Aluette (Grimaud)

Aluette. Grimaud, France. Stripped regular deck, Mediterranean suited, 48 single-headed cards. Size: unknown.

Deck make-up:
Coins, clubs, cups, swords: 1-9, foot jack, mounted jack, king.

Aluette is an trick-taking card game, played usually by four people divided into two teams, that is played on the west coast of France. The game is very old with references to the game of "luettes" in the early 16th century. As the cards use Mediterranean suits, it may even predate the invention of French playing cards around 1480. It is unusual in using a unique pack of 48 Spanish playing cards and a system of signalling between playing partners.

Aluette uses a unique stripped deck (no 10s) of 48 playing cards where certain pip cards depict figures to show that they outrank their face value. These figures provide the card with their nicknames and are associated with certain gestures players pass to their teammate:

The "luettes":
1: 3 of coins (monsieur/mister) – look upwards
2: 3 of cups (madame/misses) – tilt head to the side
3: 2 of coins (le borgne/the blind) – wink
4: 2 of cups (la vache/the cow) – pout a "moo"

The "doubles":
5: 9 of cups (grand neuf/great nine) – show the thumb
6: 9 of coins (petit neuf/small nine) – show the little finger
7: 2 of clubs (deux de chêne/two of oaks) – show the index and middle finger
8: 2 of swords (deux d'écrit/two of writing) – mime writing

The "figures":
9: 1s – open your mouth
10: kings
11: mounted jacks / knights
12: foot jacks / knaves

The "bigailles":
The remaining pip cards from the 9s of swords and clubs to the 3s of swords and clubs. The 5 of coins also includes a depiction of a couple kissing and the traditional signal is to "kiss hard" but it has no special value.

Grimaud (France Cartes) is the only producer of aluette decks at present. Since 1998, cards have included the nicknames, hinting gestures, and game ranking indices on their cards.

Click on any card to explore the design.

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Card image size, below:     

Coins

The kissing couple on the 5 is believed to represent Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Many of the illustrations on aluette decks appeared in other early Spanish packs but have since disappeared, like the six-pointed stars on the 4 of coins.

Clubs

Cups

The French colloquial name for the game, jeu de la vache, refers to the cow depicted on the 2 of cups. Note also the unusual busty female knights depicted on this deck.

Swords

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