Quinks

About

Quinks is an arithmetical game created around 1890 which uses a deck of 56 cards containing 4 sets of cards numbered from 1 to 14. At the beginning of the game, all cards are dealt out evenly and left face down in a pile in front of each player. One card is placed in the centre of the table, face up. In turn, each player lifts their top card and sets it on the face up card and, if the number of these two cards combined equals 15 the first player to realise this must shout out "Quinks"! This player then collects all the cards and places them in their own bundle. If a player shouts "Quinks" and the addition is incorrect, they must place all their cards in the centre of the table. The other players then compete to take these but the cardless player can also try to win them back. In this instance, to win the main pack and the additional pack, when the correct sum for 15 turns up the player must cry "Quinkall!" and takes the lot. The winner is the player who wins all the cards. To make the game more difficult, it's possible to play by adding three cards or more in succession, not just two.