Ombre () is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players. Its history began in Spain around the end of the 16th century as a four-person game. It is one of the earliest card games known in Europe and by far the most classic game of its type, directly ancestral to
Euchre,
Boston and
Solo Whist. Despite its difficult rules, complicated point score and strange foreign terms, it swept Europe in the last quarter of the 17th century, becoming
Lomber in Germany,
Lumbur in Austria and
Ombre (originally pronounced 'umber') in England, occupying a position of prestige similar to
contract bridge today.