Trictrac is the classic French equivalent of Backgammon and played on a virtually identical board with two parallel rows of 12 triangular ‘points’ each, yet it could hardly be more different. In most of the dozens of games played with the same equipment the object of play is for each player to move their 12 pieces from one corner, around the board to the opposite corner, and finally to bear them all off. In Trictrac their object is to score 12 score-points, indicated by moving pegs around holes drilled in the longer sides of the board (à la Cribbage), whether or not all their pieces have been borne. Given that the card game Impérial has been described as Piquet with the scoring of tennis, Trictrac might be described as Backgammon with the scoring of card games. Not surprisingly, it reached its heyday in the 17th Century court of Louis XIV, the self- styled Sun King, which has been described as the gambling-house of state.