Game Report: La Bete (Beast)

Class: Cards

Type: trick-taking

Number of Players: 2 to 10

Reconstructed mainly from primary source

Date redacted: Oct. 30th, 1995

Redactor: Rose Alessandro de Firenze

Other players: Stefan Skywatcher, Marian of Edwinstowe

Sources: Cotton

Reconstruction

Equipment

This game uses a standard French-suited 52 card deck.

Play

• Before dealing, each player antes an agreed upon amount (the same total for each player) into each of three piles: the "king of trump" pile, the "play" pile, and the "triolet" pile.
• Five cards are dealt to each player, starting to the dealer's left.
• The top card is turned over to determine trump and remains on the table during play.
• Play proceeds as in standard trick games, with kinds high, aces low.
• At the end of each hand (when all the tricks have been taken), five cards are again dealt to each player, with the person who took the last trick in the previous hand leading the current one. Play continues until you can no longer deal a complete hand of five cards to each player. (Note: this will differ according to the number of players.)
• When you've run through the deck, check for victory conditions. The person with the most tricks wins the "play" pile; the person with the king of trump wins the "king of trump" pile; and the person with the highest triolet (three of a kind) wins the "triolet" pile.
• In the event that no oe definitively wins a particular pile (eg: two people tie for the highest number of tricks) that pile remains on the table through subsequent game(s) until someone does win it.