User:DraconicDark/Portal:Card games

Introduction

The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts

A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules with international tournaments being held, but most are folk games whose rules may vary by region, culture, location or from circle to circle.

Traditional card games are played with a deck or pack of playing cards which are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the face and the back. Normally the backs of the cards are indistinguishable. The faces of the cards may all be unique, or there can be duplicates. The composition of a deck is known to each player. In some cases several decks are shuffled together to form a single pack or shoe. Modern card games usually have bespoke decks, often with a vast amount of cards, and can include number or action cards. This type of game is generally regarded as part of the board game hobby. (Full article...)

Selected general articles

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  humb (Full article...)
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  Typical Jack trick in Grand Skat, with the highest cards of the game laid out from left to right and front to back.

  
  Skat (German pronunciation: [ˈskaːt]), historically Scat, is a three-player trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family, devised around 1810 in Altenburg in the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. It is the national game of Germany and, along with Doppelkopf, it is the most popular card game in Germany and Silesia and one of the most popular in the rest of Poland. A variant of 19th-century Skat was once popular in the US. John McLeod considers it one of the best and most interesting card games for three players, and Kelbet described it as "the king of German card games." The German Skat Association assess that it is played by around 25 million Germans – more than play football. (Full article...)
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  Suit of Hearts from a Bavarian pack

  
  Herzla or Herzl'n is a Bavarian, reverse trick-taking, card game for 4 players in which the aim is to avoid taking any Hearts. There is a simpler variant for children and adults that may be played by 3-8 players. (Full article...)
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  Turkish king (also called Rıfkı) is a Turkish compendium game for four players comprising 20 rounds. It is a variety of the game king, which is popular in France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Colombia, and Brazil. (Full article...)
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  A perfect lone hand for spades trump

  
  Euchre or eucre (/ˈjuːkər/ YU-kər) is a trick-taking card game commonly played in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and the Midwestern United States. It is played with a deck of 24, 25, 28, or 32 standard playing cards. There are normally four players, two on each team, although there are variations for two to nine players.
  
  Euchre emerged in the United States in the early 19th century. There are several theories regarding its origin, but the most likely is that it is derived from an old Alsatian game called Jucker or Juckerspiel. Euchre was responsible for introducing the joker into the modern deck of cards, first appearing in Euchre packs in the 1850s. (Full article...)
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  The eponymous Bruus

  
  Bruus, formerly Brausebart or Brusbart, is a north German card game for four players in two teams of two. It was once highly popular but has since died out except for a few pockets in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. As Brusbart, it was the ancestor of a family of similar games in northern Europe, including Swedish Bräus and Danish Brus which are still played today. Bruus features 'daring and tormenting' which has been said to give the game a certain charm. Once considered the national game of Hamburg, Bruus is a descendant of Karnöffel, the oldest identifiable European card game in the history of playing cards with a continuous tradition of play down to the present day. The game is named after the Bruus or Brusbart, once its top card, but now its second-highest trump. (Full article...)
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  The "Mistigri" or "Mönch";
  the highest trump and wild card

  
  Mistigri, historically Pamphile, is an old, French, trick-taking card game for three or four players that has elements reminiscent of poker. It is a member of the Rams family of games and, although it is a gambling game, often played for small stakes, it is also suitable as a party game or as a family game with children from the age of 12 upwards. (Full article...)
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  Préférence, a painting by Viktor Vasnetsov

  
  Preferans (Russian: преферанс, IPA: [prʲɪfʲɪˈrans]) or Russian Preference is a 10-card plain-trick game with bidding, played by three or four players with a 32-card Piquet deck. It is a sophisticated variant of the Austrian game Préférence, which in turn descends from Spanish Ombre and French Boston. It is renowned in the card game world for its many complicated rules and insistence on strategical approaches.
  
  Popular in Russia since approximately the 1830s, Preferans quickly became the country's national card game. Although superseded in this role by Durak, it is still one of the most popular games in Russia. Similar games are played in various other European countries, from Lithuania to Greece, where an earlier form of Russian Preferans is known as Prefa (Greek: Πρέφα). Compared to Austrian Préférence, Russian Preferans and Greek Prefa are distinguished by the greater number of possible contracts, which allows for almost any combination of trumps and numbers of tricks. Another distinguishing feature is the relatively independent roles played by the opponents of the soloist. (Full article...)
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  Bohemian-pattern cards used for Mariáš

  
  Mariáš or Mariasch a three-player, solo trick-taking game of the king–queen family of ace–ten games, but with a simplified scoring system. It is one of the most popular card games in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but is also played in Bavaria in Germany as well as in Austria. The Hungarian national card game Ulti is an elaboration of Mariáš. (Full article...)
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  The top trump in Sjavs

  
  Sjavs is a Danish card game of the Schafkopf family that is played in two main variants. In Denmark, it is a 3-player game, played with a shortened pack of 20 cards; in the Faroe Islands, where it is very popular, it is a four-hand, partnership game using a standard piquet pack of 32 cards. (Full article...)
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  French-suited 32-card pack

  
  Tippen, also known as Dreiblatt, Dreikart, Drei Karten, Dreekort, Kleinpréférence or Labet, is an historical German 3-card, plain-trick game which was popular as a gambling game for three or more players. The Danish version of the game was known as Trekort and more elaborate Swedish variants include Knack and Köpknack. It appears to be related to the English game of Three-Card Loo. It was banned as a gambling game in some places. (Full article...)
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  The suit of Leaves in a German pack

  
  Sticheln is an easy-to-learn, trick-taking, card game for 4 players that originated from Austria. It is an old game, being recorded as early as 1756 and its rules being first described in 1830. The name means "playing [for] tricks". (Full article...)
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  A game of Fipsen in progress

  
  Fipsen or Fips is an old north German card game for 4 or 5 players that resembles British Nap in some respects. It is a trick-taking game played with a standard Skat pack that was once popular across North Germany in the former states of Schleswig, Holstein, Mecklenburg and Pomerania, but is now restricted to the south Holstein region. In the village of Thedinghausen in Lower Saxony, a rather different game is played under the same name for currant buns called Hedewigs. It has been described as "quite a special card game" that is "ancient, but very easy to learn". (Full article...)
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  Russian Schnapsen, Thousand Schnapsen, 1000 or Tysiacha is a trick-taking game of the ace–ten family for three players, the aim of which is to score over 1000 points to win the game. It is a variant of the popular Austrian game of Schnapsen. Like its parent, Russian Schnapsen features "marriages" (pairs of a King and Ober/Queen of the same suit) which are worth extra points. (Full article...)
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  Smear (also known as Schmier) is a North-American trick-taking card game of the all fours group, and a variant of pitch (setback). Several slightly different versions are played in Michigan, Minnesota, Northern and Central Iowa, Wisconsin and also in Ontario, Canada.
  
  It is highly likely that the name is related to the German word schmieren, which is used in point-trick games such as skat for the technique of discarding a high-value card on a trick which your partner is winning. The name might perhaps be connected to the fact that a high-scoring card may be discarded in a trick won by the player's partner, like in pinochle, or even to "smudge," which is the highest bid in some forms of pitch. (Full article...)
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  A belote of clubs

  
  Belote (French pronunciation: [bəlɔt]) is a 32-card, trick-taking, ace–ten game played primarily in France and certain European countries, namely Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia (mainly Guria), Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia (mainly Bitola), Bosnia and Herzegovina and also in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. It is one of the most popular card games in those countries, and the national card game of France, both casually and in gambling. It appeared around 1900 in France, and is a close relative of both Klaberjass (also known as bela) and klaverjas. Closely related games are played throughout the world. Definitive rules of the game were first published in French in 1921.
  
  Within the game's terminology, belote is used to designate a pair of a king and a queen of a trump suit, possibly yielding the game's name itself. (Full article...)
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  Franconian-pattern pack

  
  Dreeg, Nuremberg Dreck or Nuremberg Dreeg (German: Nürnberger Dreck, Nämbercher Dreeg or Dreeg) is a card game that is described as "a special Franconian form of Sixty-Six with the wonderful name of Nuremberg Dreck." It is the most common variant of Sixty-Six in the Franconian region of Bavaria, Germany. It is a compendium game based on four variations of Sixty-Six and is usually played by four players, although three may also play. (Full article...)
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  Italian-suited Piacentine pattern cards

  
  Bestia is an Italian card game. It is a gambling game and is similar to Briscola and Tressette. The word bestia means beast. (Full article...)
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  The suit of Leaves in a Binokel pack

  
  Binokel is a card game for two to eight players that originated in Switzerland as Binocle, but spread to the German state of Württemberg, where it is typically played with a Württemberg pattern pack. It is still popular in Württemberg, where it is usually played in groups of three or four as a family game rather than in the pubs. In three-hand games, each player competes for himself, while in four-hand games, known as Cross Binokel (Kreuzbinokel), two teams are formed with partners sitting opposite one another. The game was introduced to America by German immigrants in the first half of the 20th century, where it developed into the similar game of pinochle. Binocle was still played in Switzerland in 1994. In south Germany, the game is sometimes called by its Swabian name, Benoggl.
  
  Binokel belongs to the family of melding and trick-taking games. Unlike others in the family, special card combinations (family, four of a kind, etc.) score additional points. After the deal in the three- or four-player game, there is an auction to bid for the dabb (stack of undealt cards c.f. Skat) or tapp. Players bid depending on the card points they expect to score from taking tricks and making melds. The team with the highest bid has to win the game, i.e. score more points in tricks and melds than they bid. Although some of the rules vary from place to place, the basics are standard. (Full article...)
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  Thunee is a popular trick-taking card game of the jack–nine family that originated in Durban, South Africa. It is believed that the game was developed by the first indentured Indian labourers. There are variations of the game found in India and Mauritius. The game is mostly confined to the former Indian townships, where it is very popular as a family game and in fund-raising tournaments, but to some extent it has spread to other South Africans and to Indians in other countries. The game Euchre is very closely related. The first thunee world championship was held in Pietermaritzburg in 2003.
  
  The game is part of the jack–nine card games family, which includes twenty-eight, and the much older card games of the Jass family which are German in origin. The game is named after the Tamil word for water. (Full article...)
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  The 'five old ones' in the game of Knüffeln

  
  Knüffeln is a very old trick-taking card game for four players, playing in pairs, that is still played in North Germany. Once considered the national game of Frisia, Knüffeln is a descendant of Karnöffel, the oldest identifiable European card game in the history of playing cards with a continuous tradition of play down to the present day.
  
  Knüffeln, itself several centuries old, became popular in Frisia in North Germany and, despite being described in 1924 as in danger of extinction, is still taught and played in North Frisia. Like its parent, it uses a 48-card pack, has a highly unusual hierarchy and cards with special properties, including the "surprising feature" of two chosen suits whose cards have a range of trump-like powers or no powers at all. Another oddity is that partners are allowed to openly communicate with one another and try to bluff the opposition about their hands and each side has a 'director' who may instruct the partner on the cards to play. (Full article...)
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  The Voormsi

  
  Voormsi or Vorms is an old, Greenlandic, trick-taking card game of the Brusbart family designed for four players. (Full article...)
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  Italian playing cards from a deck of "Bergamasche" by Dal Negro

  
  Tressette or Tresette is a 40-card, trick-taking card game. It is one of Italy's major national card games, together with Scopa and Briscola. It is also popular in the regions that were once controlled by the Italian predecessor states, such as Albania, Montenegro, coastal Slovenia (Slovene Littoral) and coastal Croatia (Istria and Dalmatia). It is also played in the Canton of Ticino with a French-suited deck. The Austrian game Trischettn as historically played in South Tyrol is also a derivative, albeit played with a 32-card German-suited deck.
  
  It is recorded only from the early 18th century, though greater antiquity is suggested by its lack of trump. The name of the game, literally "three seven," may refer to seven sets of three or four point possibilities when a minimum of three each (three, two, ace or all of those together in a matching suit) are dealt, or to the fact that it is played up to twenty-one. According to Cäsar (1800), the name is derived from "Tre Sett" (three sevens) because, at that time, a player holding three sevens could declare them immediately and win the game (Partie). There are many variants depending on the region of Italy where the game is played. (Full article...)
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  The 'Captain's Wife' - the top trump in Scharwenzel

  
  Scharwenzel, formerly also called Schipper-Schrill, is a traditional north German plain-trick card game of the Schafkopf family that is played by two teams with two to four players on each team. The game is at least three centuries old and is played today only on the island of Fehmarn in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It may be a regional variant of German Solo with which it bears some similarities and it may also have been ancestral to Schafkopf. It is not related to a different game called Scharwenzel or Scherwenzel that was once played in Bavaria. (Full article...)
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  Knock-out whist or knockout whist is a member of the whist family known by a variety of names including trumps in Britain, reduction whist, diminishing whist (from the way one fewer card is dealt each hand) and rat. It is often simply called whist by players who are unfamiliar with the game properly called whist. It is a basic trick-taking game and is a good way to teach the concept of tricks to children. (Full article...)

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Selected images

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  Book cover detail of the Illustrirtes Wiener Tarokbuch of 1899 (from Königrufen)
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  The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts (from Card game)
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  French Rouen pattern on the left, Spanish Toledo pattern on the right (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Bukovina (orange) (from Königrufen)
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  Galicia with today's limits (from Königrufen)
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  The values of Königrufen cards. The columns (from l to r) are: Card Type, Number, Card Value (from Königrufen)
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  The Trull can be announced as a bonus (from Königrufen)
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  Tarock II showing a Tyrolean cloth dealer in front of the Vienna Hofburg (from Königrufen)
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  Deck celebrating the union of Brittany and France with Spanish suits but has queens instead of knights (Antoine de Logiriera of Toulouse, c. 1500). (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Baronesse pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Russian pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Historically, card games such as whist and contract bridge were opportunities for quiet socializing, as shown in this 1930s magic lantern slide photo taken in Seattle, Washington. (from Card game)
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  Preferans, a trick-taking card game version popular in Croatia (from Card game)
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  The standard English (Anglo-American or International) pack uses French suit symbols. Cards by Piatnik (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Belgian pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Sigmund Freud indulged in Königrufen in his spare time. (from Königrufen)
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  Dondorf Rhineland pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Pagats by modern, Central European manufacturers; three type 6, one type 5 (here smaller, in Austria however usually larger than type 6) (from Königrufen)
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  The four lowest trumps from an 18th-century animal Tarock pack (from Königrufen)
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  The Fool as used today in the game of Troggu (from Königrufen)
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  Mamluk playing card (king of cups), c.15th century (from Card game)
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  Petrtyl's deck with Indian and American motifs (from Königrufen)
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  The Ober of Bells from a Württemberg-pattern pack (from Binokel)
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  North German pattern: the Kings (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling tokens used in scoring and bidding of card games. (from Card game)
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  A transitional deck with suits of hearts and crescents (François Clerc of Lyon, late 15th century) (from French-suited playing cards)
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  Modern pack of Tarock cards by Piatnik; Industrie und Glück design, Type 6 by Josef Neumayer, 1890 (from Königrufen)
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  Austrian-style 54-card Tarock hand (from Königrufen)

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