Origin and history of Barbu
Andy Bowles
old it is?
Also, amongst the many versions of the game there seem to be two distinct
groups:
- What I think is the older form, where the contracts are played in a
pretermined order.
- The game played (so far as I know) mainly by Bridge players, where the
dealer chooses the contract, and has to select each of the contracts once.
Assuming that the second form was derived from the first, can anyone tell me
when this took place, and who was involved? I think the game became popular
amongst Bridge players in the 1960s or 1970s. I'm interested in whether a
group of Bridge players took the older game and added an auction to it, or
if the game had already been adapted in this way before it reached the
Bridge world.
Finally, can anyone tell me who first introduced Barbu to Bridge players?
(I realise that this question might be more usefully posted in
rec.games.bridge, so I'll probably try there too.)
Thanks
Andy Bowles
Ann and John
http://www.pagat.com/reverse/barbu.html
John
Thierry Depaulis
> Have you tried John McLeod's excellent review - with additional links - on
>
> http://www.pagat.com/reverse/barbu.html
However, John McLeod's page doesn't answer your first question.
Le Barbu ("the bearded") also called "le bambu" (no apparent meaning)
seems to have appeared first in France, perhaps before WWII. It was
particularly favoured in the 1950's by "Grandes Ecoles" students.
("Grandes Ecoles" are specialised university colleges where students
are admitted through competitive exams; e.g. Ecole polytechnique,
Ecole des Mines, Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, or Ecole Normale
Supérieure, etc.).
The earliest account of the game is to be found in Claude Aveline,
ed., "Le code des jeux", Paris, Hachette, 1961 -- a games compendium
still in print in paperback edition!! -- as "Le sans coeur ou le
barbu". It is described for 3 or 4 players using a 32-card pack (which
is rather common in France, since such a pack was used for piquet,
manille, belote, etc.). There are five contracts ("coups").
Soon afterwards a novel was published which was called "La partie de
Bambu" (1963), by Roger Gouze. At the end of the book the author gives
an appendix explaining what this game was and how it evolved. I give
here a summary:
Roger Gouze says he learnt the game in the 1930's when he was at
school in Paris (exactly in one of the best Parisian "lycées", the
Lycée Louis-le-Grand). There the game had been introduced by Breton
schoolboys, who called the game Barbu, Bambu, Sans-Coeurs, or
Chasse-Coeur. Gouze adds that he loved the game and "introduced it in
his family". Then he left France during WWII and came back only in
1946, discovering that the game had been "enriched" and "standardised"
by a student of the Ecole polytechnique called Robert (later General)
Mitterrand, the brother of the former French President.
(This story is a family story! Mme Danielle Mitterrand, the widow of
François, née Gouze, is one of Roger Gouze's sisters.)
The game is then described in some other French card-game manuals like
Chicandard et al., "Jeux d'intérieur", Paris, 1965 (according to D.
Parlett, Oxford Guide to Card Games, 1990 = History of Card Games,
1992, p. 305-6 and ftn. 13) then in Pierre Berloquin, "100 jeux de
cartes classiques", Paris, Flammarion, 1975, who follows the
Gouze/Mitterrand rules, i.e. 32 cards, 4 individual players, 7
contracts (Bambu, Dames, Coeurs, Plis [tricks], Dernier pli [last
trick], "Tout coup", Dominos).
Interestingly the word does not appear in large French dictionaries of
the time like the very comprehensive "Trésor de la Langue Française",
whose "B" volume was published in 1975.
I don't know about any auction. This may have been added afterward by
bridge players who certainly give the game some impetus.
Cheers,
Thierry Depaulis
Thierry Depaulis
More on French sources. (Just reading my old notes again.)
There is an interesting description of the game in René Alleau et al.,
"Dictionnaire des jeux", Paris, Tchou, 1964, by I. de Hérédia (i.e.
Irénée Bajos de Hérédia, a great name in French Bridge). Hérédia
describes a game that had already been modified by bridge players,
with *52* cards; he gives two variants: "le Barbu à 7 coups" (doubling
possible) and "le Barbu à 6 coups".
As for history the author thought the game arose on the transatlantic
liners "vers 1925"; "son premier nom fut King; il se jouait avec un
jeu de 32 cartes et ne comportait que quatre coups." (Its first name
was King; it was played with a 32-card pack and had only four
contracts.)
Rules of Barbu are also given in P.-E. Mora, "Tous les jeux de cartes
et leurs règles", Paris, Bornemann, 1969 (as le Barbu, or Sans-Cœur),
and in some other games compendiums of the late 60's-early 70's. No
monograph devoted to the game, but Patrick Arnett's "Trois jeux, trois
jours : tarot, gin, barbu" (Paris, Solar, 1975) gives detailed rules
(with 52 cards and 7 contracts) and examples.
Interestingly the same game was described in one of the most popular
French-speaking (though Belgian) card-game books of the 60's, Frans
Gerver, "Le guide Marabout de tous les jeux de cartes", Verviers
(Belgium), 1966 where the game was called Sans-Cœur (32 cards, 5
contracts).
In his earliest book, "Le livre des jeux" (Paris, 1970) Pierre
Berloquin did not know of Barbu yet but gave an account of it as
Sans-Cœur, probably relying on Gerver.
Cheers,
Thierry Depaulis
Ann and John
after the regular Bridge Duplicates - my wife recalls a person by the name
of Ehab [? spelling ] introducing the game and that Chris Dixon compiled a
computer scoring program for it.
Hope this helps
John
"Andy Bowles" <andy....@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:j6Skb.308$Qm2.3...@news-text.cableinet.net...
Shireen Mohandes
(I tried to contact Thierry by email to ask this question, but my message
bounced - my apologies to anyone else who finds themselves reading this.)
Thank you for this, and your other reply - they were both interesting and
informative. Is it OK with you if I reproduce them on a Barbu-related
website? Obviously I would provide appropriate attribution.
The site is www.barbu.co.uk
Andy Bowles
Shireen Mohandes
news:bnjlgr$usr$1...@newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Certainly Barbu was played at the ACOL BRIDGE CLUB in the late 70s early
80s
> after the regular Bridge Duplicates - my wife recalls a person by the name
> of Ehab [? spelling ] introducing the game and that Chris Dixon compiled a
> computer scoring program for it.
The game in the UK goes back at least to 1970. Chris Dixon says he first
came across the game at the Grand Slam bridge club in London, sometime
before 1971.
David Parlett
http://www.pagat.com/reverse/king.html
and described on p.148 of my Penguin Encyclopedia of Card Games. My source was Anthony Smith,
whose informants believe it was played in their family in St Petersburg as early as the 1920s.
--
David Parlett
d...@davidparlett.co.uk
For books and games visit www.davidparlett.co.uk