[1] Ruff and Honours is covered in Charles Cotton's The Compleat Gamester of 1674 where it is described as being commonly known in all parts of England.

The game was also known as Slamm, a less popular form was called Whist, and it was closely related to Ruffe and Trump [2] described by Francis Willughby.

[3] Willughby speculated that there was an earlier simple trick-taking game without the ruff and honours.

[4] Triomphe, whose English variant was known as French Ruff,[a] was a five-card game using a shortened deck, an up-turned trump card and played either in partnership or singlehandedly with 2-7 players.

[5] The earliest reference to a card game called "Triumph" in English is a 1522 translation of a French book.