Bridge’s predecessor Whist (or even earlier Trump) was the primary upper class gambling game for 300 years. If you read a book about someone losing the estate playing cards it was Bridge, not poker and probably not proto blackjack (which both existed in some form but were a bit lower class)
Quadrille was big for a while i think too. But really you want your trick-taking card games (Bridge etc.) for “game responsible for bringing down a dynasty stretching back to the middle ages”
Yeah, playing Bridge used to be cool. But people born after 1950 seem to have collectively decided to not play it anymore.
Bridge’s predecessor Whist (or even earlier Trump) was the primary upper class gambling game for 300 years. If you read a book about someone losing the estate playing cards it was Bridge, not poker and probably not proto blackjack (which both existed in some form but were a bit lower class)
It could be schafkopf if they’re central European. Which is also basically bridge.
There’s also Basset and Faro, which could be charitably described as “card roulette” except even less fair to the player in the former case.
Quadrille was big for a while i think too. But really you want your trick-taking card games (Bridge etc.) for “game responsible for bringing down a dynasty stretching back to the middle ages”