Friday June 26, 2009 Southwest Senior Center. My email had comments on five-suited cards, including a long and thorough one from Denny Lien.

***Submitted "The Day After I Saved the World" to Andromeda Spaceways.
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Dennis Lien <d-lien@umn.edu>

There was a five-suit card deck marketed for a year or so in 1938. In the US the fifth suit was green and called Eagles; in the UK it was blue and called Royals.

See http://www.stardeck.com/games.php

which quotes the same book I learned this factoid from, decades ago.

I've never seen one.

also http://www.answers.com/topic/suit-cards

and this cached info from a defunct page:

Five Suit Bridge
A form of the game of bridge played with 65 cards. This variation was devised, developed and patented, which is something rare in the world of card games, by Mr. Walter Marseille, who was a psychologist and mathematician living in Vienna. The game was introduced in 1937 and became popular with some enthusiasts. This form of game was also discussed in the publication by Mr. Samuel Fry titled How to Win at Five Suit Bridge, 1938, and co-author Edward Hymes Jr., Publisher: Knight, New York, New York, LC: 38011495. Essentially this form of bridge was governed by the same rules and guidelines as Contract Bridge. However, this game had a fifth suit: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, No Trump, and the fifth suit. The fifth suit had different designations according to the country; in Austria it was known as Blätter. In America the fifth suit was referred to as Eagles, and in England it had the designation of Royals, which was the designation given in the first chapter of the publication by Mr. Samuel Fry and Mr. Edward Hymes Jr., entitled Enter The Royals.

The deal was the same as with Duplicate Contract Bridge, clock-wise in rotation. However, after dealing 16 cards to each player, there was one card remaining called the widow. The last card to be dealt, the widow, was placed face up on the table. The auction began and once trump and the declarer were established, the declarer was permitted to replace one card with the widow card and discard one card, which was also seen by the remaining three players. However this action was not required.

Accordingly book was eight tricks, not six. The act of scoring this form of card game was a different matter and rather evolved over time since there was no established scoring rules. Later, as the scoring became more consistent, it was determined that game required 150 points. The points awarded for each trick was 30 points, no difference being made between Major suit tricks and Minor suit tricks. No Trump contracts each scored 50 points, and the Royals (Eagles or Blätter), also referred to as the Super Major, scored 40 points for each trick. Establishing slam premiums was not an easy matter, but the consensus agreed upon as the game progressed was that a small slam or fifteen tricks bid and made, not vulnerable, received an additional premium of 500 points. Curiously a fifteen trick vulnerable small slam, and a non-vulnerable sixteen grand slam bid and made received an additional premium of 1000 points. A grand slam vulnerable contract bid and made received an additional premium of 2000 points. It is presumed that the undertricks, doubled and/or redoubled were given the same additional premiums as in Duplicate Contract Bridge, but this cannot be established. See also: Joker Bridge and Midget Bridge.

According to a reference by encarta.msn Five Suit Bridge:

1938: Contract Bridge

During the early part of the year, considerable excitement was created in bridge circles by the introduction of Five-suit Bridge, an importation into the United States from Austria, via England. As suggested by the title, this game was based on decks containing five suits instead of the traditional four. The innovation received its greatest impetus in England, when Their Majesties, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, visited a charity bazaar and bought some of the new decks. American newspapers and magazines gave this incident great publicity, probably as human interest material, and the result was an immediate tremendous demand for Five-suit Bridge decks. The new game, however, proved cumbersome and needlessly complicated, and it was not surprising that its life in the United States was less than two months. Thus, Ely Culbertson's early observation. "The average player has not yet thoroughly learned how to play with four suits, let alone with five," proved prophetic.

*****

books include

Title: Five-suit bridge.
Author(s): Culbertson, Ely,; 1891-1955, ; ed.
Publication: [New York, Bridge world magazine,
Year: 1938
Description: 47 p.
Language: English
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Five-suit bridge.
Other Titles: Bridge world magazine.
Responsibility: Prepared by the Bridge world magazine; Ely Culbertson, editor.

Title: Five-suit bridge,
Author(s): Burnstine, David. Jacoby, Oswald,; 1902-1984, ; joint author. Maier, Merwin D., ; joint author. Schenken, Howard, ; joint author.
Publication: New York, Simon and Schuster,
Year: 1938
Description: 96 p. 28 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: LCCN: 38-12213
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Five-suit bridge.

Title: How to win at five suit bridge /
Author(s): Fry, Samuel, 1909- Hymes, Edward, ; joint author.
Publication: New York : Knight,
Year: 1938
Description: 68 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: LCCN: 38-11495
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Five-suit bridge. Note(s): "Five suit bridge scoring" on p. [3] of cover.
Class Descriptors: Dewey: 795.41
Other Titles: Five suit bridge.
Responsibility: by Samuel Fry, jr., and Edward Hymes, jr. Illustrated with diagrams.

Denny