Foster’s Self-Playing Whist Cards

In 1890 R. F. Foster published the first edition of “Foster’s Whist Manual” which was to become the bible for serious whist players for the next two decades until whist was superseded by various generations of Bridge as the primary card game of the age. In his introduction, while stating that previous authors on the subject “had undoubtedly been masters of the subject”, he concludes (rather dismissively) that “they do not seem to have possessed the ability successfully to communicate their knowledge to others”. Henry Jones (“Cavendish”), the previous whist guru of the age, William Pole and many other writers on the subject since the 1860s might reasonably have bridled at this assertion but, if history has recorded any negative reactions, I have not yet managed to find them. Such critics might reasonably have argued that it was the readers who were at fault in not following the authors’ guidance, rather than the earlier authors themselves, but no matter.

The publishers’ preface to the early editions identifies the origin of the idea to write this manual. It reads: “The great reception accorded to the Self-Playing Whist Cards encourages a belief that an original work on Whist by their inventor, written with the special purpose of teaching the game, will be a welcome addition to the literature on the subject.” I had not until recently appreciated the significance of this attribution, so I undertook to find out more and consider to what extent it seems justified.

Foster patented his “Self-Playing Cards” on 4^th June 1889, starting in the USA and adding similar publishing protection in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Russia.

The idea was an interesting one, but it was far from simple to use and even more difficult to learn from. Indeed, the instruction leaflet contained in the pack (see below) would surely have put off many purchasers without attempting to work out how to use it. Nevertheless, Self-Playing Whist Cards developed into a second series, and Self-Playing Bridge Cards were produced in 1903 and 1913 as the game evolved.

Series 1 boasts “160 hands” but this is misleading for a modern reader. For Foster (and presumably his contemporaries) a “hand” was the 13 cards dealt to a player (4 for each “game”), so 160 hands meant 40 games (or hands in modern parlance). Series 2 contained the equivalent of 32 games.

At first sight, a pack of Self-Playing Cards looks like a normal pack of 52 playing cards in the usual four suits. But on the back, instead of a design, is a set of dealing and play instructions which makes it possible to deal 32 “hands” of whist, with predetermined orders of play to illustrate how the best players would themselves manage this distribution of cards. This was designed as a learning tool for one, two, three or four players. An entire session would involve sorting cards into a predetermined order (up to 32 times!), and revealing them, trick by trick, in this predetermined order, presumably understanding the significance of the play by reading the attached notes. I can understand that an individual might usefully work their way through the hands provided, but it would have been a very dull evening for two or more players who would spend their time sorting and resorting cards, and turning them over in order, rather than playing a proper game!

However, the system was designed as follows. I am using my pack from Series 2 for illustrative purposes. On the back of each card are 32 banks of three numbers and letters. These lists are both the right way up and inverted so it doesn’t matter which way up the card is. In each bank of three, the top number is the example number (1 to 32); the letter underneath identifies which player holds that card in this round, and the number under the letter shows when in the round this card will be played.

Above: Foster’s Self-Playing Whist Cards, Second Series, in their illustrated case.

Above: The reverse of a Self-Playing Whist card, printed with the numbered dealing and play instructions for 32 examples.

Above: The reverse of the Second Series case, claiming 128 hands at whist and listing Foster’s international patent protection.

Cards are always dealt with West and East (in modern parlance) represented by A and B; North and South by Y and Z. At the start of a session, beginning with “lesson” one, the cards would be sorted into four “hands”, 13 for A, 13 for B etc. This would be the hand for A.

Each pile of 13 cards is laid face down in play position with card 13 at the top and 1 at the bottom. For some obscure reason, Foster’s order of card play was from 13, down through 12, 11, 10 etc down to 1. Why the rounds were not played in the more logical order from 1 to 13 is a mystery.

Above: A fan of Self-Playing Whist cards showing the numbered instructions used to arrange each example.

For each example, A always leads and Hearts are always trumps.

Above: Four cards arranged to show the orientation of the printed dealing instructions for the four players.

The player who wins the “predetermined” trick leads the next card (no. 12) and each successive player reveals their no. 12 card. The trick winner leads again through 11, 10, 9 etc down to the final four no. 1 cards. Presumably, at this point the individual or group then consults the instruction sheet to see what they should have learned from this particular play.

Here is one side of the double-sided directions, with the standard-sized card case to demonstrate the size – of the paper, of the print and of the task involved!

Above: Foster’s directions and analysis for the Second Series, shown with the card case and cards to indicate their scale and complexity.

Having played through example no. 1, the cards are sorted again into the order required for example two, A, B, Y and Z organise their own cards in order from 13 to 1 and the whole process starts again.

Now, having sorted and resorted my pack of cards into a series of hands to discover how the Foster system works, I find it difficult to believe the proposition in the preface to Foster’s Whist Manual that his Self-Playing Cards were the outstanding success implied. He certainly did produce later versions in the same style and wrote a vast array of popular books. Were these tortuous examples really worthy of the credit they allegedly received, or did people just buy them out of interest because it was something new? It was certainly novel, but did it really improve the quality of play at whist tables all over Europe and the New World? I have my doubts.