Rentoy is a 16th century Spanish and Mexican card game for two players or teams that involved signalling. It is mentioned in works by Cervantes.

Rentoy is first mentioned by Cervantes (1547–1616) in The Illustrious Kitchen Maid along with a game called Presa y Pinta (possibly Lansquenet) and appears to have been a popular 16th and 17th century Spanish card game.^[1] It was still popular enough in the early 19th century to appear in an autobiography by Periquillo Sarniento in 1816.^[2]

It was the most popular game among Mexican soldiers in pulquieras (bars) and barracks. It required "careful and discrete communication by gesture or mutter between the partners, which all expected but ran contrary to the rules." It involved high stakes that could lead to alcohol-fuelled violence.^[3]

The game is still popular in parts of Mexico today.

In Cervantes' day it was a game for two to eight players, any more than two forming two teams. Players were dealt three cards each. There were points and trumps and players were allowed to signal to one another.^[4]

• _ (1714). El Juego del Rentoy. 8 pp.
• di Lizardi, Jose Joaquin Fernandez (2004) [1816]. The Mangy Parrot. Indianapolis: Hackett. ISBN 0-87220-669-6
• Harney, Michael (2016). Exemplary Novellas. By Cervantes. Indianapolis: Hackett. ISBN 978-1-62466-449-6
• Neufeld, Stephen B. (2017). The Blood Contingent: The Military of the Making of Modern Mexico, 1876–1911. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
• Ife, Barry W. and Jonathan Thacker (2013). Cervantes: The Complete Exemplary Novels. Oxford: Oxbow. ISBN 978-0-856687-69-3

• Rentoy at jducoeur.org. Reconstruction of the game.
• En Jocotitlán se Juega "El Rentoy" - how the game is played today in Jocotitlán, Mexico.

v t e Historical card games
English	Andro Bone ace Costly colours French ruff Gleek Hannikin canst abide it Ombre Laugh and lie down Losing lodam Maw My sow's pigged Noddy Penneech Pope Joan Pope Julius Post and pair Primero Put Quadrille Queen Nazarene Ruff and honours Speculation Wit and reason
French	Ambigu As Qui Court Belle, Flux et Trente-et-Un Bête Bête Hombrée Bouillotte Brelan Briscan Brisque Brusquembille Commerce Coucou Culbas Emprunt Gé, Point, Flux et Sequence Gilet Guimbarde Her Hère Hoc Hoc Mazarin Homme d'Auvergne Impériale Lenterlu Mouche Papillon Pamphile Quadrette Quadrille Quarante de Roi Quintille Reversis Sizette Tontine Triomphe
German	Belle, Flux et Trente-et-Un Bester Bube Bierschlauch Brusbart Cassino Cinquille Einwerfen Elfern Fett und Mager Fünfzehnern German Solo German Tarok Grobhäusern Hundertspiel Juckerspiel Kaschlan Karniffel Karnöffel Kauflabet Kontraspiel Mariage Müller Matz Fett und Mager Piquesept Pollack Réunion Rümpffen Sansprendre Saunigl Scherwenzel Schlauch Spitzeln Sticheln Tatteln Trischaken Vogelspiel
Italian	Gilet Minchiate Primo visto Ronfa Trappola
Spanish	Conquian Ombre Primero Rentoy
Other	Chapanka, Drużbart (Polish) Einwerfen, Elfmandeln, Hundertspiel, Piquesept, Skwitz, Sticheln, Tatteln (Austrian) Romestecq (Dutch) Maw (Scottish)
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