A Wardrobe in Time Welcomes You

Equipment for these games may be obtained from our sister company,
East Wind Games

Cards (1)

Dice (5)


Pope Joan	Equipment: One Deck of Cards with the 8 of Diamonds removed Staking-board Counters (at least 20 per person)	# of Players: 3 - 8
	Rules: Randomly determine who shall deal first. The deal will pass to the left, thereafter. The dealer shall start by dressing the staking-board in the following manner: 6 Counters to the Pope 2 Counters to Matrimony 2 Counters to Intrigue 1 Counter each to the remaining compartments on the staking-board The cards are then dealt one at a time to the players and one extra hand until all cards have been dealt. The extra hand ("dead hand") remains face-down & unrevealed throughout play. The last card dealt is revelead to establish the "trump" suit. If the card revealed is an Ace, King, Queen or Jack of any suit, or is the Pope (the 9 of Diamonds), the dealer takes the stakes from the appropriate compartment regardless of whom was dealt the final card. Object Win & remove counters from the staking-board by playing out cards corresponding to the labelled compartments. Be the first to run out of cards. Play The eldest (first player dealt) leads play by laying on the table the lowest card he has of any suit (Ace is always lowest in Pope Joan). Whoever holds the next higest card of the same suit plays it next and so on until a stop is reached. A stop occurs when a King is played (there being no higher card because the Ace is low), or a card is played that has no immediate successor in play because it is in the "dead hand" or has already been played. Whosoever plays the stop then continues play by laying to the table the lowest card held of any suit. Whoever plays the Ace, King, Queen or Jack of the trump suit, or the Pope immediately wins the counters in the appropriate compartment. Any player that plays both the Jack & the Queen of the trump suit wins the contents of the Intrigue compartment; while playing the Queen & King of the trump suit wins that player the contents of the Matrimony compartment. Play continues until a player lays the last card from their hand. This player removes the contents from the Game compartment plus as many counters from each opponent as that opponent has cards remaining; with the exception that the holder of an unplayed Pope card is excused payment. Unclaimed stakes remain in their attendant compartments and are carried forward to the next deal.
	Additional Information: Pope Joan was an extremely popular game achieving it's zenith during the Victorian era. it appears to be descended from the 15th century game of Hoc (Poch in Germany) one of the earliest identifiable card games. Pope Joan, as we know it has not changed much and is considered the equivalent of the 18th century French game Nain Jaune (Yellow Dwarf). The Oxford English Dictionary quotes a reference to the game from 1732, but did not reach Hoyle's until 1826. In 1773, Augustus Toplady (the Vicar of Broad Hembury) wrote: I cannot condemn the Vicar of Broad Hembury for relaxing now and then among a few select friends with a rubber of sixpenny Whist, a pool of penny Quadrille or a few rounds of twopenny Pope-Joan… A curious but noteworthy feature of the game is the significance of the Nine (9) of Diamonds. In this game it is referred to as The Pope, but is known through English literature & folklore as "the Curse of Scotland." It is suggested that the Nine (9) of Diamonds has been assigned this status because "The crown of Scotland contained only nine stones, as they never could afford a tenth". (Quoted, with other explanations, by Gurney Benham, p.156).