Piquet pack
A Piquet pack or, less commonly, a Piquet deck, is a pack of 32 French suited cards that is used for a wide range of card games. The name derives from the game of Piquet which was commonly played in Britain and Europe until the 20th century.
Also referred to as Piquet cards, Piquet packs are still produced as standard packs of cards today, especially in Europe, for example to play the German national game of Skat. Of course, a Piquet pack also may be formed from a standard 52-card French pack by simply removing the Deuces, Treys, Fours, Fives and Sixes.Well-known games played with a Piquet pack include the following:
- Belote, France's national card game, very similar to the Dutch Klaberjass
- Bezique, "one of the most illustrious games of European high society" for which 2 packs are needed
- Écarté, a formerly popular, European two-hander
- Klaverjas, the Dutch invented "international, classic two-hander"
- Piquet, one of the oldest card games still being played
- Préférence, a popular Austrian, Russian and Eastern European game
- Rams and other gambling games of the Rams group
- Skat, Germany's national card game
