Origins

Originally known as Vinicinq, this game is believed to have emerged in early medieval France, circa 1130–1170. The name itself has sparked debate among scholars—some propose it derives from vin (wine) and cinq (five), perhaps alluding to the original number of cards used or hinting at clandestine gatherings among the nobility.

Accounts, though sparse and largely based on oral tradition, suggest that Vinicinq was more than mere entertainment. It is said to have been adopted as an educational tool for the young nobility, teaching the finer arts of negotiation and the covert arts. With its simple rules that belie a deeper strategic complexity, the game embodied the principle of being "easy to learn, hard to master." Its accessible mechanics allowed even novice heirs to grasp the basics quickly, while its layered subtleties offered endless challenges for those who sought to excel in diplomacy and strategy.

Some narratives link the game’s creation to the turbulent aftermath of a royal murder during the reign of King Louis VI, while others hint at secretive intrigues at the court of King Philip II. In these accounts, Vinicinq was reputedly used as a discreet medium for passing hidden messages and honing skills in persuasion and subterfuge.

As the centuries passed, the game’s arcane symbols and reputed associations with forbidden lore aroused suspicion. Vague records indicate that during the period of the Albigensian Crusade and the subsequent inquisitorial measures (circa 1209–1229), Vinicinq was banned for its alleged heretical elements—its mysterious nature seen as a threat to the established religious order.

In modern times, the game has been rebranded as Sorcerer’s Duel, yet it retains the enigmatic legacy of its past. Its evolution from Vinicinq reflects a rich tapestry of medieval intrigue, education, and covert strategy—an enduring tradition that continues to captivate those who appreciate both its historical mystique and its challenging depth.

Meet Étienne

Étienne Rougemont was a reclusive French antiquarian, mystic scholar, and former professor of comparative symbology at the Université de Strasbourg. Born in 1866 in Lyon to a family of minor nobility, Rougemont devoted his life to the obscure and the arcane. Though respected in certain academic circles, he was known more broadly for his eccentric theories regarding pre-Christian European mystery cults and forgotten games of ritual significance, both of which were popular topics of the time.

In 1923, while researching medieval ecclesiastical markings in the ruins of an abbey outside Chartres, Rougemont discovered a hidden crypt beneath a collapsed sacristy. There, sealed in a lead-bound box and protected by a layer of beeswax, he unearthed what he claimed to be an original deck and rule codex of a game long thought myth: Vinicinq.

Vinicinq, mentioned only obliquely in Gnostic heresies, Troubadour poetry, and scattered footnotes of early Vatican correspondence, was rumored to be a symbolic card game played by wandering mystics and royalty alike—part strategy, part ritual, part parable, part education. Its rules were fragmentary at best—until Rougemont's discovery. The sparse fragments of lore surrounding the game included references to coded messages within the cards as well as a covert way for royalty at the time to share secrets, insight and directions undetected. The original game Vinicinq served as both a form of entertainment and a method for teaching royal youth the intricacies of court life, strategies for ruling successfully and the importance of wisdom, action and war.

Obsessed with the game, Rougemont began cataloging, restoring, and attempting to reconstruct Vinicinq’s complex metaphysical structure. He gave a single public lecture on it in Paris in 1926, which was sparsely attended and dismissed as esoteric nonsense. That same year, political tensions in Europe began to rise—and by the outbreak of World War II, Rougemont's private collection, including the last remaining Vinicinq deck and original descriptive manuscript, was declared “a risk” by Nazi occultists.

Fleeing through the Alps with only a satchel, Rougemont made his way into the remote Swiss mountains, where he lived the rest of his long life in quiet isolation.

He died in 1977, aged 111, and was buried in an unmarked grave.

His collection vanished. Until now...