Baccarat
Baccarat names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Baccarat or BACCARA, a game played with the ordinary playing cards
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or BACCARA, a game played with the ordinary playing cards. Any number of players may participate, and as many packs of cards may be used as necessary, the number being increased to correspond with the number of players. One member of the party is selected to act as banker. He deals out the cards from a box, after they have been shuffled. The face cards each count 10, and the others according to the numbers of their spots. After the bets have been made, the banker deals two cards to each of the players, including himself, but the other players must receive their cards before the banker is served. The aim of the players is to make the numbers 9, 19, 29, or as nearly those as possible, as 8, 18, and 28. Any player is at liberty either to "stand" or to be "content" with the two cards at first dealt, or to call for more, at the risk of exceeding 29, when his stake is forfeited to the dealer. If, after the first distribution of two cards to each, any player has a "natural" i e., a sum making 9, or next in value, 19-he declares it wins, and the banker pays all who hold superior hands to his own, and claims from those holding inferior hands. The players stake their money separately, there being, in fact, as many separate games in progress as there are players, and the spectators may wager their money on any one of them, all of which must be accepted by the banker. Prior to the banker's making a start, he states the amount of the bank. Anyone sitting down at the table has the right to call the whole of the bank, selecting the left or the right on which to pick up the cards. When the banker's and a player's hand are tied, all the bets on that side of the table go over to the next deal. Before the banker deals, two croupiers count up the stakes deposited on either side and then make up the bank. Thus the banker knows the exact amount of his liabilities. or DIONYSIA,
Baccarat a town of France
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a town of France, in the department of Meurtheet-Moselle, having the most important plate glass works in France. Pop. of commune about 7,500.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's described a game in 1921 in which each player may choose to "stand" or draw, and staked separately against the banker; the version that now dominates the world's casinos, punto banco, removed that choice entirely, fixing when a third card is drawn by table rule so no skill remains. Baccarat has since become the highest-stakes game on earth: it generates the great bulk of casino revenue in Macau, which overtook Las Vegas as the world's largest gambling market in 2006. The town entry has also dated "the most important plate glass works in France" is remembered today for Baccarat crystal, the luxury glassware of the Cristallerie founded there in 1764, and the commune's population has fallen from about 7,500 to well under 5,000 after damage in both world wars.
Written for this edition, 2026.