1875 · Charles Gooch
This is a miniature card game published as a promotional item in 1875 by Charles Gooch, an American manufacturer of "Noiseless Spring Beds". The deck consists of 56 cards that measure just 2.25" by 1.25". The cards are printed with black ink on plain cardboard, with one side showing the name of a country followed by four geographical features related to that country. The back side is an advertisement for the company's beds.
To begin, players first form a pool of face-up cards equal to the number of players. There are then two rules variations: players either start with a hand of six, leaving a face-down draw deck, or the entire remaining deck is distributed at the outset.
Starting from the dealer's left, a player may first pick up a card from the pool if it completes a "trick" of the four cards related to a country. He then may ask any other player for one of the cards (by name and then feature) from a nation in which he already holds at least one card. If available, the other player must hand over the card, and the asking player may continue. As soon as the asking player fails to win a card, he must add one card from his hand to the pool, and play passes to the left. (If playing with the draw deck, a player takes the top card into his hand before discarding to the pool.)
Whenever a player completes a trick of four, it is set aside, and the winner is the player who completes the most tricks.
