 | |
| Alternative names | Birky |
|---|---|
| Type | Adding-up-type |
| Players | 2[1] |
| Skills | Observation, quick reactions |
| Cards | 52 |
| Deck | French-suited |
| Rank (high→low) | Assumednatural ranking, Aces low |
| Play | Alternate |
| Chance | High |
| Related games | |
| Beggar my Neighbour • Battle | |
Birkie orBirky is an historical Scottish west coast card game for two players that is first recorded bySir Walter Scott in 1819. It has been equated toBeggar my Neighbour, however, its rules are different.
Birkie is first recorded in Scott'sBride of Lammermoor in 1819 where he writes "But Bucklaw cared no more about riding the first horse and that sort of thing, than he, Craigengelt, did about a game at birkie."[2]
In 1820,John Galt alludes to the game in hisAyrshire Legatees thus: "It was an understood thing that not onlyWhist andCatch-Honours were to be played, but even obstreperous Birky itself for the diversion of such of the company as were not used to gambling games."[3]
In 1824, Birkie is listed as one of the most popular card games inGalloway alongside "catch the ten, orcatch honours, lent for beans,brag andpairs for slaes,[a]Beggar my Neebour... Love after Supper, and Wha to be married first." They are described as "rustic games", unlike "Whist,Cribbage and other genteel nonsense."[4]
Although recorded initially in the west coast regions ofAyrshire and Galloway, by the 1850s it appears the game had reachedGlasgow, being played by print workers alongsidecatch the ten andall fours.[5]
Jamieson derives the name 'birkie' from the Icelandicberk-ia, to boast.[1]
The only description of the rules are two brief accounts byJohn Jamieson in his dictionaries of the Scottish language. The first runs as follows:[1]
BIRKIE, BIRKY,s[ubstantive]. A childish game at cards, in which the players throw down a card alternately. Only two play; and the person who throws down the highest takes up the trick, S[cotland]. In England it is calledBeggar-my-neighbour. Of this game there are said to be two kinds,King's Birkie andCommon Birkie. From the Islandicberk-ia to boast; because the one rivals his antagonist with his card.
Later editions change "childish" to "trifling" and add that "he who follows suit [with a higher card] wins the trick, if he seizes the heap before his opponent can cover his card with one of his own".[6]
Despite its equation to the English game of Beggar my Neighbour, it is different because a) it is listed separately byJohn Mactaggart;[4] b) no pay cards (A K Q J) are mentioned i.e. cards which, when played, require the opponent to play a specified number of further cards which, if all are numerals, are captured by the player of the pay card; and c) there is a requirement to follow suit, unlike Beggar my Neighbour. However, the aim is similar: to win by acquiring all the cards. It may be that the above rules describecommon birkie and that, inking's birkie, the king was perhaps the highest card and also a pay card.[7]
