank higher or lower' cyclically.Used in: Speed, Agnes, Penguin, Spit
Wrap-around: The optional rule that treats the rank sequence as circular (A connects to K as well as 2).Used in: Canfield Solitaire, Golf Solitaire

X

Xeri: A sweep; capturing every uncovered card on the table in one play. Worth 10 points.Used in: Diloti

Y

Yablon: An older name for Red Dog used in parts of Europe.Used in: Red Dog
Yaku: a fixed scoring combination of specific captured cards; completing one lets a player choose to stop the hand or call Koi-Koi.Used in: Koi-Koi
Yaniv: The call to end the round when your hand totals at or below the threshold (usually 7).Used in: Yaniv
Yejri: The Tunisian term for the initial deal of 3 cards each plus 4 on the table.Used in: Chkobba
Younger: The dealer; responds to declarations and follows on the first trick.Used in: Piquet
Yüksek Kart (High Card): No matching cards; ranked by highest single card.Used in: Turkish Poker
Yūrei (ghost): A player who has exhausted all three passes and is forced to reveal their hand on the table.Used in: Seven Bridge

Z

Zapatería: Winning the first chica with the opponent under 10 points. Automatic mesa win.Used in: Cuarenta
Zonder Troef: 'No trumps'; optional no-trump contract, typically doubles scoring.Used in: Manillen
Zwabber: A no-trump partnership contract with point totals as the goal.Used in: Pandoeren
Zwangsspiel: Forced game, where a player (often the dealer) must take a 150-point contract rather than pass out the deal.Used in: Binokel

#

'May I?' buy: Claiming the top discard when it is not your turn by calling 'May I?'; the claimant takes the discard plus one penalty card from the stock.Used in: May I?
[7♦] sweep: Playing the seven of diamonds when the floor pip total is 10 or less captures the entire floor as a basra.Used in: Basra
[A♠] lead: The traditional first lead of the first trick in the standard rules, played by whoever was dealt the Ace of Spades.Used in: Bhabhi
$ bet: The third ante, marked with a dollar sign; locked from the start and cannot be pulled back.Used in: Let It Ride
10 of diamonds / 2 of clubs: The two high-value scoring cards unique to the Tablić family.Used in: Tablanet
2 of Hearts: The single most powerful card in the game.Used in: Tien Len
3-5-8 / 8-5-3: The two common naming orders for the game. '3-5-8' reads middle-eldest-dealer (North American); '8-5-3' reads dealer-eldest-middle (British).Used in: Sergeant Major
38-39 endgame: From 38 or 39 points, a team may only reach 40 via Caída (or a single 1-point final play); card-majority bonus no longer applies.Used in: Cuarenta
40-100 / 20-100: Hold a marriage and reach 100 total points.Used in: Ulti
40-card deck: A standard Italian deck or a stripped French deck missing 8s, 9s, and 10s.Used in: Sette e Mezzo
5 of trumps (Five Fingers): The highest trump card in Auction Forty-Fives, always the top trump.Used in: Auction Forty-Fives
7 of diamonds: The traditional opening card; the only legal first play in the standard British rules.Used in: Parliament
9 of trump: The second-highest card in the game; worth 20 card points.Used in: Thunee
Übertrumpfen: The rule requiring a trump lead to be beaten by a higher trump if possible.Used in: Schnapsen
Üçlü (Three of a Kind): Three cards of the same rank. Ranks above Straight in Turkish Poker.Used in: Turkish Poker