Losing Lodam

Losing Lodam is an historical English card game for three or more players. It is a 'negative' game like Hearts whereby the aim is to avoid taking tricks with certain cards known as loaders.

Losing Lodam
The four highest loaders
Alternative namesLodam, Loadam, Losing Lodam, Losing Lodum, Loosing-Lodam, Loosing Loadem, Losing Loadum;
At Losing, Load Him
TypeTrick-taking
Players3–10
Skills requiredCard counting, Tactics
Cards52-card
DeckFrench
PlayClockwise
Card rank (highest first)A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Related games
Hearts
Notes: Ace-Ten scoring

Names

The game is variously called Lodam, Loadam, Losing Lodam, Losing Lodum, Loosing-Lodam, Loosing Loadem, Losing Loadum or At Losing, Load Him.

History

The earliest record dates to 1586, but the only description appears in Francis Willughby's 1665 book, A Volume of Plaies.

It is the earliest example of an English game using a form of the Ace-Ten scoring system, albeit in a negative way.

Rules

The following rules are based on Willughby:[1]

Cards

A standard 52-card pack is used with Aces ranking high. The aim is to avoid taking tricks with certain cards known as loaders which have various penalty point values. These are the Ace - 11, Ten - 10, King - 3, Queen - 2 and Knave - 1. The remaining cards are non-counters.

Preliminaries

At the outset, players receive 3 gaming counters each. When a player goes out, he loses a counter and once he has lost all three, he is out of the game.

Players ante an agree stake and the last player in the game sweeps the pool.

Deal and play are clockwise. The cards are dealt out with everyone receiving the same number of cards, any left over being put aside, face down, as a talon.

Play

Eldest hand leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if able; otherwise may renounce i.e. play a card of any other suit. There are no trumps to begin with. The first person to renounce, turns the top card of the talon, announces its suit which is then trumps for the deal, and then replaces it face down. The rules for trick play, however, stay the same: follow suit if possible, otherwise play any card, which may be a trump. The trick is taken by the highest trump or highest card of the led suit if no trumps were played. The trick winner leads to the next trick.

Once a player has amassed 31 or more penalty points in loaders, he drops out and loses a counter. Play ends immediately and the deal rotates to the left. If all the tricks are played out, the player with the highest point score loses that deal and a counter.

Challenging

When a player reaches 31 or more card points, they may challenge another player to prove that they have not amassed 31 in tricks. Points in tricks are counted up and the player in error loses a life.

Exchanging

If a player has an unguarded loader, he may offer an exchange to the other players between tricks. If it is a court he says "a coat for a coat"; if it is an Ace or Ten he says "a card for a card." A player wishing to exchange may swap a card of the same type (court or Ace/Ten). If they turn out to be the same suit, the exchange is void and players retain their original cards.

Winning

Once a player loses their third counter, he or she is out of the game. The last player left in, wins and sweeps the pool.

References
  1. Willughby 1665.

Bibliography
  • Willughby, Francis (1665). A Volume of Plaies, (ms.) published as Francis Willughby's Book of Games by David Cram and Jeffrey L. Forgeng (2003). Oxford: Routledge.
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