Scientific Whist
“Scientific Whist” : standard cards with instructions for play on the faces by Chas Goodall & Son, 1891.
Scattered through the literature on Whist from the late 19th century are references to the term “scientific” applied to the game of Whist. The term appears to refer to a style of play which uses some basic principles or “rules” of play which are supposedly based on sound principles of odds, mathematics and logic which both partners understand, and which guide their play as each hand progresses. For example, there are “rules” about what to lead, what to play third in hand, how to manage trumps, how to respond to partners lead and so on. Although the term scientific is only really evident in the literature in the last years of the 19th century, attempts to determine such rules were evident from the earliest writings on the game.

Edmond Hoyle, for example, writing his seminal “A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist” in 1742 distinguishes between the Laws of the game “and also some Rules whereby a Beginner may, with due attention to them, attain to the Playing it well.” In presenting the rules for good play, he includes various calculations of the odds of particular plays succeeding or failing. Such calculations were significant as whist was, at this stage, primarily a gambling game. The term “scientific” was not used, although Frederic Jessel, writing in 1905, says this “was the first attempt at a really scientific work on cards, and its author may be looked upon as the Father of any method of intelligent play applied to games of skill”.¹
Indeed, scouring through the pages of Jessel², which includes just about everything written on card games from the year dot to the date of publication, the earliest reference to the “scientific” approach to the game was in a revised edition of Hoyle’s work (published 56 years after the author’s death with no other author or editor credited!) entitled “Hoyle’s Scientific Game of Whist” – “correctly stated and laid down in a clear and comprehensive manner for the Easy Acquirement of Beginners; with useful Hints to Proficients and calculations necessary for Betting.” As I have discussed elsewhere³, Hoyle’s name has been used ever since his original treatise to imply that a game is played according to “generally accepted rules”.
The term appears not to have been used again until 1865 in an article by William Pole “On the Theory of the Modern Scientific Game of Whist” which was reproduced in a variety of publications.⁴

By the 1880s, however, the term was frequently used on both sides of the Atlantic to promote readership. George W. Bailey (“Major Tenace”), “A Handbook of Whist and Ready Reference Manual of the Modern Scientific Game”, New York & London, 1885; Charles Emmet Coffin, “The Gist of Whist; Being a Concise Guide to the Modern Scientific Game”, New York, 1893. Two bestselling books specifically use this term in their titles: “Modern Scientific Whist” by C.D.P Hamilton,1894 and “Scientific Whist” by C.J.Melrose, 1898.
In 1897, R.F. Foster (I my view the greatest 19th/early 20th century writer on whist and bridge) wrote a series of articles⁵ about the evolution of whist and includes reference to “The Scientific School” as one of a number of traditions in playing the game. In 1894 two of the most published and popular writers on whist and other card games, Pole and Cavendish published “Whist; Its Laws and Best Modes of Playing” …which, according to Jessel made it “a complete guide to the Modern Scientific Game of Whist.” It appears that by the 1880s/1890s just about every writer on the subject used the term scientific to describe the way the game should now be played.
In addition to the countless books available in the second half of the 19th century advising or instructing whist players on how to improve their play, various attempts were made to find alternative means of instruction. I have written elsewhere about Foster’s Self Playing Cards⁶ which had regular card designs printed on the front, but on the back, instead of a design, is a set of dealing and play instructions which make it possible to deal 32 “hands” of whist, with pre-determined orders of play to illustrate how the best players would themselves manage this distribution of cards.

Until recently I was unaware of attempts by other card producers to follow a similar line. However, I should have guessed that Goodall & Sons, premier card producers of the era, would have done something in response. And sure enough, deep in the archives one finds a single reference to “Scientific Whist Cards: shewing Correct Play at a Glance”. This is described in Mike Goodall’s splendid “Goodall: The Family and the Firm, 1820 – 1922”⁷ as “Scientific Whist: Standard cards with bidding instructions on faces”. This isn’t, of course, strictly accurate, as the packs were designed for whist “play” rather than bridge “bidding” which came later. In fact, the instructions attempted to guide players as to which card should be led or played in different circumstances during the course of a game. “Scientific whist” was the current, in-vogue phrase, so Goodalls jumped on the bandwagon and responded accordingly.
Whereas Foster’s Self Playing Cards claimed to have had a “great reception”, was sold worldwide and went into a second edition, there is no evidence that the Scientific Whist initiative from Goodall had much success at all, and consequently packs are exceedingly rare.
The playing instructions contained in the pack were prepared by “Premier Pas”, yet another pseudonym that is still to be identified. However, the author states that “On all the high cards down to the 9, there are marked directions, sanctioned by the highest authorities as to which card should be led from all the possible combinations of high cards.” Particular emphasis is placed on the opening lead: “It must be remembered that in the game of Whist whilst a bad opening deceives the partner, spoils the game, and lessens the chance of winning, a good opening puts the player, at the start, on a level with the masters of the game”.

I have never seen a pack of these cards, but the British Museum has a pack which can be viewed online⁸. It was bequeathed to the museum by Lady Charlotte Schreiber in 1896. Presumably in the intervening 5 years the good lady had either learned all she could from this innovative approach or, as I suspect, had given them up as not very helpful, if not intimidating! At least the Foster pack could be used as a normal pack of cards, ignoring what was printed on the reverse, whereas the Goodall pack has ever-present instructions printed on the face as illustrated below. “Premier Pas” claims that “This pack of cards can be used in the ordinary way for playing any game of cards, but it is specially intended for playing ‘Whist’.” On the contrary, I suspect that most players would find it distracting to play with a pack which constantly faces you with advice designed for another game.


Above: Scientific Whist Cards by Chas Goodall & Son, 52 cards + blank card plus instructions and advertisement card in slip case, 1891. Image courtesy Jon Randall.
As if in rejection of the concept of Scientific whist, R. F. Foster opens his 1894 book “Duplicate Whist and Whist Strategy” with a broadside against those who would press for inviolate rules of play which he terms principles. He writes:
“In this work several of the fundamental principles, and ‘extensions of principle’ of our great authorities are set aside; ample reasons for their rejection being given. Some of the principles are: the invariability of the lead from the longest suit, whatever the score; the reckless giving of information, whatever the hand; the useless and confusing system of leads, erroneously called American; the assumption that the discard is always directive; the total disregard of finesse and tenace; and the refusal to acknowledge the merits of the short-suit game.
To question the soundness of these principles is ‘heresy’, according to our ‘Whist Popes’, but this book is written for heretics, who have been the pioneers of all great and needed reforms.
It may be asked by what right I question the decisions of ‘authorities so universally recognised’. In the first place, I deny the ‘universal’ recognition”. In the second place, because it is not sound judgement nor careful analysis, but simply the vain ambition to leave an impression of their own, however bad, upon the game, which has led some authors from time to time to force upon whist players, under penalty of anathema, most of the unsound theories and practices which have brought whist to its present lamentable condition of brainless uniformity.
The illogical reasons, and the inaccurate or loose analysis given as excuses for the introduction of these changes, have passed unchallenged for want of a free medium of discussion, all of our columns being under the control of writers with pet theories of their own to shelter from the cold blasts of adverse criticism.
Against all these ‘extensions of principle’ there has been a wide and increasing protest from all the best players, and it is about time that some effort was made to save the game we love so well.’
Clearly, R.F. Foster at least had no time for so-called Scientific whist!
Tony Hall, 22 April 2025
References
- Frederic Jessel, A Bibliography of works in English on Playing Cards and Gaming, Longmans, Green and Co., 1905
- ibid
- Hoyle and his Legacy, and Hoyle v Foster: whose name should we remember?, July 2023
- Article published in the 16th edition of Major A, Short Whist, London, 1865 and Charles Barham Coles, “Short Whist: Its rise, Progress and Laws, 16th edition, 1865
- “Monthly Illustrated”, Sept. 1896 to March 1897.
- Foster’s Self-Playing Whist Cards, June 2023
- Page 43
- British Museum : 1896,0501.980 - Scientific Whist Cards►

By Tony Hall
Member since January 30, 2015
I started my interest in card games about 70 years ago, playing cribbage with my grandfather. Collecting card game materials started 50 years or so later, when time permitted. One cribbage board was a memory; two became the start of a collection currently exceeding 150!
Once interest in the social history of card games was sparked, I bought a wooden whist marker from the 1880s which was ingenious in design and unbelievably tactile. One lead to two and there was no stopping.
What happened thereafter is reflected in my articles and downloads on this site, for which I will be eternally grateful.
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