Thirty-one (card game)

A blitz hand of three same-suit cards scoring 31, which immediately ends the game in victory when attained by a player. (The ace scores 11 and the two court cards each score 10.)

Thirty-one or Trente et un is a gambling card game played by two to seven people, where players attempt to assemble a hand which totals 31. Such a goal has formed the whole or part of various games like Commerce, Cribbage, Trentuno, and Wit and Reason since the 15th century.[1] 31 is popular in America and Britain.[2]

Although the game is also known as Scat it has no connection whatsoever with Germany's national card game of Skat. It should also not be confused with other games called 31 including Schwimmen (also known as Schnauz or Hosen 'runter) and the Greek banking game of 31.[2]

  1. ^ David Parlett, Oxford Dictionary of Card Games, pg. 307-308 Oxford University Press (1996) ISBN 0-19-869173-4
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference pagat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).