Games

Whist

Also Known As Whisk Whisk is the earlier spelling and name of the same game before it settled as Whist in the eighteenth century.

Citation Formats

General Reference

Sport and Games Atlas. "Whist." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-sport.interactiveatlas.org/games/whist.

APA Style

Sport and Games Atlas. (n.d.). Whist. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-sport.interactiveatlas.org/games/whist

BibTeX

@misc{sportandgamesatlas-whist,
  author = {Sport and Games Atlas},
  title = {Whist},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-sport.interactiveatlas.org/games/whist},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Whist is an English trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships, believed to have grown out of the earlier English game Ruff and Honours and established by the seventeenth century. Edmond Hoyle's 1742 A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist became a best-selling standard reference, giving rise to the phrase according to Hoyle for a universally accepted rule. It is the direct ancestor of bridge, whose bidding auction and trick play descend from whist's basic structure.

Facts

Originating Region

England 1

Game Type

Card game, trick taking 1

Governing Body

No modern governing body; historically the Portland Club (London) and the Whist Club (New York) maintained the game's official rules until whist was displaced by Bridge in the early 1890s. 2

Disputed

Origin Year

1650 1

Whist's exact origin is unclear; it grew out of the earlier English game Ruff and Honours and was already established by the mid seventeenth century, well before Edmond Hoyle's standardising 1742 treatise, which is a codification date rather than an origin date.

Cross-Tradition Connections