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Introduction
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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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Image 1
Bauerntarock ("farmers' tarot") also called Brixentaler Bauerntarock or Brixental Tarock, is a point-trick card game played in the Brixental, Austria. It may have originated in the 19th century either as an adaptation of 54-card Tapp Tarock onto the cheaper and smaller 36-card German pack. Another possibility is that it was adapted from the 78-card Grosstarock or Taroc l'Hombre game as the ratio of trumps to non-trumps is almost the same. It uses the Skat Schedule found in popular regional games such as Jass and Schafkopf. It is closely related to Bavarian Tarock, German Tarok, Württemberg Tarock and especially Dobbm. Like Bavarian Tarock and Tapp, Brixental Bauerntarock and Dobbm do not belong to the true tarot games, but have adopted rules from Tapp Tarock. The most fundamental difference between these games and true tarot games is in the use of German or French decks instead of true Tarot playing cards. (Full article...) -
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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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Sheepshead is an American trick-taking card game derived from Bavaria's national card game, Schafkopf (lit. 'sheep's head'), hence it is sometimes called American Schafkopf. Sheepshead is most commonly played by five players, but variants exist to allow for two to eight players. There are also many other variants to the game rules, and many slang terms used with the game.
Sheepshead is most commonly played in Wisconsin, where it is sometimes called the "unofficial" state card game. In 1983, it was declared the official card game of the city of Milwaukee. It is also common among German counties in Southern Indiana, which has large German-American populations, and on the Internet. (Full article...) -
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Marjolet (French pronunciation: [maʁʒɔlɛ]) is a French 6-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack. It is of the Queen-Jack type, and thus a relative of Bezique and Pinochle, albeit simpler. The trump Jack is called the Marjolet from which the name of the game derives. (Full article...) -
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Quodlibet (Latin: "what you like") is a traditional card game and drinking game associated with central European student fraternities that is played with William Tell pattern cards and in which the dealer is known as the 'beer king'. It is a compendium, trick-taking game for 4 players using a 32-card pack of German-suited playing cards. The Bavarian game of Rumpel is descended from Quodlibet. (Full article...) -
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Solo 66 is a trick-taking ace–ten card game for five players, in which a soloist always plays against the other four. It is based on the rules of Germany's national game, Skat, and is played with a French-suited Skat pack of 32 cards. Bidding is for the trump suit. Jacks are ranked within their respective suits and do not form additional trumps over and above the cards of the trump suit. Grupp describes it as "an entertaining game for a larger group." (Full article...) -
Image 7Trekort, tre-kort or, in Swedish, also trikort, is an old card game of Danish origin for four or five players that was usually played for money. It was also known in Sweden, where it developed into the variant of knack. The name trekort is also loosely used to describe related three-card games such as Swedish köpknack. The name means "three cards" and may therefore be related to German Dreiblatt. (Full article...)
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Image 8
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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All fours is a traditional English card game, once popular in pubs and taverns as well as among the gentry, that flourished as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century. It is a trick-taking card game that was originally designed for two players, but developed variants for more players. According to Charles Cotton, the game originated in Kent, but spread to the whole of England and eventually abroad.
It is the eponymous and earliest recorded game of a family that flourished most in 19th century North America and whose progeny include pitch, pedro and cinch, games that even competed with poker and euchre. Nowadays the original game is especially popular in Trinidad and Tobago, but regional variants have also survived in England. The game's "great mark of distinction" is that it gave the name 'jack' to the card previously known as the knave.
The game has a number of unusual features. In trick play, players are allowed to trump instead of following suit even if they could. The title refers to the possibility of winning all four game points for high, low, jack and game for holding (later winning) the highest and lowest trump in play and the jack of trumps and for winning the greatest number of card points. (Full article...) -
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Botifarra (Catalan pronunciation: [butiˈfarə]) is a point trick-taking card game for four players in fixed partnerships played in Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain, and parts of Aragon, the Balearic Islands and North of the Valencian Country. It is a historical game also played in many parts of Spain, not only in bars and coffee shops. The game is closely related to Manille from which it takes the mechanics, but its rules induce deduction and minimise the effects of luck. (Full article...) -
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Bête, la Bête (French: Jeu de la Bête), Beste or la Beste (Jeu de la Beste), originally known as Homme or l'Homme (Jeu de l'Homme), was an old, French, trick-taking card game, usually for three to five players. It was a derivative of Triomphe created by introducing the concept of bidding. Its earlier name gives away its descent from the 16th-century Spanish game of Ombre. It is the "earliest recorded multi-player version of Triomphe".
During the 17th century, the Ombre concept of bidding was incorporated into Triomphe resulting in the game initially called l'Homme ("Man") and, later, la Beste or la Bête (German Labet, Dutch LaBate, English Beast). La Bête, or just Bête or Beast in English, later gave rise to the variants of Mouche and Mistigri, the latter still being played today. It may also have been antecedent to the games of the Rams family although it does not share their characteristic of allowing players to drop out of the current deal if they consider their hand to be too poor. (Full article...) -
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Jass (German pronunciation: [ˈjas] ⓘ) is a family of trick taking, ace–ten card games and, in its key forms, a distinctive branch of the marriage family. It is popular in its native Switzerland as well as the rest of the Alemannic German-speaking area of Europe, Italian South Tyrol and in a few places in Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Oregon and Washington USA.
The most common variant of Jass is Schieber (in Vorarlberg also known as Krüzjass), which is played by two teams of two players each. It is often considered Switzerland's national card game, and is so popular there that the Swiss have come to apply the name Jass to trick-taking card games in general. (Full article...) -
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Bierkopf ("beer-head") is a trick-taking ace–ten card game for 4 players, played in fixed partnerships. It is a simple version of the Bavarian national game of Schafkopf that is played in Franconia (northern Bavaria) and usually for litre-glasses of beer. It is especially popular in the area of Bamburg. The game is popular enough for regular tournaments to be held.
Bierkopf is recorded being played in Franconia just before the Second World War. It is described as a four-hand partnership game played for penalty points called Bolln represented by a blob on the slate, each one "formerly usually worth 1 or even 2 pints [of beer]." At that time a side hoping to take all tricks could announce a Bucher, which is no longer a feature of the modern game. (Full article...) -
Image 14Zwanzig ab, 20 ab or simply Zwanzig is card game for four players. It is a member of the Rams family in which the key feature is that players may choose to drop out of the game if they believe their hand is not strong enough to take a minimum number of tricks. It appears to be a recent, internet-propagated variant of Schnalzen or Bohemian Watten. However, the latter has a natural card ranking, is played with double German cards and a Weli, has no exchanging and has a different scoring system. It is suitable for children from 8 upwards. It may be related from Fünf dazu! which is a simpler game described by Gööck in 1967 that has neither trumps nor the option to drop out. (Full article...)
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Image 15
Lusti-Kartl'n or Lusti-Kartn is a Bavarian trick-taking, card game for four players with an unusual rule for winning the tricks. Like the Czech game of Sedma, the winner of a trick is the last one to play a card of the same rank as the led card. Players form two teams of two and thus are able to smear their partner's tricks or play blanks if they think their opponents will win the trick. The only counters are the Aces and Tens, worth 10 points each, and there are 10 more points for the last trick. The aim is thus to win 50 or more points. (Full article...) -
Image 16
Letzter Stich is a card game for 3 or 4 players in which the aim is solely to win the last trick. It originated in Germany and the names mean "last trick" respectively. It has been described as suitable for children, yet having a "surprising wealth of interesting game situations." It should not be confused with Letzter, a reverse game of greater complexity where the aim is to lose the last trick. (Full article...) -
Image 17
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...) -
Image 18
1000 is an easy-to-learn card game for two or three players. Its simple rules make it suitable for players to quickly become familiar with the basic concepts of trick-taking and trump-based card games. The name is taken from the score at the end of the game. (Full article...) -
Image 19Toepen (/ˈtupə(n)/) is a trick-taking Dutch card game for three to eight players, and is often played as a drinking game. Typically the number of players is 4. (Full article...)
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Image 20
Rosbiratschka is a trick-taking, compendium, card game for three or four players that is played with a German-suited pack of 32 or 24 cards. (Full article...) -
Image 21Hucklebuck, also known as Huckly Buck and sometimes as Sputnik, is an American trick-taking card game of the Rams group for three to seven players (four to six are best). The game is native to the states of Nebraska and Iowa, although a variant called Huckley Buck is recorded in Nevada. The game appears to have arisen in the early 1900s in the Midwestern United States and may be based on Bourré, a Louisiana member of the Rams group. The rules given here are based on McLeod.
John McLeod notes that "in his article Die 100 Kartenspiele des Landes Salzburg in the 2004 edition of the journal Talon, Remigius Geiser includes a substantial section on the group of games... called the 'Rams group', after a famous 19th century French game... These are round games with a small number of cards dealt to each player. Players gain points or money by winning tricks, but anyone who takes no tricks at all suffers a penalty. Those who judge their cards too weak to be sure of winning a trick can avoid this penalty by dropping out of the play." (Full article...) -
Image 22
Hindersche or Hintersche [ˈhɪntɐʃə], also known as 4-Strich, is an unusual card game, of the trick-avoidance genre, that is still played in the Black Forest region of Germany. The game includes the unique feature – known as schleipfen – of allowing a player to take a trick won by an opponent, provided no-one objects. (Full article...) -
Image 23
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...) -
Image 24
Hearts is an "evasion-type" trick-taking playing card game for four players, although most variations can accommodate between three and six players. It was first recorded in the United States in the 1880s and has many variants, some of which are also referred to as "Hearts", especially the games of Black Lady and Black Maria. The game is a member of the Whist group of trick-taking games (which also includes Bridge and Spades), but is unusual among Whist variants in that it is a trick-avoidance game; players avoid winning certain penalty cards in tricks, usually by avoiding winning tricks altogether. The original game of Hearts is still current, but has been overtaken in popularity by Black Lady in the United States and Black Maria in Great Britain. (Full article...) -
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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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Selected images
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Image 1The values of Königrufen cards. The columns (from l to r) are: Card Type, Number, Card Value (from Königrufen)
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Image 3Russian pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 5Bukovina (orange) (from Königrufen)
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Image 6Belgian pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 7Dondorf Rhineland pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 8Petrtyl's deck with Indian and American motifs (from Königrufen)
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Image 9Baronesse pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 10Historically, 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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Image 11Austrian-style 54-card Tarock hand (from Königrufen)
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Image 13A transitional deck with suits of hearts and crescents (François Clerc of Lyon, late 15th century) (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 14Modern pack of Tarock cards by Piatnik; Industrie und Glück design, Type 6 by Josef Neumayer, 1890 (from Königrufen)
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Image 15Pagats by a modern, Central European manufacturer; three type 6, one type 5 (here smaller, in Austria however usually larger than type 6) (from Königrufen)
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Image 16French Rouen pattern on the left, Spanish Toledo pattern on the right (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 17Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling tokens used in scoring and bidding of card games. (from Card game)
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Image 18North German pattern: the Kings (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 19Deck 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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Image 21Galicia with today's limits (from Königrufen)
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Image 22The standard English (Anglo-American or International) pack uses French suit symbols. Cards by Piatnik (from French-suited playing cards)
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Image 23Sigmund Freud indulged in Königrufen in his spare time. (from Königrufen)
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Image 24The Ober of Bells from a Württemberg-pattern pack (from Binokel)
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Image 25The four lowest trumps from an 18th-century animal Tarock pack (from Königrufen)
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Image 27Book cover detail of the Illustrirtes Wiener Tarokbuch of 1899 (from Königrufen)
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