Laugh and Lie Down

Sympkyn of the Moor

November 24, 2023

Number of players: 5 originally. Optional rules for 3,4 or 6
Type of game: Card
Period: 1500s

Laugh and Lie Down is a 16th-century English gambling game for five players using a standard 52-card deck. It’s a game of matching pairs and sets, with an early form of pool betting. Simple to learn but chaotic to play, it blends elements of chance, strategy, and social drama—perfect for taverns and long evenings.

History of Laugh and Lie Down

First Recorded: Late 1500s in England.
Mentioned In: The Complete Gamester (1674), which described it as “an ancient game.”
Name Meaning: Refers to the moment when a player has taken all their tricks or has no legal plays—prompting them to “lie down” and stop playing.
Popularity: Played in taverns and among gambling circles; noted for its humour and reversals of fortune.
Legacy: A rare early game designed specifically for five players with a shared pot mechanic.

Traditional Rules of Laugh and Lie Down

Players and Setup

Players: Exactly 5
Deck: Standard 52-card deck
Ante: Each player antes 1 coin or token into a shared pot
Objective: Win pairs and mournivals(four of a kind) from the table and hand to take the pot

Dealing

Deal 8 cards to each player.
Deal 12 cards face-up in the centre of the table (the “board”).
If there are any mournivals with the cards spread on the table the dealer is allowed to take them and place them, face-up, in front of him.

Gameplay Overview

Players take turns clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer’s left.

On Your Turn

You may:

Match cards from your hand to cards on the table by rank.
- If you have a card of the same rank as one or more on the board, collect them all as a pair/set.
- Example: You hold a 7 and there are three 7s on the board – you take all four 7s.
- Example: You hold a 7 and there are two 7s on the board – you take one of the 7s.
Lay Down cards if you cannot (or do not wish to) make a match.
- These are placed face-up on the table and become part of the board.

Ending the Round

Play continues until:

the last but one player lies down.
The cards of the last player with cards and all remaining table cards are added to the dealer’s won cards.

Winnings

The last player gets 5 coins from the pot
Each player counts up the the number of cards they have won. if they have 8 cards they are even and win or lose nothing.
For every pair a player has under eight cards a player pays 1 coin to the pot.
For every pair a player has over eight cards a player takes 1 coin to the pot.
- Example: If a player has only won 4 cards they must pay 2 coins to the pot If a player has won 10 cards they gain a coin from the pot.

Optional and Variant Rules

1. Capture Priority

In some versions, if multiple matching cards are on the board, players must take as many as possible, not just one.

Summary Table

Rule Area	Description
Players	Exactly 5
Deck	Standard 52-card deck
Setup	8 cards each + 12 face-up cards on board
Objective	Match pairs/sets
Winning	Last player gets a pay-out and the rest is determined by won cards
Style	Gambling, social, moderately strategic

For other numbers of players

Willughby gives a version for four players and merely remarks that the game can be easily adapted for other numbers. Versions for three and six are my suggestions.

Four players
Make a pot of 9p (3-2-2-2). Deal 10 each and 12 to the table. Last in hand wins 3p from the pot. Win or lose 1p for every two cards taken above or below ten. (So Willughby. But you may prefer to make a pot of 13 (4-3-3-3) and win 7p for being the last with cards in hand.)

Three players
Pot of 10p (4-3-3). Deal 13 each and 13 to the table. Last in hand wins 5p from the pot. Win or lose 1p for every two cards taken above or below fourteen.

Six players
Pot of 13p (3-2-2-2-2-2). Deal 7 each and 10 to the table. Last in hand wins 5p from the pot. Win or lose 1p for every two cards taken above or below six.

NOTES AND QUERIES

Willughby says: “Whatever is overseen [i.e. overlooked] is his that can catch it first”. It is unclear whether this means first in time or first in rotation, but it probably means the former, as he quite specifically categorises Laugh and Lie down as a fun game. Catching somebody out, therefore, does not count as a turn.

When you have a pair in hand that matches a pair on the table, you may wonder whether it is permissible to play your pair and capture all four cards simultaneously. Willughby has nothing to say about this. However, you would rarely want to do so, because taking only one pair in one turn leaves you with another play on a future turn, and, as Willughby points out, you want to keep as many options open as possible. As I see it, the only reason for wanting to win four at a time might be to reduce the number of cards credited to the dealer in the event that you finish as the only player with cards in hand.

To leave yourself as many future plays as possible, Willughby makes various recommendations, which can be summarised as follows. If there is only one card of a given rank on the table, and you hold a matching singleton or a pair, then capture the table card before somebody else does. If, however, there are two or three of a given rank on the table, and you can match that rank from hand, then you can safely hold back until you have no alternative.

Players	Dealer Ante	Other Ante	Dealt Cards	Last Player Wins	Break even(pairs)
3	4	3	13	5	14
4	3	2	10	3	5
5	3	2	8	5	4
6	3	2	7	5	3

Cards