The 1718
Académie Universelle des Jeux does not give a full account of the rules, describing the game as having "a lot of similarity to
Hoc" but named Emprunt because it contains the distinguishing feature that players are allowed to "borrow" a card they do not have. Emprunt may be played by three to six players using a standard
French-suited pack of 52 cards. If six play, each is
dealt eight cards with four going to the
talon; if five play, each receives ten and there are two in the talon. If four play, the aces and twos are removed, reducing the pack to 44 cards; each player receives ten and four are left to the talon. If three play, the threes are also removed, leaving 40 cards in the pack; each player is dealt 21 and there is a talon of four. The cards having been dealt, each player
antes one or two
jetons of an agreed value to the
pool (
poule). Players
draw lots for first
dealer, the one with the lowest having this privilege. The dealer
shuffles, has the cards
cutting by the player to the left and then deals the requisite number of cards in anticlockwise order beginning with
first hand, the player to the right. First hand leads with any card from their
hand. Second hand must follow this with the next card in
suit sequence; if he does not hold it, he must "borrow" it from the player who has it and pay a jeton for it to that player. If no player has it, the player draws the card from the talon (wherein it must lie) and pays a jeton to the pool. Once the first
suit is exhausted, the player who played the last card of that suit begins a new suit with any card held. The first player to shed all their hand cards wins the game, sweeps the pool and receives from each opponent as many jetons as the opponent has cards left in hand. == Footnotes ==