A
card game term meaning "points", as opposed to
money or other more meaningful
tokens. All games that aren't played for
hard score or for plain
victory (crazy eights, etc.) are considered to be played for soft score
*. Soft score can be simple, like
Ecarté , where you get 1 point for winning the majority of
tricks, 0 otherwise, or extremely complicated, like that of
Contract Bridge.
Some soft-score games are readily adaptible to hard score in order to make things more interesting. In particular, Ecarté , Piquet, and Cribbage, all of which are now played for soft score, used to be played for hard score in gaming houses. Some games are not adaptible at all -- I have never yet seen a useful way to play bridge or Bézique for hard score.
* Excluding stripping and drinking games, which are another story entirely.