The card game bezique originated in which country?

Bezique is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players. The game is derived from Piquet, possibly via Marriage (Sixty-six) and Briscan, with additional scoring features, notably the peculiar liaison of the Q♠ and J♦ that is also a feature of Pinochle, Binokel, and similarly named games that vary by country.

Bezique was developed in France from the game Piquet, although the word Bezique, formerly Bésique or Bésigue, was known in France in the 17th century, coming probably from the Italian card game Bazzica.

French historians trace the origins of Bezique to a game called Bezi or Bezit which descended through a form of Single Bezique also known as Cinq Cents or Binage to early modern Bezique.

The word "bezique" once meant "correspondence" or "association". In English-speaking nations, Binocles, meaning eyeglasses with this pronunciation, became the name for Bezique with minor rule variations, ultimately evolving into Pinochle. Two-handed Pinochle, two-handed Bezique and two-handed Binokel are almost identical, the main difference is that the last-named is played with two packs of 24, German-suited, cards, instead of two packs of 32, French-suited, ones. The former, together with Six-Pack Bezique and Rubicon Bezique, is still played in the United States.