The Games Room

Lady Baillie was a keen gambler and card player. Weekend guests at Leeds Castle were expected not only to join in but also to raise the stakes in order to satisfy their wealthy hostess.

The British actor David Niven was a house guest at Leeds Castle, he reportedly once left a dinner party in order to play a game of cards in the Servants’ Quarters.

Accompanied by close friends, Lady Baillie took regular trips to casinos abroad and especially enjoyed the world-famous gambling on offer in Monte Carlo, an ‘international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth’.

The semi-circular chimneypiece was installed by Lady Baillie during the renovations she oversaw between 1927 and 1928

— “The tables at Monte are always surrounded. So far Lady Bailey (sic), who has forsaken the beauties of Leeds Castle for the distractions of Monte, is the big noise in the gambling way. One of the very few in fact to play really high and give the onlookers something to see and talk about.”

The Tatler, Wed 16 August 1933

Quick guide Canasta

Needed

252 card deck 4 jokers 4 players Basics

7 cards for a Canasta Black 3s block discard pile Wildcards freeze discard pile Jokers 2s are wild cards Deal

11 card / players

Card values

Jokers = 50 points Aces / 2s = 20 points Kings to 8s = 10 points 7s to 4s = 5 points Black 3s = 5 points Scorecard

Meld Points (card values) Hand Points (neg. card values) Natural Canasta (500) Mixed Canasta (300) Red 3s (100 each or 800 all) Going Out (100) First Melds

Under 1,500 = 50 points 1,500 - 2,999 = 90 points 3,000+ = 120 points

The First team to 5,000 points wins

Lady Baillie’s favourite card game was canasta, which originated in Spain and which in Spanish means ‘basket’. It is a quicker game than bridge and a variant on the popular game rummy. As well as cards and backgammon, jigsaw puzzles were another very popular pastime during the 1920s and 30s.