BEZIQUE

card game, a forerunner of Pinochle. The game is for two players using a 64-card deck consisting of two 52-card decks in which the deuces through sixes have been removed; the cards rank in descending order: ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9, 8, 7. Eight cards are dealt, three, two, and three cards at a time. The remaining cards are placed face down and form the stock, the top card of which is turned up to establish the trump suit. The play is in two stages. First the nondealer plays a card face up; the dealer may follow suit, not follow suit, or trump as he pleases. The highest card of the suit led or a trump wins the trick. Players score points either by taking aces and 10s in tricks (each is called a brisque and counts 10 points) or by melding (declaring various combinations of cards that they hold) after a trick is won, as follows: Marriage (king, queen of same suit, except trump) 20 Royal marriage (king, queen of trump) 40 Sequence (ace through jack of trump) 250 Bezique (queen of spades and jack of diamonds) 40 Double bezique 500 Any four aces 100 Any four kings 80 Any four queens 60 Any four jacks 40 A card used and scored in one combination cannot be counted in another lower combination in the same class (classes are sequences, beziques, and quartets). After declaring, the highest declarer draws the top card of the stock, as does the other player, and then leads from his hand or from one of his declarations on the table. The winner of the last trick when the stock is down below two cards takes the last card and the loser takes the trump card. When the stock is exhausted, the second stage of play begins, and each player takes his tabled declarations into his hand. In the ensuing play of tricks, the leader's opponent must follow suit if able and must win the trick if able, either by playing a higher card of the suit led or by trumping. Game is usually 1,000 or 1,500 points. Rubicon Bezique has, with Six-Pack Bezique (also called Chinese Bezique), supplanted the original game in popularity. In both Rubicon and Six-Pack, scoring combinations may be declared and scored, broken up during play, restored by adding equivalent cards, and scored again. Any four 32-card decks are used, and players receive 9 cards in Rubicon Bezique; six decks are used in Six-Pack Bezique, and players are dealt 12 cards. In both, the first marriage establishes trump.