Quinto (card game)
Quinto is a card game invented by "Professor Hoffmann", stage and pen name for Angelo Lewis (1839-1919), an English lawyer and conjuror. The description here is based on his little book[1] Quinto: a New and Original Card Game, issued in 1907 by playing-card manufacturers Goodall & Son of London. The book is the size of a playing card, being designed to fit into a package with the cards. Notes in the book refer to different practices of play in Britain and America, suggesting that the game had already been current for a while. The game has never achieved great popularity, but continues to appear in some card game books. While not as original as the inventor suggests, it has at least two rare features: the possibly unique idea of a hierarchy of trump suits (see below), and the not quite unique[2] use of a 53-card pack.
Pack and players
From highest to lowest, the suits rank ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠, and the cards within them A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 (but the Ace counts as 1 in scoring value, and is low if players draw cards to decide order of dealing). In addition to the familiar 52 cards, there is an extra card known as Quint Royal, which in the original Goodall packs had a design featuring five crowns. The firm closed down in 1922, and these special packs are now available only second-hand. However, as noted in the book, a joker (to be found in most standard packs of cards) can be used instead.
The game is for four players, with those seated opposite each other as partners (as in the bridge-whist family of games). The book also describes variants for three and two players.