The Origins of Piquet Early Beginnings Piquet, one of the oldest card games, traces its origins back to the late 15th century in France. Initially known as Cent, due to its target score of 100 points, it evolved into the game we know today as Piquet. The game gained widespread popularity across Europe, becoming a favorite pastime for the nobility and aristocracy. 17th Century Popularity During the 17th century, Piquet became synonymous with elegance and strategy. It was a two-player game requiring a standard 32-card deck, excluding the twos through sixes. The game's complexity and emphasis on skill rather than chance contributed to its popularity among the intellectual elite. The Rules of Piquet Setup and Objective Piquet is played with a 32-card deck, comprising aces, kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines, eights, and sevens of each suit. Each player is dealt 12 cards, and the remaining 8 form the talon (or stock), which can be exchanged with some cards from a player's hand. The o