Now the final Playing Card article since
2018 so far, again in a series on the rules of minchiate (including
rules for playing well; the others are the titles below this one on the sidebar of this blog for June 2024). From the Oct.-Dec. 2023 issue of The Playing Card (52, number 2, pp. 12-19), it was originally "Regole Generali sopra il Gioco delle Minchiate," at https://www.naibi.net/A/REGMINC.pdf. Substantially the same article had already appeared on naibi.net in August, 2023, at https://www.naibi.net/A/REGMIN.pdf. The only difference I can see, in fact, is in the placement and caption of the first illustration. Of course one is reproduced from its digitalized journal format and the other is from Franco's own pdf.
This article presented unusual translation difficulties: in some parts,
neither Franco nor I had more than a hazy idea what was being said! So
we had to settle for a more or less literal translation of the text. It
will at least convey the style and general content of the original,
which seems to reveal more than usual in the obscurity of minchiate's
deeper mysteries. With some trepidation, I offer a few explanatory - or
not so explanatory - comments in square brackets, my own in consultation
with Franco. The small numbers in the left margin are the page numbers
as originally published, and footnotes are indicated in red and put at
the bottom of the corresponding pages. For reference on terms that the
author does not explain, see the previous post, the section on terms. In
the present booklet, what I found most illuminating was the explanation
on how to conduct the sminchiare, or girare, as it was known (or also known) in Florence.
General Rules on the Game of Minchiate
Franco Pratesi
[Regole Generali sopra il Gioco delle Minchiate]
Abstract
Introduced in Florence in the 15th or 16th century, the so-called game
of Minchiate or Germini – to be played with the homonymous pack of 97
cards – is both courageous and fascinating. The finding of a previously
unnoticed manuscript from the 18th century enlivens, once again, the
research and the dialogue on the theme.
The name of the author is unknown. The refined calligraphy and
decoration, in contrast with the lack of an adequate syntactic
structure, might result from the dictation of an expert, illiterate
player to a scribe. Nevertheless, the frequent use of Latin and the
presence of some cultured references do not allow us to embrace this
theory.
As for the geographic origin, we welcome the suggestion of the Beinecke
Library – where the manuscript was identified – and recognize it in
Florence. More defined dating appears, on the contrary, controversial.
In particular, the document could be contemporary to 14 Minchiate cards
found in the same context, which we can date to around 1760 thanks to
the stamp duties and signatures of the period. On the other hand, a
first analysis of the technical content related to the game conducted by
Nazario Renzoni, due to compatibility issues with the chronology of
regulations from other sources, suggests that this should better be
dated to the first decades of the century.
From a standpoint of content, unlike other printed publications on the
rules for Minchiate, this one focuses exclusively on the expedients to
play well. At present, it should be pointed out that playing with the Fola
('se si fa alla fola') is presented as just a possibility and not yet a
norm. The expert contribution of Nazario Renzoni and Andrea Ricci, with
an in-depth analysis and comparison with akin texts, is expected to
shed light on this description of the rules.
Introduction
Some of my recent studies on the history of card games, before the
resumption of the last few months, concerned publications on the rules
of minchiate: I managed to find editions and reprints that had never
been reported, practically reviewing all the production of the 18th and
19th centuries. [note 1] Another
important work of the same type is the manuscript found by Andrea Vitali
in the Library of Castiglion Fiorentino: it is dated 1716, therefore
older than the printed publications. [note 2] I intend to present here, modifying a preliminary version, [note 3] another
eighteenth-century manuscript, dedicated precisely to the rules of
minchiate, preceded by a short presentation and followed by some final
comments.
Browsing the internet with the digitized catalogs of the major
libraries, I have identified the manuscript in question in the Beinecke
Library, together with fourteen minchiate cards that I presented
separately. [note 4]
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1. The Playing-Card, 47 No. 2 (2018) 103-113; 47, No. 3 (2019) 176-179; 48, No. 3 (2020) 96-102; 49, No. 1 (2020) 8-13; 49, No. 2 (2020) 64-69.
2. http://www.letarot.it/cgi-bin/pages/sag ... inchiate._ ms._185.pdf
3. https://www.naibi.net/A/REGMIN.pdf
4. https://www.naibi.net/A/14MINC.pdf
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Title on cover of rules: Regole generali sopra il gioco delle minchiate. In Italian.
Purchased from Bernard Quaritch, Ltd., on the Mary Flagler Cary Fund, 2010.
Collection that includes manuscript rules by an unidentified author, possibly in Florence, Italy, for playing the card game minchiate, circa 1700-1750, as well as fourteen contemporary hand-tinted printed playing cards made by “Al Poverone, ” a card maker active in Bologna, Italy, during the eighteenth century.
[For more on the provenance, see https://www.naibi.net/A/14MINC.pdf or its English translation at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2733.]
Understandably, I tried to get a copy. As often happens to me, I got lost in the digitized bureaucracy, but then the librarians were very kind and made me make up for lost time by sending me the scans in an incredibly short time. I transcribe it in full below.
(p. 1) General Rules on the Game of Minchate
Rule One – About the manner of discarding
The main foundation of this game is the discard, without a perfect intelligence of which the player lacks the most essential part of the game. He who discards must therefore be warned to first consider the quality of the cards he finds in his hand, whether he has high cards, such as superior aces, or small honors, but necessary to be taken [cavarsi], whether many tarocchi, or worthless suit cards [cartaccie]. If he has high Arie, that is, either the World or the Trumpets, he will have to discard as high as possible without thinking about making a void [far vacanza] to kill the Kings. The reason is because, by keeping a large quantity of cards of the same suit, they cannot be taken from one’s hand either by the partner nor by others, but it will be necessary for him to lead them himself, and in this way whoever is under his hand will save all of his. If he does not have either the World (p. 2) or the Trumpets but a large quantity of honors such as the One, the Thirteen, the Thirty, and others similar, he will have to discard as low as possible and try in every way to create a void [far vacanza], in order to be able make those fives [cinque, i.e. cards worth five points each], provided that in this case, not having superior cards, he must not think about taking those of others, but about saving his own.
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In this, however, it should be noted that if one plays with the fola, in that case, it is permissible for everyone to see the pack of residual cards [il monte = the fola], not to choose the discard with which he claims to save his honors in a suit of which there are many cards in the fola, because those that are in the fola are not in the hands of anyone, it is easy to find an adversary who is void and instead of saving everything, sacrifices everything; which mainly must be noticed by the one who discards under [i.e., before] the hand of another, who must equally discard, as would be the one who discards by robbing at the cut [per la rubata d’alzata], and plays before [literally, under the hand of] the one who deals the cards, and there are not above himself [to his left] others who discard. You will be able to take a little more freedom in this, even if you have to be careful in this to proceed with caution in so doing [guardare in questo di camminar geloso] without great necessity.
And this same rule (p. 3) will have to be followed by those who have many tarocchi rather than few, that is, having no World or Trumpets, but many honors to get, always discarding the lowest with the circumspection mentioned above. If then he has many tarocchi, and a few worthless suit cards, and these are distributed in different suits, such as all thirds and fourths, and he will not find jealous cards in his hand to turn over [voltare], he will have to discard a tarocco, so that the multiplicity of them does not force him to take, and play, another tarocco in the face of the one under his hand [i.e. before him], and thus give him the opportunity to put everything he has on the stack of cards won [monte with a different reference] and in safety.
If then he has jealous cards to take [cavare], which are those discussed above, and he has high cards at the same time, that is, the World and the Trumpets, he will have to discard as low as possible, because in this case it is more important to make his own than to chase that of the adversaries, in addition to the fact that they may have little, every time the one who discards finds himself with so much stuff [roba, here meaning so many good cards] in his hand. And if he doesn't have either one or the other, that is, neither high cards nor jealous cards to save, he will have to make the discard so as to kill the Kings if able, and not being able to discard Queens or Knights to deceive the player (p. 4) into believing that he has made a free discard; and this about the rule of discard.
Rule Two – About the way to play low cards [la cartiglia]
Not inferior to the discard rule is the rule for playing the low cards, in which consists every way and opportunity to make his own and impede that of his adversaries; around which it is already known that the Kings usually are the first to be taken [cavarsi], that is, on the first trick of any suit.
After which the one who remains master of the lead will have to make sure to go back into the suit of which fewer cards have been dealt, and if it happens that what is under the hand lacks some suit, the one that leads will have to be completely careful of playing those cards in his face if by chance he does not have a succession of some suits and no other. The rule therefore is to never lead a card in that suit [literally, play in the face the suit] that someone is void in, if you know it; and if you don't know, play in the one they have led the fewest times, and that you have the fewest in your hand. Then vice versa (p. 5): if the one that is above your hand [i.e. after you] is void in some suit, the one that is below [before you] will always have to lead in that one having some, to always put him at risk of passing, and of not taking his [the points that can be obtained with his cards] easily.
In the suit in which the partner is void, rarely one leads [it] so as not to force him to go under [before] the opponent, particularly if, of that suit in which the partner is void, there is a large number of cards in one’s hand, because in this case it is very easy to find another one that is missing, and thus deceive the partner, making him go to the sledgehammer and lose all his; in this case, therefore, do not lead back to [non remitta] the partner, nor to the second, contributing in kind in addition to the multiplicity of that suit that one has in one's hands the multiplicity also in the mind, but rather if there is nothing else one plays a tarocco for once, and if then the lead returns to the hand and is played in that suit because from that previous tarocco played, the partner will be warned not to pass, meaning by this the number of cards of that suit that the partner has in his hand; if it is useful [comple] to be induced [ = indursi, admittedly obscure], one must play as high as possible, but this (p. 6) must not be done except in the case of which will be discussed further below in the rule of the indications of the Trumpets.
Rule Three – the way to pass with the honors and of playing a tarocco
The rule is with cards of prejudice not to pass except at most [in cases found] in the aforementioned part [something he has said earlier]
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(of prejudice means the One and the Thirty only) and all the cards that have a verzicola both on one side and on the other; this is because it is true that time, that the multiplicity of the honors, and of these verzicola cards, does not force one to also pass to the third, in which case the third over the tarocco will always be safer.
To the third, however, regularly with the other five [cinque] which are less important, as would be a Ten, a Thirty-one, a Thirty-four and the like when they do not produce a verzicola and if there is a large quantity of them, it is customary to pass, and especially with the Papini, by the approved axiom Ad tertiam mitte Papinum [to the third play Papino]; one never passes to the fourth except in extreme (p. 9) necessity, as it would be when at the end of the game someone finds in their hand a card to save, and had been restricted or constrained by one who was above [after] them; in this case, if it happens that one of the other two leads a card of a suit to which the one above has always responded, even if it is fourth, one can take the liberty of passing, as long as it is hopeless to be able to pass that card, otherwise, because in any other case, he will not have to subject himself to that danger; after all, having no second or third, he will have to send all his counting cards toward his partner, as he cannot make it easily, when, however, he knows for sure that he will not respond to that suit.
As for playing a tarocco, those with superior cards should be advised always to play high tarocchi with the aim of passing on the last cards; if he has no superiors, he will do the opposite. However, make sure you leave some little ones in your hand, because it could happen that you must pass to help your partner. On the contrary, one who has superior cards, even if he has to try to get rid of the highest, must nevertheless keep at least one and (p. 10) sometimes even one that counts, as it would be if one had the Trumpets, and the Thirty-three; a Thirty-three could never be taken, inasmuch as one has not seen the outcome of the game, and if the partner needs to come at his turn with little ones, because it could happen that turning [girando], the partner needs to come at his turn with the One or a Thirteen, and it being covered by the opponent with a Twenty-seven, it would be necessary [for him] to get rid of the trumpets in order to save that Thirteen.
Finally, it should be noted that the partner will occupy some verzicola that contains a high and a low card, like the verzicola of the Uno, Fool and the Trumpets. If the partner has never been able to get the Uno, he must go when the same does not respond in his turn with an Aria if he has it, and if he doesn't have it with the highest he has, or with an equivalent because the adversary for fear of the Trumpets will not cover it, and in this way he will save the One, which is his verzicola.
In order to know how to play the tarocchi, those who play should be careful never to take the lead from whoever is under [after] their hand, in case (p. 7) of non-counting tarocchi, such as a Sixteen, a Twenty-two, and the like, because these are never taken to make cards, but are always left.
The lead of the partner is always taken if there is no intention of killing something, and the hand above [after] is always left; The Fool is never kept [non serva mai] either as the last or penultimate card, whether you have high or low cards.
Rule Four – About smoking [fumare]
It very often happens in this, as in all other games, that the too partial luck of one side with a distribution that is too passionate and unjust as usual puts the whole game, that is to say all the superiors, in the hands of two partners, in which case it would be stupid for those who find themselves favored not to make use of the opportunity, which once lost is never found again, as the Poet sang: Fronte capillata post haec occasio calva. [Occasion has hair over her forehead, but behind she’s bald] And the other, who praised his singing at the game: Perdidit in punto quod non reparatur in anno.[What is lost in a moment is not recovered in a year.]
(p. 8) Given this, it follows how it can follow in several ways, especially when it happens that one of the two partners declares three Arie or four, as it would be, Moon, Sun, World, or Star, Moon, Sun, and World, and that the other has the Trumpets in his hand, so that the one who has the verzicola in his hand is not in fear and tries to take it safely, which is not appropriate, in this case being in the certainty of not being able to die, he will have to do the smoking, that is, giving him the Trumpet signal, in this way: the first time the lead comes into his hand he will play a tarocco, but a tarocco that does not count, so as not to force him to get rid of an Aria above that led.
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If then the partner has declared three Arie alone in the verzicola, that is, Star, Moon, and Sun, in such a way that there are two cards higher than the verzicola, and the partner finds both of them in his hand, as soon as the lead touches him he will play a tarocco that counts, because the tarocco that counts smokes for the World and the Trumpets, and the tarocco that doesn't count smokes for the Trumpets only.
With the World alone there is no smoking (p. 11), except in this case, as it would be when the Trumpets come uncovered in what is under the hand of the one who will have three Arie in the verzicola, or indeed they come there in the fola, or in another way it would be known that they are in the hands of that one, since then the partner of the one who has the verzicola will be able to smoke the World, so that one knows where both the superiors are, and stay with a calm mind, and if indeed making this smoke exposes oneself to the danger of the World being taken by the one who has the Trumpets, this matters little compared to how much not doing the smoke could matter.
Rule Five – Of the sminchiare of the game, which is called turning [girare]
But sometimes it is not enough to smoke a partner to play a game well and to prey on everything that the opponents have, but it is necessary to point out many other things that will be told here.
Let us therefore assume the case, as in the previous rule, that is, that the game is entirely in the hands of two partners, and that both the one and the other can understand, whether by declaring (p. 12) the verzicole of the higher Arie, or of the Above-Twenties [sopreventi], and with the robbing, or with the fola, both the one and the other will have to observe not to play a low card, nor always a tarocco; with this caution, however, that the one who has the lead in his hand always plays a tarocco that does not count, and the other partner whose turn it is respond equally with a tarocco, puts in one of those that count, and which cannot be taken, and then, while his lead remains, he plays a tarocco that doesn't count, and the other partner passes with one of those that count and cannot be taken, with the effect that the adversaries, not being able to get in even a Papa due to the holdings, are forced to drop, giving completely all that they have, and this is the way they can also lose the Fool, making not even one card, and lose seven resti, which is how much you can lose in one deal of the cards.
This is not only true when the two partners find themselves [winning] the game completely, as it would be if between both of them had from Thirty up to Forty, but it is also true when (p. 13) they are missing only one or two, because in this case one sacrifices one of those he has, and that matters less for remaining masters of the game, and even if the Trumpets was missing, it would be good to play the World, the Thirty-three, Thirty-two, etc., provided that the loss of cards does not lead to loss of verzicole for the reason already stated.
Note, however, that the rule given above of having to pass with a tarocco that counts and that cannot be taken in a hold [tenuta] is true when the partners playing the game are uncertain in whose hands the few worthless cards they are looking for are among their opponents, because if they knew for sure that they were in the hands of one, what would it be like if the other had dropped [cascato], or even if he had the opportunity to take and had not taken anything, then, and in such a case, whoever has the hand above [i.e. before] whoever has the cards that one wants to plunder must never take, and his partner will always play tarocchi that do not count, but as high as he can, so that the other can more easily leave and keep all the others in his hand, and if in the end forced by necessity he takes [he has] to play a bad tarocco, and the partner goes to a hold [tenuta], and (p. 14) the partner [to] what he has, they are, first if he wants to make them save little ones from going in his turn with the high, and leave indeed often to whom is above his hand.
If you want to save the other cards of the over-twenties, lead in that suit in which the partner is void, and all the others respond while, however, having few of that suit, otherwise not useful [comple], as was said above, to this of moving in the suit which the partner is void, or when the opponents have a turning game, because then, before the lead returns it is good to ensure that the partner save his, so that in the continuation of the game he does not drop [caschi] and lose everything he has.
If then they are in an ordinary game, the rule already given above of never moving in the suit in which the partner is void must be observed; and for
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helping the partner, at times the rule of never moving in the suit in which the hand above is void suffers from exception, because if it happens that one who is above the hand of the partner for whom you want to save some card that matters will remain stubborn in never wanting to take, you must lead in the suit that is void (p. 15), and all the others will respond, because in this way he will have to take by force, and this must be done all the more, when it is known for certain that after having taken he could not give his partner the cards to be taken in response by the partner [refitte], due to which it will happen for the first time that the partner. not being able to take. will refuse [si rifiuterà], or this function will have to be repeated a second and even a third time.
If you know the refitte [cards to be taken in response by the partner] that the opponent can lead to his partner, you first try to get them out of his hand, and then you play the game mentioned, and when this suit is played, in order to make it be taken by the one who is above the partner, the highest of that suit that is in your hand should always be played, for the reason to be explained [I will explain, he means] orally [in voce].
Comments and conclusion
The manuscript is 21x15 cm in size and contains 15 written pages, a blank initial, and the cover. In the transcription, I allowed myself some changes to make reading more comfortable. I especially tried to use punctuation and capitalization more consistently – I would have kept the author's usage if it had been consistent. The author evidently knows how to write very well in terms of calligraphy (also note in the figure the squiggle at the end of the text) but not in terms of syntax; the topic is treated not only in a discursive form, but also with a continuous flow of connected sentences without structuring them. One could think of a skilled illiterate player who turned to an expert scribe to
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have him put down the rules of his game on paper, perhaps under dictation without taking a breath; the end of these rules would also be better understood this way, with an unusual postponement to verbal communication of a particular case.
However, the hypothesis does not hold up, in view of the recurring use of Latin: Ad tertiam mitte Papinum - at the third play a Papino – will not be found among the classical authors; Fronte capillata
post haec occasio calva, which dates back to none other than Cato [it was thought], indicating Occasion: when she passes by, if you don't grab her by the hair on her forehead, she has no hair on the back of her head; Perdidit in puncto quod non reparatur in anno seems to negatively modify the motto of Emperor Ferdinand I: Accidit in puncto quod non speratur in anno [It happened in a single moment, what was feared for a year]– here: what is lost in a single moment is not recovered in a whole year. Finally, there would be more Latin added on the title page, but I cannot decipher it enough, much less understand its overall meaning: Que nesci / Pennabis / Se[r]penti / [re]bus [ iipsele ] / Non valemus. But that this is only a copy is clearly demonstrated by the presence of an entire page out of place.
It would be important to be able to specify the name of the author, the local provenance and the date of this text. As for the name, I have no indication. Regarding the provenance, the suggestion from the Beinecke Library – possibly Florence – certainly seems to me to be accepted: as a Florentine accustomed to popular language I cannot find any foreign words, except for the term “comple” from the obsolete verb complire [here meaning to be advantageous], and indeed I find something like “i cinqui,” plural of five, which, although incorrect in Italian, sounds familiar to me. For the date, based on the handwriting, a very wide margin could not be avoided, even more than the entire first half of the eighteenth century indicated by the Beinecke Library. However, in the case - probable although not certain - that the playing cards found together are contemporary, the dating can be suggested with a very narrow margin around the year 1760, as I have indicated for the cards themselves, [note 4] and as can be obtained with even greater precision from what we know about stamps and signatures on Florentine cards of the time. [note 5]
Regarding the content, I have to discuss for a moment what was meant by rules of the game, because the situation can be very different. Today one would imagine several sections dedicated, in order, to the description of: 1. the cards (because they are unique, used for this game and for no other); 2. the flow of the game (dealing cards, trick rules, combinations with extra points, counting of points); 3. Playing the tricks well (conventions, signals to your partner, choice of cards to play first, various tricks); 4. the penalties to be imposed on those who do not respect some rules (errors in distribution, failure to respond to the suit, various cheats).
For example, the tarocchi game popular in Milan was described from the end of the eighteenth century in a text repeated for a century in dozens of reprints, which in these aspects in practice contained only the last. [note 6] Usually, the printed publications on the rules of minchiate are rather balanced, and this is also the case with the 1716 manuscript. The manuscript presented here deals exclusively with the third of the sections listed above, that is, the one which in the 1716 manuscript would just be the “8th and last Chap.”; on the topic, the discussion here is more extensive, about double that.
If I can hazard a preliminary judgment, I would say that this manuscript does not bear comparison with other sources, both due to its only partial nature and due to its later date. However, much of what you read here is quite different from the corresponding section in other texts. I would only point out for the moment "if it's done with the fola," because playing with the fola was a manner introduced at a later time; here it seems only a possibility, later it will become the rule, and probably this transition occurred at different times in different cities.
Before a possible completion of the description of these rules with a detailed analysis of the technical content, and with a timely comparison
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5. http://trionfi.com/evx-playing-card-tax-stamps-florence
6. https://www.naibi.net/A/MILA1794.pdf
with other versions, I intend to make use of the greater expertise of two Florentine experts, Nazario Renzoni and Andrea Ricci, [note 7] who are brave enough to play minchiate today and whom I am lucky enough to know. Nazario Renzoni's first and main comment is that there could be many years of difference between the cards and the Rules booklet; the date of the latter, to be compatible with the chronology of rules known from other sources, especially on the fola, should date back to the first decades of the eighteenth century.
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7. http://www.germini.altervista.org/
