Quintille & Tredrille

                                   

     Card Party in the Home of Elis Schroderheim - Pehr Hilleström (1732-1816) Stockholm                       

David Parlett in his work A History of Card Games - (1991) says that Quintille was first mentioned in France as far back as 1680 by Mme de Sevigne. It was based on a Spanish game known as Cinquillo or Cinquento. It was a version of the three handed game of Ombre to be played by five people .

In the game of Quintille it was almost impossible for one player to win a Solo game against four opponents, so the idea of an alliance or partnership formed by calling the holder of a non-trump King was born. In Quintille the entire pack of 40 cards was dealt out among five players so each held a hand of eight cards. To win Sacardo or game 5 tricks were required. The Remise was 4 tricks, and Codille was 3 tricks or less.

Quadrille arose when players applied the principle of of play used in Quintille to a new version of the game of Ombre played by four with a 40 card pack. As all cards were dealt out, each player now held 10 cards. To win Sacardo 6 tricks were now required, a Remise was 5 tricks, and Codille was 4 tricks or less.

The oddest development of all, once Quadrille had become popular, was to apply the same principle of play to a game played by three which was called Tredrille. Richard Seymour refers to this with some scorn as the Irishism of Quadrille by three, or Tredrille

There are some people who will play this branch of Ombre by dealing out ten cards apiece between Three and this in dowright Irish phraeseology they call Three-handed Quadrille; which in plain English is Four-handed Ombre played by Three persons. But this silly manner deserves our ridicule than any other notice.

Why anyone wanting to play a three handed game would not simply revert to the classic game of Ombre is very difficult to understand. People however often chose to play Tredrille, and did so by stripping the pack to 30 cards. 

The French author Mons. Martin writing in 1764 recommended Tredrille only as a makeshift in case three players were awaiting a fourth to make up a party at Quadrille. 

Martin offers two different schemes for reducing the pack to 30 cards, one involving four suits, and the other preserving only three suits.

Tredrille with Four Suits:

Red Suits -  A K Q J 2 3 7 ( 2 x 7 =  14 cards in total)

Black Suits - A K Q J 7 6 5 2 ( 2 x 8 =  16 cards in total)

This scheme gives a deck of 30 cards in total, which means when all cards are dealt out, each player will have 10 cards, exactly as in Quadrille. The Trump suits will have an identical number of cards

Red Trumps  -     Spadille Manille Basto Punto K Q J 2 3   (9 cards)

Black Suits - Spadille Manille Basto K Q J 7 6 5           (9 cards)

Red non-Trump - K Q J A 2 3 7

Black non-Trump - K Q J 7 6 5 2

Martin says that in this version, the only calls played are Mediateur and Sans Prendre.

The game is played over 16 Tours, 12 single and 4 double.

The declarer stakes six fish before each deal, and all other payements are as in Quadrille.

Tredrille with Three Suits

Spades - A K Q J 7 6 5 4 3 2

Clubs - A K Q J 7 6 5 4 3 2

Hearts - A K Q J 7 *  5 4 3 2

Diamonds - K

i.e  - Throw out all of the Diamond suit except K♦︎, and discard the 6♥︎  as well.

Hearts - Spadille Manille Basto Punto K Q J 2 3 4 5 7    (12 cards)

Diamonds - Spadille Manille (K♦︎) Basto                              (3 cards)

Spades - Spadille Manille Basto K Q J 7 6 5 4 3              (11 cards)

Clubs - Spadille Manille Basto K Q J 7 6 5 4 3              (11 cards)

Martin says that the suit of Diamonds is treated as a first Favourite suit, and that a second  Favourite suit is cut at random because this form of Tredrille is always played with two Favourite suits. 

The calls of Mediateur and Sans Prendre are the only calls used.

If hombre has all four Kings and all four Queens, then they may still call Mediateur  by exchanging the King of Diamonds for any non trump Knave.

As before, all other payments follow the pattern of Quadrille.

Opinions of Tredrille varied. The character of Miss Ilex in Gryll Grange by Thomas Love Peacock says:

The variety of the game called tredrille — the Ombre of Pope’s Rape of the Lock — is a pleasant game for three. Pope had many opportunities of seeing it played, yet he has not described it correctly; and I do not know that this has been observed.

In fact Miss Ilex is confused, Pope was describing the 40 card game of Ombre in his famous poem The Rape of The Lock (1714), and not the 30 card game of Tredille.

The writer Horace Walpole tells an amusing anecdote against himself involving a game at Tredrille:

I was playing at eighteen-penny Tredrille with the Duchess of Newcastle and Lady Browne, and certainly not much interested in the game. I cannot recollect nor conceive what I was thinking of, but I pushed the cards gravely to the Duchess and said ‘Doctor you are to deal’. You may guess at their astonishment, and how much  it made us all laugh. 

(Letters - 27th September 1774 Strawberry Hill - to Hon. H.S. Conway).