Tric-Trac

Equipment

The full equipment set for all trictrac variants includes a board (tablier or trictrac) with twenty-four holes drilled in the side rails at the base of each of the twenty-four points, plus three holes in each end rail; the centre bar is called the bridge (pont). Thirty tablemen (dames, tables, or bois) are used, fifteen black and fifteen white. Two dice and two dice cups are required. Three identical discs called jetons (one of which is the lurch token, the bredouille) are needed. Four pairs of pegs (fichets), each pair a different colour, progress along the twelve side-rail holes; one pair should be double-ended (gold, silver, black, and gold-silver are assumed). Five tokens identical to the jetons but pierced to fit the fichets are called neckties (cravates) or ruffs (fraises); five plain washers suffice. A small flag called the banner (étendard) or pavillion (pavillon) is used. Three boxes of European gaming chips are required, each box containing chips of a different colour in three denominations distinguished by shape: round jetons, square markers (contrats), and fish-shaped fish (fiches). This represents a ceiling; the oldest basic form (à douze trous, l'ancien trictrac, or jeu de curé) omits three pairs of pegs, four neckties, and the gaming chips, and the later Austrian variation (trictrac à écrire) also leaves some equipment unused. The jetons must not be confused with the score-marking tokens; the French language does not disambiguate them, and such jetons, often marked with brewery or distillery logos, are given away as promotional ephemera in hospitality establishments.