Paperback. White cover with black and red title.

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For conditions, please view the photographs. The Penguin Book of Card Games is the authoritative up-to-date compendium, describing an abundance of games to be played both for fun and by serious players. Auctions, trumpless hands, cross-ruffing and lurching: card players have a language all of their own. From games of high skill (Bridge) to games of high chance (Newmarket) to trick-taking (Whist) and banking (Pontoon), David Parlett, seasoned specialist in card games, takes us masterfully through the countless games to choose from. Not content to merely show us games with the conventional fifty-two card pack, Parlett covers many games played with other types of cards – are you brave enough to play with Tarot? With a ‘working description’ of each game, with the rules, variations and origins of each, as well as an appendix of games invented by the author himself, The Penguin Book of Card Games will delight, entertain and inform both the novice and the seasoned player.

Review: Parlett is an expert on the history and playing of card games, yet he has managed to produce this wonderful compendium in a way that is easy for any layman to read and absorb. Whether you are interested in an overview of the history and development of card games and the different families or just want to dive in and play a new game or check the rules of an old favourite, it is ideal. For me, it has opened up a whole new world of diverse, challenging or just enjoyable, sociable games using German-suited cards which I had never come across. Our friends and family just love playing them. If you like card games and enjoy something new, buy it.

David Parlett is a games inventor, consultant and author. He is a card games expert of international repute. A former language teacher then technical journalist, he has been freelancing in the games world since editing Games and Puzzles magazine in 1974. His many books include: The Guinness Book of Word Games (1995), A Dictionary of Card Games (1992) and The Penguin Book of Word Games (1982). He lives in South London.