The word bezique once meant 'correspondence' or 'association'. This appears to be corroborated by Anton (1879) who tells us that Besigue originally came from the regions of Angouleme, Poitou, and Saintonge on France's Atlantic coast where it was called besit. However, more recently, French historians have traced the origins of bezique to a game called bezi or bezit which descended through a form of single bezique also known as cinq cents or binage to early modern bezique. Another early theory was that bezique was developed in France from piquet and that the word 'bezique', formerly bésique or bésigue, was known in France in the 17th century, coming probably from the Italian card game bazzica. What is known is that the first rules – for a game played with a single pack of 32 cards – appeared in Paris in 1847 where Méry described it as a new game. It is only a few years since it was first introduced in Paris, but it has also become a favourite game with all classes there. The game became very popular in Sweden, and was finally introduced to Germany, changed in some respects, and called Penuchle. It is said that during the reign of the First Charles (presumed to mean Charles I of England who reigned from 1625 to 1649)-a reward having been offered by that monarch for the best game of cards, to combine certain requirements-a poor schoolmaster, by name Gustave Flaker, presented for the prize the game of cards which he called Flakernuhle, which was accepted by his royal master, and he made the recipient very happy with the promised purse of gold.

This interesting game is supposed to have originated in Sweden.

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