Havilering

Havilering is a Sussex partnership trick-taking game with a cyclic trump hierarchy, where points are earned by winning Cribbage-style combinations in tricks.

How to play

Players

The game is for four players, playing in fixed partnerships. However it is common for players to switch partners between games in the same session.

Equipment

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck of cards. Players tend to use the Jacks from a second deck are used as a memory aid, but this is not essential. See the note on setup below for what these may help with.

You will also need some means of keeping score. Traditionally a Cribbage board is used, but pencil and paper, or any other suitable means, will do.

Setup

Partnerships may be pre-arranged, in which case players simply begin the game.

If they are not pre-arranged, the following method is used:

When determining the ranking of cards in this procedure, the primary attribute is the suit of the card. The highest-ranking suit is the suit of the season — that is to say the suit of Jack Havel, with the remaining suits following the down the suit cycle. Cards of the same suit are settled by rank, following the usual ordering. Note that this applies only to the process of choosing partners — in the actual game, no one suit is (overall) better than all the others, and the suit of the season is only relevant for determining who is Jack Havel.

Partners sit opposite one another. Before each hand, the deck is shuffled by the dealer. The player to dealer's right cuts the deck, and then dealer deals thirteen cards, one at a time, to each player in clockwise fashion, starting with the player to their left (eldest).

Players look at their cards and arrange them as they wish, and then eldest (left of the dealer) leads to the first trick. At the end of a hand, if another is to be played (see Ending the Game), the deal passes to the left.

Play

Each hand consists of thirteen tricks, played to the left (clockwise if viewed from above). The leader of each trick may play any card they like. Other players must follow suit if able, or if they are unable, may play any card. Once the trick is finished, the winner pegs the number of points it is worth. The winner of each trick leads to the next.

Cards in completed tricks are all put into a single pile face-down beside the peg-board. The cards of the previous trick (but no tricks before) may be inspected until the next trick is completed.

Card ranking

Cards within a suit rank in 'standard' order (i.e. the same as in Whist, Bridge, etc.), from high to low: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

The suits are ranked relative to one another, in a cyclic fashion, in a sequence known as the suit cycle.

... < ♦ < ♥ < ♠ < ♣ < ♦ < ♥ < ♠ < ♣ < ♦ < ♥ < ♠ < ...

So Diamonds is less than Hearts, which is less than Spades, which is less than Clubs, which is less than Diamonds, etc. This ordering is the same (when wrapped around) as found (in some form or other) in many other games, including (non-exhaustively):

The pairs of suits that are not directly next to each other in this cyclic ordering are referred to as opposed - so Clubs is opposed to Hearts, and Spades to Diamonds. Any other pair of suits are neighbouring - so Hearts is neighbouring Diamonds and Spades.

Winning tricks

The rules for determining the winner of a trick depend on the number of different suits the trick contains:

Another way to look at it is in terms of trump suits:

The upshot of all this is that the only case where the suit led matters is when two opposed suits are played (at least in terms of determining the winner — the suit led of course matters in terms of which cards are legal to play, and for scoring the trick).

To clarify check the table of example tricks.

Scoring

Each trick is scored for the partnership that wins it, according to the scoring combination of cards it contains, if any. The combinations themselves are heavily influenced by those found in Cribbage, although their scoring value varies from that game.

In addition, the winner of the final trick scores 2 points for last. These scores are summarised in a table below.

For runs/running flushes, in keeping with the theme of cycles, the cards are allowed to 'wrap around'. In other words, Ace can be high or low, or both at the same time, and so Queen, King, Ace, 2 is a run of four.

In general you score each set of cards that fall into one of the above categories. Cards may be reused for more than one category, much in ths same fashion as in Cribbage, with the following exceptions:

A point to note however is that with a running flush of four (or three), you score separately for a flush (if there is one). This might seem counter-intuitive at first, but it makes more sense than it might first appear. A running flush of three need not be part of a flush (if the fourth card has a different suit), and so it make sense to also score a bonus if the flush is there (i.e. the fourth card matches the suit of the run). So for consistency, the same applies for a running flush of four (despite the fact that in this case the flush will always be scored).

Scores of some example tricks are found in the following table:

North East South West Winner Reason Score
4 ♠ 6 ♠ K ♠ 2 ♠ South Highest of led suit 1 (flush [1])
7 ♠ A ♠ 9 ♠ 8 ♠ East Highest of led suit 6 (flush [1] + fifteen [1] + running flush of three [4])
2 ♠ K ♠ 6 ♠ 8 ♣ West Clubs outranks spades 0
6 ♠ 9 ♦ 6 ♣ T ♣ East Diamonds is top of Spades, Clubs, Diamonds 7 (fifteen x 2 [2] + pair [2] + thirty-one [3])
3 ♣ 2 ♥ K ♥ A ♥ North Highest of led suit (Hearts is opposite Clubs) 10 (fifteen [1] + run of four [9])
4 ♣ 4 ♦ 3 ♥ 4 ♠ West Highest card (ties going to last played) 10 (fifteen [1] + prial [9])
Q ♥ A ♥ K ♥ J ♥ East Highest of led suit 14 (flush[1] + thirty-one [3] + running flush of four [10]) (in Spring an extra 2 (or 4 if East dealt) for Jack Havel)
5 ♠ 5 ♦ 5 ♣ 5 ♥ West Highest card (ties going to last played) 16 (fifteen x 4 [4] + double-prial [12])
J ♥ Q ♦ T ♠ 5 ♠ South Spades is highest in DHS 6 (fifteen x 3 [3] + run of three [3]) (plus Jack Havel if relevant)
2 ♦ T ♥ 9 ♥ T ♦ East Hearts outranks Diamonds 5 (thirty-one [3] + pair [2])

For an easy reference, the scores are summarised in the following table:

Category Points
Flush 1
Fifteen 1
Thirty-one 3
Pair 2
Prial 9
Double-prial 12
Run of three 3
Running flush of three 4
Run of four 9
Running flush of four 10
Jack Havel 2 (non-dealer wins trick)
4 (dealer wins trick)

Jack Havel

One of the Jacks is designated the Jack of the season, known as the seasonal Jack or Jack Havel (a Sussex name for a male crab). The suit of Jack Havel is known as the seasonal suit. If the dealer wins this card in a trick, it is worth 4 points. If anyone else wins it, it is worth only 2 points. This includes dealer's partner - only if the dealer themself wins it does it peg four.

The Jack of the season depends on the time of year the game is played:

Winter J ♦
Spring J ♥
Summer J ♠
Autumn J ♣

This is generally remembered with the rhyme:

“Winter frost gleams bright and true,
Spring brings love 'twixt lamb and ewe,
Summer spades dig wheat for sheaves,
Autumn bares its trees of leaves.”

In other words:

These days the seasons are typically taken to be the astronomical seasons, i. e. beginning on the relevant solstice/equinox and running up to the final day before the next one. If in doubt, it is best to agree on the current season before a game — this is the other benefit of displaying the four additional Jacks by the scoreboard. The actual Jack in season is essentially arbitrary, as the game does not at its core change depending on this suit — just as long as everyone is in agreement which suit is in season.

When Sussex-folk in more recent times have played this game away from home, Jack Havel is usually determined in reference to the current season in Sussex. However, different seasonal definitions may be used as long as agreed before the game.

To aid players prone to mishaps, one can use a set of decorative 'Jack Havel' cards (usually with a crab motif) in place of the standard Jack. So for instance in Spring the Jack of Hearts is replaced with the Hearts Jack Havel card in the deck. Care should be taken in these cases, as a canny player may notice a less-worn card in another's hand as an indication of their holding!

Game setup

At the start of the game, if you have a second pack, take the four jacks from it, and then fan them out, face up, with the seasonal Jack on top, and the cards in descending or order (relative to the suit cycle) below that. So for instance, in Winter, the Jacks are laid out in the order (left-to-right and bottom-to-top): Hearts, Spades, Clubs, Diamonds.

This is usually positioned next to the pegboard, as a reminder/reference for all players.

Ending the game

A game is played to a point total, which is usually taken as 121 points. As soon as one side wins a trick taking their total to this value or beyond, they win the game and it finishes with no more tricks being played.

Running the points

However, a match is often played as a series of games, such the best of 3, 5, or 7 (depending on enthusiasm and time available - for more games, players sometimes play to a lower points total). In such cases, if the winning game does not complete the match, there is another possibility. After the trick completes that takes one side to or past 121, an option is offered to the losing side to play out the remainder of the hand (known as running the points). Both sides continue to track their scores to whatever they go to, and then when the hand is finished, whichever side ends up with the higher score will begin the next game with whatever points they have in excess of 120, while the lower-scoring side starts as usual from zero. Whatever happens, the team first crossing 121 scores the game point - the rest of the hand (if played) merely determines the headstart for the next hand.

So for example, say the scores are 118-115. The first team wins a trick of four points, taking the scores to 122-115. They then score a game point, but this does not take them to enough to win the match. The second team decide to play out the rest of the hand, which takes the scores eventually to 126-129. The next game will then start with the scores at 0-9, as the second team won more points, and so earn the headstart.

The procedure for deciding if the remainder of the hand is played out is as follows:

There are no differences rules-wise between responding 'No' or 'Maybe' as the initial respondent. This is generally used as a limited means of communication between partners — 'Maybe' typically signifies a good-quality hand that is nonetheless not an instant 'Yes'.

The first hand of the next game always keeps the usual rotation of the deal, so the dealer for the first hand of the game will be the player who led to the first trick in the previous hand.

Variants

Muggins

In informal games, players may sometimes play with the Muggins rule. This is the same as in Cribbage - allowing opponents to score any points not claimed by the winner of a trick.

If the winner of a trick does not claim all the points their trick is worth, then after they lead to the next trick one of the opponents may declare 'Muggins' and peg the extra points for themselves, declaring what was missed. At this point either side is free to inspect the previous trick to ensure that this was correct. If the call was mistaken, then the points go instead to the side winning the trick — i. e. the side the call of Muggins was against.

A primer on tactics

Havilering is a game that generally has quite a lot going on, and a lot to keep track of. It can help to have a bit of an idea of what to pay attention, particularly when starting out. It is quite a chaotic game, but nevertheless there is some room for tactical play.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive guide, but rather a brief introduction to playing the game in practice.

What to keep track of

As in most card games, it pays to keep track of some information about the cards that have been played already. However, as there is no preferential suit, and most people are not able to fully remember all 52 cards, it can be non-obvious what information to keep track of.

Useful information that should be largely doable to keep track of:

These things come with practice. There are other inferences you may be able to make as play goes on, and you may have to experiment with what system of information works for you.

Winning tricks

The unusual cyclic structure of the game means that there are a few tactics that can be useful, in terms of winning tricks, that are not quite the same as in other games.

Trumping

Simple trumping is just playing the next suit up in the cycle. So for example, if clubs are led, a player void in clubs can play a diamond to trump the trick. This is usually most effective when not too many rounds of the suit have already been played, so that other players are likely to have to follow suit still.

If other players playing later in the trick are likely to also be void, such as when the suit has been led a few times, it runs the risk of one of those players either playing a higher card of this trump suit (i.e. a higher diamond), or the suit one above (a heart).

Cricketing

Cricketing is the name of a strategy that may be used by players who are playing second or third to a trick. When you are void in the led suit, cricketing is playing the opposite suit (when everyone so far has followed suit). For example in a suit with clubs led, playing a heart.

You can think of this as playing the suit two above the led suit (although it is also two below). It is called cricketing in analogy with the insect, because you 'hop over' the next suit up.

When you cricket you are not heading the trick — whoever has played the highest card of the led suit will still be in the winning position. However, this effectively blocks players from being able to trump. Any player playing the next suit up from that led (so diamonds in the example) will then promote your heart above it.

When playing third

Cricketing is a defensive option when playing third. It is typically done when partner has led a high card which is likely to be the highest card. If there is a danger that the player playing fourth is void, then cricketing blocks them from trumping.

Say partner plays King of Clubs, which is followed by the Ten. If you (being void in Clubs) then play a Heart, the final player then has the options (assuming they are void):

The only danger in this situation is the possibility that fourth seat might have a higher Club (in this case it could only the Ace). If fourth seat is likely to follow suit, you may be best off playing a simple trump (i.e. a Diamond). Which option is best will depend on the cards played so far, and the situation in the game.

When playing second

Cricketing in second seat tends to be a bit more speculative, as in this instance you are playing a card before your partner does. It is usually done when:

You may already know this second point from previous tricks. The idea is the same — prevent the opponent following you from being able to trump the trick, as playing the suit above the led suit would promote your card to trump.

When cricketing in third seat, the rank you play doesn't matter for the purposes of winning the trick, so you can choose a rank that is advantageous in terms of scoring. However when cricketing in second seat, it might be worth playing a high card to guard against overcricketing.

Overcricketing

If you are sitting in third hand, with second hand having cricketed, what should you play? One option is to overcricket, which means playing the suit above the 'cricketed' suit (i.e. the suit relatively below the led suit). Concretely, let's say Spades were led. Second hand crickets (so plays a Diamond), you overcricket by playing a (high) Heart. Now what are the possibilities for fourth hand?

You cannot control if fourth hand can follow suit or not, but by playing a high Heart, you limit the options for them to win the trick if they can't, forcing them to play at least as high a Club, which they may not be able to. Of course, if partner initially led a high card you can play low instead and hope that partner's is high enough to hold, but if they have done so it is less likely that second hand will cricket.

Hand management

As there is no overall trump in Havilering, every suit is potentially a trump. But to make the most of this fact, you need to try and engineer the hand so that you can take advantage of this fact, while trying to guard against your opponents doing the same.

Burn through short suits

An often good option, particularly if your hand is fairly ordinary, is to attempt first to use up suits for which you have no more than two cards. Around nine times out of ten you will have two or fewer cards in your shortest suit, and around one in three times you will have a singleton or void.

If you manage to create a void in this way, then you are now in a position to trump that suit the next time it is played, by the playing the next suit up. As such, you should also try and avoid leading cards of this suit, as it diminishes your trumping power.

Care should be taken in particular if you started with a doubleton - in roughly a third of these instances another player will have also started with a doubleton, and so will become void at the same time as you. If you are playing earlier in the trick be cautious about the possibility of being overtrumped, and consider whether cricketing might be preferable.

Set up a long suit

One interesting consequence of the cyclic structure of suits in Havilering is that when one suit is completely exhausted, the suit below it in the cycle cannot be trumped. So for instance, once all the Hearts have been played, a Diamond lead cannot be trumped. This is sometimes referred to as a suit being unguarded.

This fact makes a long suit potentially very powerful, if you can set it up. With a long suit, usually the suit to attack is the suit above it. If you can draw out all cards of this suit, then your long suit cannot be trumped, and once you knock out any top cards of the suit, you can cash the remaining cards.

An ideal hand for this sort of thing is a long suit with a couple of top cards (which you can use to keep control and knock out the remaining cards), with a strong suit above it, which you can use to exhaust the suit.

If you have two consecutive long suits, focus on the higher one first - with a long suit it shouldn't take too many rounds to draw the remaining cards out, and then once the lower suit is established you will have some safe winners.

It is worth trying to keep track of at least the count of cards played in each suit, so that you may beware if an opponent may be in a position to play out an unguarded suit.

Pay attention to partner

In all instances it is a good idea to pay attention to the suits that partner leads. Think about why they may be leading those suits, and unless you have a particularly compelling case for a different suit, it is often a good idea to lead back partner's suit.

The reverse holds for opponents - do of course pay attention to what they play, but be wary about leading a suit an opponent has been leading, as you may be helping them out.

Scoring combinations

Winning tricks is only part of the way to succeed at Havilering. The other consideration is manipulating the scoring combinations in the tricks - specifically to try to maximise the value of tricks that your side wins, and to minimise the value of tricks the opposing side wins.

Many bits of advice that follow contradict one another. These are general points, so which consideration takes precedence will require judgement of the game situation.

Win early tricks

Usually there will be one or two tricks (or occasionally three) in a suit before someone fails to follow suit. If you win one of these tricks, you will get the points for flushes, as well as increase the likelihood of being able to snag a running flush.

If you think the suit will go round a second time, it can be better to win the second trick in favour of the first. The second trick of a suit means that opponents have less choice over which cards to play (and if it is their final card of the suit, no choice at all), which increases the chance they will be forced to play cards that will lead to higher scoring combinations.

Win late tricks

Towards the end of the hand, players can be quite constrained in the cards they have available to play, which can make it harder to avoid playing cards that lead to high-scoring combinations. Thus it is often useful to try and win tricks at the back end of the hand.

The bonus for the final trick is also very useful to get if possible.

Seasonal suit

Be careful leading the seasonal suit, particularly if you do not hold the Jack. If you do hold the Jack, probably only lead this suit if you are fairly long in it.

If the Jack has not come out yet, when playing third to a trick of this suit, try to avoid letting fourth hand win it with the Jack (should they hold it).

If you hold Ace King of the suit, consider leading the Ace to give partner the chance to safely unload the Jack. This is especially true if you are dealer.

If you hold the Jack and are in danger of losing it, and the opposition dealt, it may be worth letting the non-dealing opponent win it so that you give away two points instead of four.

Don't forget wraparounds or thirty-one

There are lots of possible scoring combinations in Havilering, and it can be difficult to keep track of them all, particularly when there are several things going on at once. Two that are particularly easy to overlook are:

There is no magic bullet for avoiding giving these scores away / missing opportunities to score them. The best way to remember is to get it wrong a couple of times - partner will be sure to offer some encouraging words of support in such instances.

It is good to get into the habit, particularly when playing third or fourth to the trick, to count up the pips in the trick so far, and to look out for any run possibilities.

Pointless tricks

Some tricks are worth no points. These tend to be rarer than you might think, as there are so many possible scoring combinations, but there still tend to be one or two each deal.

It is not necessarily obvious until the end of the trick whether or not it will be pointless, but you may have an idea of the possibility earlier. But even if a trick is worth no points, it is still often worth winning to give you the lead, so that your side remains in control of the hand. Of course in other situations it may be best to let the opponents win to give them the lead, if you don't want to be force to break a particular suit, or if you would like your side to play last to a trick.

Choose the least bad

Sometimes none of your cards will be appealling to play, and you might have to play a card that will help your opponents. This is an unavoidable part of the game - in these situations you should aim to choose the 'least bad' option. If there is not much in it, then you should also bear in mind what cards may be useful / problematic later in the hand, and take the opportunity to sculpt your hand in a favourable direction.

Play middle cards of consecutives

If you hold consecutive cards of a suit (say 7, 8, 9), it is usually best to play a card from the middle (in this case '8'), as this is less likely to lead to a run (requiring cards from out-of-suit), and cannot possibly make a running flush.

Of course if partner is winning the trick, the converse advice holds - prefer cards on the outside.

Play low-spot cards

If not (evidently) winning a trick, prefer low-spot cards that cannot be easily paired with others to make 15s. 2, 3, 4 are ideal for this. Aces are trick-winners, so less often need to avoid scoring combos.

5s are dangerous as they will make fifteen with any ten or face card, so should be played with caution. It can be useful to play a 5 to give away a single 15, rather than hang onto it and risking giving away more.

Playing second to a losing trick, if possible keep the pip-count under eleven so that a thirty-one is not a possibility.

Tempt third hand

If you are playing second to a trick, and suspect partner may be in a position to win it (perhaps you are very long in the led suit so think partner may be void), it can be worth trying to tempt third hand into playing a scoring combination.

For instance, you might play a card that would set up a run of three, so that partner can either claim it, or perhaps convert it to a run of four. Similarly you could play a pair, or card that could be paired, hoping third hand increases the trick value.

Just win tricks

It can be easy to get a bit bogged down with all the things to think about in terms of scoring combinations. So having given various suggestions about the cards to play, you can in fact do pretty well if you just focus on winning tricks without worrying too much about their value.

History

The traditional history - a flight of fancy

Havilering is a game positively dripping with tradition. Nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to the history of the game. Sources are scant [1], but the oral tradition of the history of the origins of the game is very clear amongst proponents of the game [2].

It is very important to never describe the history of the game the same way in any two retellings. The following is the closest one can come to a 'canonical' version, taken from the highest authority available [3].

Early rumblings

It's said that the origins of the game go back to the late 18th century. Whist was much-played in England, and Sussex was no exception. However, the anti-authoritarian bent of the Sussex folk meant that some were unhappy with the implied hierarchy of one suit being 'best' (even if the suit changed from hand to hand), and a local variant developed to take the trump suit down a peg or two. For each trump suit, the matching-colour suit would beat the trump suit only, whilst having no special privileges against the other two.

However, this only took things so far. There was still a distinction between the trump suit, it's 'beating' suit, and the remaining two. Supposedly inspired by the local landmark of Chanctonbury Ring (recently be-beeched), players at Steyning (traditionally specifically those who frequented the Star Inn) took this idea to its logical conclusion and created a 'ring' of relations amongst the four suits, with each suit beating the previous, the trickplay being as described above, except that with all four suits present, the leading card would win. This development meant the notion of a specific trump suit could be ditched altogether (although dealer receiving the final card face-up remained). This versionwas known locally as Ring Whist, Chanctonbury or occasionally The Game of Rings. Whilst certainly not as popular as Whist, it nevertheless spread around the county, reportedly making it at least as far as Arundel in the West, and Hailsham in the East.

Cribbed

The most crucial development of the game is much-discussed [4]. Amongst enthusiasts of the game it is said that the details should never be described the same way twice. So, upon reading this account, it is probably best to half-remember it at most, and then immediately pass your recollections on as undeniable fact.

A typical version of the story is this. Three players met at a pub in Lewes for their regular game of Ring. After waiting for some time, word arrived that their fourth had taken unwell and so would be unable to join. Fortunately another patron of the establishment, upon hearing this, volunteered to sit in to make up the table, with sufficient insistence that was impossible for the others to rebut. He was certain that his lack of familiarity with the game would not be a hindrance, as he was a regular competitor in the local Cribbage league. Neither would his current level of inebriation be an issue, as he proclaimed to play his best Crib after four or five ales to 'loosen up the thinking muscles'.

It seems, however, that perhaps both of these things were slightly problematic, and the game did not go without hitch. Following suit was rarely adhered to, and the newcomer would frequently attempt to continue a trick past a single card each if the total hadn't reached thirty-one. But of particular note was the fact that whenever he played a card to a trick, our newcomer would announce any cribbage points in the trick ('fifteen two, fifteen four, run eight'), before it being once again explained that points only came by winning tricks. The game was soon abandoned in favour of some Cribbage, so that at least all players at the table would be playing the same game.

When the 'Ringers' next met as a full foursome, they gleefully described to their recovered companion the 'excellent new version' they had learned in his absence. As a joke they then 'taught' him the game - Ring Whist as they knew it, but scoring for any fifteens, pairs, or runs in each trick (by the winner of said trick, rather than the player completing the combination).

After a couple of hands they revealed that it was in jest, and described the events of their previous game with much mirth. But having played this joke version in earnest, they discovered that it was not without merit, affording some interesting opportunities for trapping opponents into giving away scoring combinations. Despite this it it was dismissed as an amusing novelty, and they continued with their usual game of Ring.

Seriously Cribbed

But something proved 'sticky' about this idea. One of the four, known as 'JP', in particular began tinkering with the concept, and developed a revised scoring system suitable for use with trickplay, including pairs, fifteens, and runs. After convincing the group to give it a try, this version quickly became the favoured form, with plain Ring Whist being phased out over the next few weeks.

Word started to spread, and soon much interest grew locally around this new game, particularly with the local Cribbage players. As the pool of players grew, so too did proposals for various scoring combinations, mostly inspired by Cribbage or similar games, including flushes of four or three, points for 'twenty-five' and 'thirty-one', and running flushes. This initial excitement soon gave way to organisation, as players wishing to set up something of a local league then standardised the combinations, as well as point values. Additionally the trickplay rules were adjusted in the case of all four suits being present to the rules given above, so that a double-prial (or 'mournival') would be awarded to the final player, slightly increasing their likelihood of coming up in play.

The game came to be known as Crib Whist, Crib Catch, or most popularly Crib-Ring. This evolved, particularly along the coastal towns and villages, for halieutic reasons into Crab-Ring.

Seriously Crabbed

Initially at this time the face-up card of the dealer was re-employed to set the suit for a special Jack, this card being worth 2 points when captured for his nob, or double if dealer took it. But players found this fiddly, and arguments (of varying severity) would frequently arise about which Jack it was, as it was easy to forget the suit after dealer had played the card, it having no other relevance.

Soon the fashion was instead to dispense with the face-up card, and fix the suit as Clubs. But this rankled with some, as it broke the evenness previously in place between the four suits. This then led to the current situation of a 'time-share' — each suit would spend one season as the the one with the privileged Jack, so that overall it was fair. This also made it fairly straightforward for players to remember from hand-to-hand. This card became known as Jack Havel (a Sussex name for a male crab), and the corresponding Sussex word 'haviler' for a crab in general, which then led to the name of the game evolving into haviler-ring, and then more simply havilering.

There were refinements to this 'seasonal Jacks' rule, however. There is a famous story, which is told in many variants. Here is one.

A game of Havilering was occuring in middish-June on the eve of the æstival solstice, in the village of Findon. Play was for stakes, and as the evening trudged on, and the ale flowed, the animation of players too increased. The game was close, within a few points. Yet suddenly one player had begun to take an inordinate amount of thinking time for each card played.

While the occasional tortured deliberation could be forgiven, the others began to be fairly perplexed at this sharp change to very laboured play, after a previously free-flowing game. It only became apparent what was occurring, however, at one of the last few tricks. Spades were trumps, and at a certain point this player (the dealer) refused to play a card to the Diamonds trick. As time continued the players grew more and more perturbed, but still dealer refused to play a card, all the while stating that in the club rules there were no mention of time limits, which only led to further confusion and agitation, even with their partner. But things became clear as midnight drew closer — this player, holding the Jack of Spades, was waiting for the turn of the day to declare the beginning of Summer (with the arrival of the solstice), Jack ♠ therefore becoming Jack Havel, allowing them to play it to the trick as a ruff, and net four crucial points. The ensuing altercation is well-documented in court records of the time; suffice it to say that after this story had disseminated, surviving players agreed that Jack Havel is set by the season at the start of the game, and was not allowed to change during the course of it.

In the later 19th century, as play became more formalised, play began to more often take the form of 'best-of-n' games. In an effort to 'conserve luck', players then developed the procedure of running the points, so that a good hand should not go to waste just because it occurred at the end of a lost game.

A slightly more accurate history

You can read about the origins of the game in this blog post, and some more about the design iterations in this one. A little reasoning for the above slice of nonsense can be found in this other blog post.

Footnotes

Contact

If you have any thoughts about the game, or questions / any other feedback, feel free to get in touch at: havilering 'at' repiqued-interests.co.uk.