Chekhov query

[Svetlana Grenier]

Thank you, Michael, for a wonderful explanation!  I bet a lot of people were wondering about that, since these games come up so often in the literature of the period.

Svetlana

Michael Denner wrote:

> I had to write a long footnote on vint not long ago... Here's the essence of what I figured out (I am not a bridge player):
>
> Vint is a combination of the British game whist and pr¨¦ference (a game developed in Russia, despite its name), and is played by two teams of two. The rules and aims are pretty similar to bridge -- you aim to get win as many tricks as possible by bidding, as a team, the highest lead or trump card.
>
> Whist is actually the progenitor of bridge: Whist started out in the 17th century, maybe earlier, in England as a pretty simple, barroom game for the hoi polloi, not unlike Uno or War. It evolved, as it became popular with the middle and upper classes, into a family of more complicated, strategic games: bridge whist, contract bridge, auction bridge (later, just bridge -- which refers specifically to contract bridge). By the end of the 19th century, most people in the US and GB played bridge, not whist.
>
> Vint became popular in Russia at about the same time as whist was becoming bridge in the Anglophone world, i.e., around the beginning of the 1870s. It's still played a lot today. It got bidding for the trump suit before the deal from the game preference, but the number of cards and dealing from whist. §¢§à§Ý§î§ê§à§Û §ê§Ý§Ö§Þ in English is a "grand slam" -- A contract to make all 13 tricks. Usually there's a prize for it. A §Þ§Ñ§Ý§í§Û/§Þ§Ñ§Ý§Ö§ß§î§Ü§Ú§Û §ê§Ý§Ö§Þ is a contract to make 12 tricks -- a "little slam" in bridge parlance.
>
> Vint's different from most versions of bridge (I think) in that you get to negotiate the trump.
>
> I can definitely say that vint is a specifically Russian game, played in the US only by ¨¦migr¨¦s and the curious.
>
> mad
> ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
> Dr. Michael A. Denner
> Russian Studies Program
> Director, Honors Program
> Stetson University
> Campus Box 8361
> DeLand, FL 32724
> 386.822.7381 (department)
> 386.822.7265 (direct line)
> 386.822.7380 (fax)
> http://www.stetson.edu/~mdenner
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Zielinski [mailto:zielinski at GMX.CH]
> Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 2:34 PM
> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Chekhov query
>
> Vint seems to be a variation of whist:
>
> "Variations of whist include solo whist, Boston whist (Boston),
> and vint."
>
> http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9076789
>
> Jan Zielinski
>
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--
Svetlana Slavskaya Grenier
Associate Professor, Slavic Languages
PO Box 571050
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057-1050
202-687-6108, fax 687-2408

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