Thirty-one (card game)

Thirty-one, also called trente et un, is a gambling card game for two to seven players in which each player tries to assemble a hand whose cards total 31. The goal of reaching 31 is old and has formed the whole or part of several games since the 15th century, among them commerce, cribbage, trentuno and wit and reason, so the name points to a family of related aims rather than one single fixed rule set. The game is popular in America and Britain. It is also known as scat, but that name is a coincidence and carries no connection with Germany's national card game of Skat. Readers should also keep it apart from other games called 31, notably Schwimmen, which is sometimes known as Schnauz or Hosen runter, and the Greek banking game of 31.