[1] Initially quite simple, the game eventually developed more complex mechanics such as vast quantities of counters and a system of pools and side-payments.

The game of Reversis was first mentioned in France in 1601, under the name Reversin, played with a 52-card pack and is the subject of a poem written around 1611 by Antoine du Brueil.

By 1634, it had given a special role to the ♥J, known as Quinola, and added the features such as trading Aces, a pool and points for successfully discarding key cards.

It was long thought to be a game of Spanish origin, once a 48-card pack was used, besides its counter-clockwise rotation and the words Quinola, name of a 17th-century Spanish admiral, and Espagnolette, but it more probably originated in Italy where a negative variety of Tressette called Rovescino is still played.

In most games the highest cards were best in the usual method of play, but in Reversis the lowest had the preference.

The strange incongruity of this inverted order of things made the Spaniards, when this game became known to them, give it the appropriate denomination of La Gana pierde, that is, the winner loses.

[4] Reversis is a trick-avoidance game where each player normally attempts to avoid taking tricks, especially those with counting cards (A K Q J) in them.

However, in the rare event of having a very strong hand, a player may attempt to 'make the reversis', i.e. take all tricks.

The game is normally played by four players with a 52-card, French-suited pack, in later rules lacking the 10s, and ranking A K Q J (10) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2, Aces being high.

The traditional, higher, card values were: Ace 5 points, King 4, Queen 3 and Jack 2, remainder 0, making a total of 56 in the game.

[5] However, from the middle of 18th century, lower card values were introduced, being reduced to Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2 and Jack 1, giving a total of 40, while the ♥J or Quinola scored 4 if in the discard pile or partie.

Players must follow suit if able, otherwise may play any card, some rules placing restrictions on what may be discarded.

[6] Much of LPJR is devoted to a newer variant which, compared to Ancient Reversis, is "full of action and fire".

The dealer shuffles and offers the pack to the left for cutting, before dealing 13 cards each, either individually or in packets (e.g. 3–3–3–4).

An alternative rule is that its holder sweeps a pool (Poule) into which all players – or just the dealer – have paid an agreed amount at the start of each deal.

If Quinola is forced out by a Heart lead, the player who led to the trick is paid 2 jetons by its holder.

If the reversis is lost on the last trick, the player who broke it wins the talon and not the one who scored the fewest points.

If Quinola was successfully discarded on another suit, its holder swept the pool and was also paid 2 jetons by the trick taker.

A reversis winner swept the pool and earned 2 jetons from each opponent, as well as having any payments during that deal returned.

[7][8] By the late 18th century, Four Aces, the feature that was later to become known as the espagnolette, a bid to lose every trick, had been added along with an elaboration of the side payments and the lower card values.

In the 1785 edition of Almanach des Jeux were the following changes or additions to the common rules:[9] A 48-card pack, lacking 10s, is now standard.

If the Quinola is successfully placed, its holder sweeps the contents of the basket and earns 4 fiches from the player who took the trick.

A player with four Aces at the start of play may legally renounce at any time, but in doing so commits to losing every trick.

[10] The following rules are based on an 1850 English source: The Hand-book of Games by Henry George Bohn.

If three stakes are in the pools, then players may opt not to exchange, in which case they view the card before it is placed to the discard pile.

A player taking the first 9 commits to making the reversis and is obliged to win the remaining 2 or lose the game.

The Espagnolette has the right to renounce in every suit and, if successful in making no tricks and there is no reversis, wins the party in preference to the player who is better positioned in the game.

But if forced to win a trick, Espagnolette pays the party to the other and returns anything received for Aces or Quinolas.

In a normal game, players total the value of counting cards contained in the tricks they took and the loser pays the party to the winner.

Bohn lists extensive game rules mainly covering infractions of the rules, for example, stipulating that a player who misdeals, loses the chance to deal, or that a player who throws down his or her hand in anticipation of taking the remaining tricks, must pay for any Ace or Quinola held that can be placed or led.