In S&S, and indeed in every other Jane Austen Novel, card games were a major source of entertainment. In ch 11, Willoughby even cheats at cards in an attempt to get Marianne a winning hand. I come from a family tradition where card playing was a major form of entertainment. My family played bridge, whist, pinochle, spades, hearts, cribbage, Eucher, and canasta. My father, who was a formidible card player, often said "Get me in a game of cards with anyone I don't know and in 15 minutes I'll know what kind of person they are." My point? Card playing is a dying art and a way to size up who you were playing with. I grew up with these games and even though I've passed them on to my children, no one else seems to play cards anymore. Ah, such is the richness of Miss Austen's works in that she mentions card games in S&S and her other works. Thanks for the opportunity to share a trivial but endearing source of entertainment.