 The Card Players (1508–1510) by Lucas van Leyden | |
| Origin | Italy |
|---|---|
| Alternative names | Primiero |
| Family | Matching |
| Players | 2-6 |
| Skills | Tactics & Strategy |
| Cards | 40 |
| Deck | Italian or Spanish |
| Play | Counter-Clockwise |
| Playing time | 20 min. |
| Chance | Medium |
| Related games | |
| Primo visto • Poker | |
Primero (in English also called Primus, in French Prime, in Italian Primiera or in Spanish Primera), is a 16th-century gambling card game of which the earliest reference dates back to 1526. Primero is closely related to the game of primo visto (a.k.a. prima-vista, and various other spellings), if not the same. It is also believed to be one of the ancestors to the modern game of poker, to which it is strikingly similar.[1]
The gambling game with this name goes back to the 16th century, being known to Gerolamo Cardano as primiera, which he thought of as the noblest of all card games, to François Rabelais as prime, and to William Shakespeare as primero.[2]
- ^ "Primero: A Renaissance Cardgame".
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of Card Games, pg. 226 – ISBN 0-19-869173-4