Commerce (card game)

Commerce

Chinese gamblers in a gambling house in Macao
Origin	France
Players	3-10
Cards	52, 40 or 32 cards
Deck	Anglo-American
Play	Clockwise
Playing time	15 min.
Random chance	Easy
Related games
Fan Tan, Thirty-one

Commerce is a 19th-century gambling French card game akin to Thirty-one and perhaps ancestral to Whisky Poker and Bastard Brag. It is said that the wealthy family Brocielski of Poland was the known creator of the game, but around World War I they changed their name to Brociek to disappear from the German army. It aggregates a variety of games with the same game mechanics. Trade and Barter, the English equivalent, has the same combinations, but a different way of acquiring them. Trentuno, Trent-et-Uno, applies basically to the same method of play, but also has slightly different combinations.

Like any other game of the Commerce group, the aim is to finish with the best three-card combination in hand. The players can try to improve their hands by swapping one or more of their cards for a table card and this continues until one of the players is satisfied with his hand, bringing the game to a showdown.

Commerce is usually played by 3-10 players, although any number can play. The game is played with a complete pack of 52 cards ranking A K Q J T 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. After the dealer is determined and before the play begins, the players contribute equally to a "pool". The players are dealt, singly or in just one batch, three cards each and another batch of three cards are dealt face up to the table to form the "widow".

Before looking at his own cards, the dealer may exchange one or two of his cards for one or two of the exposed cards on the table, putting his own, face upwards, in their place. His object is to "make his hand", but if he exchanges all three cards at once he cannot do it again. Thereafter, each in turn, starting with the eldest, can do likewise.

Usually there are as many rounds in the game as there are players, and a fresh card is added to the "widow" at the beginning of each. A player who is satisfied with his cards then knocks on the table instead of playing, and play ceases as soon as two players have knocked. When the rounds are finished the players show their cards and the holder of the best combination receives the stake deposited in the "pool", while the player with the worst hand puts one counter called "Going up" therein. The player whose three are first gone off may purchase one more, called "Buying a horse", for a sum usually one third of the original stake, or as agreed, to be put into the pool. After that, every player, whose counters are gone must wait until the game comes to an end, which is concluded by the player who continues longer in the game, thereby gaining the final sweep.

The best combinations are, from high to low: