Gleek is an English card game for three persons. It is played with a 44-card pack and was popular from the 16th century through the 18th century.
Gleek (sometimes spelled Gleeke or Gleke) is mentioned in several publications during the first half of the 16th century. The earliest known reference to Gleek has been traced by Micahel Dummett to Henry Watson's The chirche of the euyll men and women (1511). However, the game called Gleek in that era more closely resembled the French game of Glic, known from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The best contemporary descriptions of Gleek in popular English form come from three sources: John Cotgrave (1662), Francis Willughby (about 1670), and Charles Cotton (1674)
From the Old French word glic ("a game of cards")
Three players must be present for this game. Gleek was a fairly elaborate game in four main stages:
Cards are ranked Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. (No 2's)
To begin, the dealer deals 12 cards to each player, 4 at a time. The remaining 8 cards are placed face-down on the table, stacked.
This is the stage where players bid for the right to draw card replacements in hope of improving their hand. Only the highest bidder may do this.
Go around, bidding for the stock (the remaining 7 face-down cards). Bidding begins at 13 pence. According to Willughby, the Eldest must open bidding.
Go around, raising 1 penny at a time, until no one raises. The winner pays out the amount bid, dividing it between the other two players.
Winner of the Stock must discard 7 cards, then take in the stock. (Note that there are varying views on this: Parlett and Dafydd say to take in the stock first, then discard 7. Cotgrave and Cotton are unclear, but Willughby is quite clear that you discard first.)
This is the stage where players vie (bet) for who has the best ruff (highest value of cards in a suit; such as the 'point' in Piquet).
A "ruff" refers to a suit, so the winner of the Ruff has the highest value of cards in a suit.
Everyone tosses tuppence into the pot as an ante and then bids begin. The first to bid may vie or pass; the others may see and re-vie, or pass. To vie or revie, players put tuppence into the pot; this declares that you think you can win the Ruff. (Similar to a raise in Poker.) To pass, say, "I'll have nothing to do with it". If a player says this, then he is out of the Ruff. (Similar to a fold in Poker.) To see, simply match the vies that have been made since it last came to you; you must see before you can revie.
It is not clear whether an initial pass (before the first vie) takes you out of the bidding (as it clearly does after the vie), or serves like a Poker "check", letting you see the first vie.
The Ruff ends when the bidding returns to the last player who vied. At this point, any player still in the Ruff shows the relevant cards, and the winner takes the pot. The whole process is very like Poker, but with only one kind of hand.
This is the stage where players declare their Mournivals and Gleeks.
Mournivals are four of a kind and Gleeks are three of a kind. A Mournival of Aces is worth 8 pence from each opponent. A Mournival of Kings: 6; a Mournival of Queens: 4; and a Mournival of Knaves: 2. Other four of a kind suits are irrelevant.
A Gleek of Aces is worth 4 pence. A Gleek of Kings: 3; a Gleek of Queens: 2, and a Gleek of Knaves: 1.
It is not clear whether players must show these cards upon declaration.
This is the stage where players play their cards in tricks. Twelve tricks are played.
In this final stage, players play out 12 tricks as normal. The eldest leads this stage to the first of 12 tricks. Players must follow suit if they can, but may otherwise play any card. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any are played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. Each trick provides a particular score and certain trumps add an additional value.
If a player holds a Tiddy (the trump Four), he may claim a consolation of 2 pence from each opponent, either at start of play or when he plays it to a trick. This optional rule may be ignored by prior agreement, as it is often forgotten. If it is allowed, then players should also agree whether to claim similar side payment of 5 pence and 6 pence when a Towser (trump Five) or Tumbler (trump Six), respectively, are played.
At the end of the game, players count 3 points for each trick he has won, and adds to this the point-value of any honours you may have played. Honours include Ace (15 points), King (3 points), Queen (3 points), and Jack (9 points). (It is possible, but unlikely, that these points accrue for winning honours in tricks, or winning tricks with honours, rather than for merely having been dealt them.) Furthermore, if the turn-up was an Ace, King, Queen or Jack, the dealer counts it in with his total.
Each player then either wins or loses the difference between this total and 22. In other words: If your count is less than 22 you pay to the pot 1p for each point by which it falls short of 22, and if it is more you withdraw from the pot 1p for each point in excess of 22.