The A-Z of Card Games (Oxford Paperback Reference) [Paperback]

David Parlett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Oxford Paperback Reference | Publication Date: December 30, 2004

This fascinating dictionary tells you how to play almost any card game popular in the Western world. Besides classics like Bridge and Poker, it also includes famous historical games, popular folk games, and even Tarot games. With hundreds of games to explore and enjoy, David Parlett's book will be invaluable to anyone planning a card evening with friends.

Now in a fully revised and updated second edition, its broad coverage includes all the popular and classic games: Bridge, Canasta, Hearts, Poker, Rummy, and Whist. Popular family and party games such as Newmarket, Oh Hell!, and Old Maid also appear, alongside a host of unusual and intriguingly-titled games, for example, Cucumber, Go Boom, I Doubt It, Phat, Spinado, Spite and Malice, and many more.

A new layout, with historical information in boxes, and fun graphics to show number of players/packs at a glance make the games even easier to learn and play, while web links added in the text and a Useful Web site section in appendix offer further added value. Written by the UK's leading card game expert, this is truly indispensable for anyone with a yen for cards.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Parlett is an internationally renowned inventor, writer, and researcher in the field of games. Among his games is Hare and Tortoise, which has been published in ten languages and won three Game of the Year awards. His game books include A History of Card Games (OUP), Card Games and Card Games for One (both Teach Yourself books, 1994), Know the Game (Black, 1996), and The Guinness Book of Word Games (Guinness, 1995). He also advises on card-playing sequences in film and television and acts as a consultant to playing card and computer companies. He is a South Londoner by birth, domicile, and inclination.

Product Details

• Paperback: 441 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (December 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198608705
• ISBN-13: 978-0198608707
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #739,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem, December 13, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The A-Z of Card Games (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)

If you like cards, this book is a great choice. It lists several hundred card games in alphabetical order. These include both popular and obscure games from all over the world. Each entry offers clear, easy-to-understand rules for the game.

This is the 2nd edition of the book entitled "A Dictionary of Card Games" written in the early 1990s by the same author. Since I have a copy of the older edition, I wondered whether buying this new edition would be worth it. I can report that it definitely was. This updated edition adds some new international games, from countries such as China and Vietnam, that have not before been published in English.

As a card hobbyist, I've bought a dozen or so books on card games. One of the few as good as this is from the same author, entitled "Penguin Encyclopedia of Card Games." That book organizes games by type, whereas this one lists them alphabetically.

You can't go wrong by buying either book (or just get both!). May all your deals be happy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book on card games, November 26, 2007

By 

Mikko Saari (Tampere, Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The A-Z of Card Games (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)

David Parlett's The A-Z of Card Games, published in Oxford Paperback Reference series, is the best compilation of card game rules I've ever seen, at least in book format. The book is full of interesting games from all around the world - the book has some Finnish games, too! It's an intelligent book and takes card games seriously, unlike many other rule books that seem to be written on autopilot.

Parlett's book passes even the hardest test: it includes few games played with the Tarot pack. That's something fairly rare and always a sign of a good book. This book isn't perfect, though: there are some errors in the rules, but fortunately those are fairly rare. Parlett's style isn't probably the easiest, so I'd recommend this book to people who already know how to play card games and want to learn new, interesting games. This isn't the best first book for card game newbies.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but could be much better, September 15, 2009

By 

Michael Callaghan (Jersey City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The A-Z of Card Games (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)

This book really is very accessible, and contains many interesting games - the tone is pretty chatty, which makes it much easier to learn from than the Hoyle or Jacoby books, and the illustrations are very clear (why couldn't Hoyle have done this?). Also, there is a lot of information on some of the newer games (Chinese Poker, President, Gopa, and Eleusis, for example) that for some reason are absent in other collections. Also, I appreciate that Parlett's language is so colloquial, since so many other collections of rules have a 1940's academic feel to them - ironic since they discuss social gaming!

All that said, there are some serious omissions here. I've only had the book for a day, but found some oversights that must be mentioned to balance out the other reviews. Firstly, there is no index. This is pretty inexcusable in a reference book - it may be pointed out that the games are alphabetically listed, but what if I want to look up "Italy" and see what games came from there? Or find out which games are trick taking games? Can't be done.

Also, game specific here, in his description of Chinese Poker, Parlett says "There is no strategy, no vying, no sense in it at all" (p.86). While the smarmy tone might entertain other folks who have obviously never played the game, not only is there strategy, there is a book about it with full mathematical analysis (not available on amazon, but easily found with a search engine). In his description of Canasta, the author makes the following absolutely baffling statement: "If you throw a wild card, you should place it sideways across the pack so as to project from it when subsequent discards are made. This shows that the pack is frozen." (p. 72). What? That makes virtually no sense to anyone who doesn't play the game, presumably, anyone reading the rules for it. By the way, he never defines the term 'frozen' beyond that description.

I found these faults after a day, so I'm sure there are more.

With that said, this is a good supplement to other rule books. Again, the chatty tone helps more often than not, and it contains a lot of newer games. Just make sure you have Hoyle as a backup, possibly to clarify some of the foggy or missing information here.