Sport and Games Atlas

How The Game Is Played
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Game

Whist

Also Known As Whisk Whisk is the earlier spelling and name of the same game before it settled as Whist in the eighteenth century.
Trick-Taking Card Games

Whist is an English trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships, believed to have grown out of the earlier English game Ruff and Honours and established by the seventeenth century. Edmond Hoyle's 1742 A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist became a best-selling standard reference, giving rise to the phrase according to Hoyle for a universally accepted rule. It is the direct ancestor of bridge, whose bidding auction and trick play descend from whist's basic structure.

Facts
Originating Region
England 2
Game Type
Card game, trick taking 2
Governing Body
No modern governing body; historically the Portland Club (London) and the Whist Club (New York) maintained the game's official rules until whist was displaced by Bridge in the early 1890s. 1
Disputed
Origin Year
1650 2
Whist's exact origin is unclear; it grew out of the earlier English game Ruff and Honours and was already established by the mid seventeenth century, well before Edmond Hoyle's standardising 1742 treatise, which is a codification date rather than an origin date.
Classification
Player Count
Small Group (3-6 Players) 1
Sport
Game Type (category)
Card Game 2
Connections

Ancestor Of

Bridge, Games
Source The Oxford Guide to Card Games
Sergeant major (card game), Games
Source Sergeant major (card game) (Wikipedia)
Spades, Games

Spades, devised in the 1930s United States, is classed with Bridge as a member of the Whist group of trick-taking games.

Source The Oxford Guide to Card Games
Vint, Games
Source Wikipedia: Skruuvi (Wikipedia, Finnish)

Long-Form Articles

How bridge displaced whist in the card rooms of the 1890s, Articles
In the Other Atlases

Found In

England

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikipedia, Whisttier 2
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Whist
Wikipedia
  • History section
    official rules of Short Whist were maintained by The Portland Club in London and The Whist Club in New York
  • Infobox, players field
    4
View the Source
2. The Oxford Guide to Card Games
Oxford University Press, 1990
  • entity record, description lead (player-count)
    Whist is an English trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships, believed to have grown out of the earlier English game Ruff and Honours and established by the seventeenth century. Edmond Hoyle's 1742 A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist became a best-selling standard reference, giving rise to the phrase according to Hoyle for a universally accepted rule. It is the direc
  • Ancestor Of: Bridge
Wikipedia: Skruuvi (Wikipedia, Finnish)
WikipediaAncestor Of: Vint, Introduction, cross of English whist and Preference
Quote, Ancestor Of: Vint, Introduction, cross of English whist and Preference
Pelin alkumuoto vint kehittyi 1870-luvun alussa Pietarissa englantilaisen whistin ja venäläisten suosiman preferenssin risteytymänä.
View the Source
Sergeant major (card game) (Wikipedia)
Ancestor Of: Sergeant major (card game), Lead
Quote, Ancestor Of: Sergeant major (card game), Lead
It is a trick-taking card game for 3 players, based on whist, using a standard 52 card deck.
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.