Two Hundred

Two Hundred is a point-trick game in which players try to win tricks containing aces, tens and fives. It is popular in the province of New Brunswick, on the Atlantic coast of Canada. It is said to be a French Acadian game. In French it sometimes known as Deux Cents (200) and sometimes as Dix or Bidder 10 (Tens). Versions played in Quebec are also known as Le Rough or Le Ruff and around the eastern townships La Bloutte or La Fouine. There are some players in neighbouring Maine, USA, for example in Fort Kent, where the game is called La Bloute, and I have received two reports from as far away as Alberta where it is called Tens or Barouche. The only book descriptions of versions of this game that I have been able to find are in Culbertson's Hoyle (1950) under the name 'Chinese Bridge (four-hand)', and in French under the name 'Le Ruff' in Richard Raymond's Règles des Jeux de Cartes st des Patiences (2nd ed 2006) credited to Marie-Anna Bois of Quebec.

The age and origins of 200 are uncertain, but it is likely to have originated in Canada. It is best known in New Brunswick, where several correspondents say that it has been played for at least 3 or 4 generations, so clearly it was already known there in the 1930's or earlier. It is closely related to Rook, a game with special cards played in the Midwest USA and Canada. It seems likely either that Rook, which was first published by Parker Brothers in 1906, was based on 200, or that the games had a common ancestor. 200 also has some similarity to a group of Chinese games known as Sheng Ji of which 100 is a typical example. However, it is hard to establish a convincing historical connection with the Chinese games, and the resemblance may be coincidental.

Excerpt from www.pagat.com