Comet is a very old, French card game of the stops family for 2 to 5 players that is still played today.

Games of the Stops family trace their history back to the 17th century French game of Hoc de Mazarin, which was named after Cardinal Mazarin, prime minister to Louis XIV and an avid card player.

It was this final stage that evolved into the much simpler game, originally called manille, but which was given a new name on the appearance of Halley's comet in 1682.

[2] Comet may well have been played in royal circles in Britain as early as the 17th century, shortly after its renaming.

In response to a question about the origin of the nickname of the 9 of Diamonds as the curse of Scotland, a correspondent of The Gentleman's Magazine in 1786, states that: when the Duke of York (a little before his succession to the crown) came to Scotland, he and his suite introduced a new game, there called 'comet,' where the ninth of diamonds is an important card.

The Scots who were to learn the game felt it to their cost; and from that circumstance the ninth of diamonds was nicknamed the 'curse of Scotland'.

[4] From 1812 onwards there are references to a very similar game called red nines being played in well-to-do circles in England which may descend from classic comet.

[6] In the mid-19th century, the American variant called commit emerged, the rules of which have also changed slightly over time.

[7][8][9] Comet appears to have died out in France in the early 20th century, while its rules continue to be published in English sources to the present.

[a] The earliest known rules for the original game were described in the 1718 edition of Académie Universelle des Jeux, and still give manille as the primary name with Commette or Comete as an alternative.

[2] Dealer shuffles the pack and offers it to be cut, before dealing the cards in packets of three or four and placing any remainder face down on the table out of play.

The king is a stop; the player who plays it receives one jeton from each opponent and may start a new sequence with any card held.

[10] The aim was the same: on one's turn to play cards in ascending sequence and be first to empty one's hand.

[10] If a player went out by playing the comet as a nine, the bonus and game were paid quadruple.

[10] New comet also recognised for the first time the achievement of "making an opera" i.e. where first hand went out immediately before anyone else played a card.

Dealer shuffles and lets the player to the right cut, before dealing clockwise beginning with eldest hand.

The Comet is wild as usual; it counts as any designated rank and is a stop i.e. the player playing it may begin a new sequence.

[8] Sometimes modern Comet is described primarily as a two-hand game in which each player receives 18 cards from the red or black pack.

[11] Commit is an old American variant of comet, the name simply being a corruption of the latter, but its rules have changed over time.

The earliest account occurs in an 1857 American Hoyle and it continues to feature in compendia today.

[7] Hoyle's Games record a single-pack version for any number of players in which the 8♦ is removed and the whole pack dealt out, including a "spare hand" for the purpose of making stops.

The first to go out wins and receives a counter for every card still held in the opponents' hands with the exception of the 9♦ which exempts the player from paying.

The cards are fully dealt out – there is no active spare hand – each player receiving the same number and any remainder is laid away face down.

The first to go out wins the pool, one chip for each king still held in an opponent's hand and two from a player who still holds the comet.