Newmarket (card game)

Newmarket is an English card game of the matching, round-game type, more a domestic gambling pastime than a game of skill, that emerged in the 1880s as an improvement on the older game Pope Joan; the earliest English rules were published in the 1850s, and the 1885 edition of the American Hoyle carried the first transatlantic rules under the Newmarket name. The game is designed for any number of players seated around a staking board that carries four designated stake cards, the ace of spades, king of hearts, queen of clubs and the knave of diamonds, using a standard fifty-two card deck with the eight of diamonds removed. Players lead with their lowest card of any suit, and subsequent players in turn must play the next-higher card of the same suit if they hold it, with play stopping whenever a king, the seven of diamonds, or a needed card is unavailable in any hand; a player who sheds every card from their hand first wins the round and collects chips staked by the other players according to the cards they still hold. The game later spread to America, where it was known as Stops or Boodle before evolving during the 1920s into the related game Michigan.