Before the deal, the dealer must dress the layout, by putting one counter upon the Ten, two upon the Jack, three upon the Queen, four upon the King, and five on the Pope, which is the Seven (or the Nine) of diamonds.
The eldest hand begins by leading any card he pleases, and if he has those in sequence and suit with it and above it, he continues to play until he fails. He then says “No six,” or whatever the card may be that he stops on. The next player on his left then continues the sequence if he can, or if he cannot, he says, “No six,” also, and it passes to the next player. If no one can continue, the card must be in the stock, which remains on the table face down and unseen. When one sequence is stopped in this manner, the last player has the right to begin another with any card he pleases.
The object of the game is twofold; to get rid of all the cards before any other player does so, and to get rid of the cards which appear on the layout. If the duplicate of any of those cards can be played, the holder of the card at once takes all the money staked upon it; but if he fails to get rid of it before some player wins the game by getting rid of all his cards, the player who is found with one of the layout cards in his hand at the end must double the amount staked on that card, to which the next dealer will add the usual contribution.
The player who first gets rid of all his cards collects from the other players a counter for every card they hold. These cards must be exposed face up on the table, so that all may see who has to double the various pools. If any of the layout cards are in the stock, the pool simply remains, without doubling.
There are a great many variations of Pope Joan. Sometimes a layout very similar to that in Matrimony is used, Pope taking the place of Pair, and Game that of Best. A trump is turned by the dealer, and Matrimony is King and Queen of trumps, Intrigue Queen and Jack of trumps, Confederacy, King and Jack of trumps. The player holding these cards will of course be able to play both of them if he can play one in a sequence, and will take the pool for the combination. If he holds one card and another player holds the other, they divide the pool. If one of the cards is in the stock, the pool remains. In some places it is the custom to remove the Eight of diamonds, as at Commit, to form an extra and known stop. The player first getting rid of his cards takes the pool on Game, and the holder of Pope takes that pool if he can get rid of the card in the course of play, if not, he must double the pool, just as with the honours in trumps.
NEWMARKET, OR STOPS.
This game, which is sometimes called Boodle, is Pope Joan without the pope. The four cards forming the layout are the ♡A, ♣K, ♢Q, ♠J; but there is no ♢7. The dealer names any number of counters that he is willing to stake, which must be at least four, and each player at the table must stake a similar amount. The counters are placed on the layout to suit the players, either all upon one card, or distributed among the four. The cards are dealt as at Pope Joan, and the same number must be left in the talon.
Instead of the player being at liberty to begin a sequence with any card he pleases, he must begin with the lowest card in his hand of the suit which he selects. He is not restricted as to suit, but must play all he has in sequence, and then name the card that he fails on. If a new sequence is opened by any player, he must play the lowest card of the suit in his hand.
If, in the course of play, any of the four cards on the layout can be got rid of, the player holding them takes the pool on that card. If he is left with the card in his hand at the end he is not obliged to double the pool, as at Pope Joan, but simply loses his chance to win it, and it remains until the next deal. The first player to get rid of all his cards receives one counter from the other players for each card they hold.
SPIN is Newmarket, with one variation. The player holding the diamond ace is allowed to play it in order to get the privilege of stopping one suit and opening another. For instance: The sequence in spades has run to the Nine, and one player holds both spade Ten and diamond ace. If this player saw that another was very likely to win the game at any moment, and he had a pool card to play, he might stop the spade sequence by playing both the Ten and the diamond ace together, announcing Spin. He can then play a pool card, or begin a new sequence with the lowest of the suit in his hand. He cannot play the diamond ace unless he can play to the sequence first.