User:DraconicDark/Portal:Card games
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Introduction
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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Sheng ji is a family of point-based, trick-taking card games played in China and in Chinese immigrant communities. They have a dynamic trump, i.e., which cards are trump changes every round. As these games are played over a wide area with no standardization, rules vary widely from region to region.
The game is most commonly played with two decks of cards, which can be called bāshí fēn (八十分, 'eighty points'), tuō lā jī (拖拉機, 'tractor'), shuāng kōu (雙摳, 'double digging out'), or shuāng shēng (雙升, 'double upgrade'); another variant is called zhǎo péngyǒu (找朋友, 'Finding Friends'), which has five or more players and two or more decks. Alternatively, it can be played with one deck, in which case the game may be called dǎ bǎi fēn (打百分, 'competing for a hundred points') or sìshí fēn (四十分, 'forty points'). (Full article...) -
Ninety-nine is a card game for 2, 3, or 4 players. It is a trick-taking game that can use ordinary French-suited cards. Ninety-nine was created in 1967 by David Parlett; his goal was to have a good 3-player trick-taking game with simple rules yet great room for strategy.
In ninety-nine, players bid for the number of tricks that they will take; players who gain exactly that number of tricks (no more or less) gain a significant bonus. One unusual feature of ninety-nine is that players bid by discarding three cards. (Full article...) -
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...) -
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...) -
Kaiserspiel, also called Kaisern or Cheisärä, is a card game, usually for 4 or 6 players, that is played in parts of Switzerland using a variant of the standard Swiss playing cards with 40 or 48 cards. It is a descendant of Karnöffel, one of the oldest card games known. It is sometimes misleadingly called Kaiserjass, although it has nothing to do with the Jass family of games that are popular in Switzerland. (Full article...) -
Ristikontra or ristiklappi, sometimes translated as cross-clap, is a Finnish point-trick game for four players using a standard 52-card pack. Card suits do not play a role in this game, and there is no ranking order. A trick is won by the last player to play a card of the same rank as the card led.
The game is a highly unusual member of the ace–ten family, immediately related only to the Central European card game known as Sedma, Hola or Zsírozás. (Full article...) -
Lorum or lórum is an old, Hungarian, compendium card game for 4 players. Although it is the ancestor of the French game, barbu, it is still played today. It uses a German-suited pack (Hungarian 'William Tell' or German pattern) of 32 cards and comprises 8 individual contracts, each with different rules, each of which is played four times so that a session consists of a total of 32 individual games and lasts about 1½ hours. (Full article...) -
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...) -
Tarneeb (Arabic: طرنيب, romanized: ṭarnīb, lit. 'trump'), also spelled tarnibe and tarnib, and called hakam (حكم ḥakam) in the Arabian Peninsula, is a plain trick-taking card game played in various Middle Eastern countries, most notably in the countries of the Levant, and Tanzania.. The game may be considered a variation of Whist, or a version of Spades. (Full article...) -
Bura (Russian: Бура, "cutter") is a Russian ace–ten card game that is "particularly characteristic of Russian prisoners and ex-prisoners. Its alternative name of thirty-one refers to the combination of three trump cards that wins the game. One of the main variants of this game is known as Kozel ("goat") or Bura Kozel. It is a point-trick game with the unusual feature that players may lead several cards of the same suit at once. (Full article...) -
Zwanzig 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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Kratzen is an Austrian card game for three to six players that is played for small stakes usually using a 33-card William Tell pack. It is a member of the Rams group of card games characterised by allowing players to drop out of the current game if they think they will be unable to win any tricks or a minimum number of tricks. The game is related to the Swiss Jass form, Chratze and has been described as "fun" to play. (Full article...) -
Chouine is a very old French card game of the ace–ten family for two players that is still played today in the Loire Valley, especially in north Touraine. It is a point-trick game that uses a piquet pack of 32 cards. It appears to be a variant of Brisque or Briscan. The game has regained local popularity in recent decades. John McLeod assesses chouine as a good entry point for games of the Mariage family, thanks to its relatively relaxed rules. (Full article...) -
3-5-8, also known as sergeant major for its popularity among members of the Royal Air Force, is a trick-taking card game for 3 players, based on whist, using a standard 52 card deck. 3-5-8 may be played as a gambling game, and there are many variations with names like "8-5-3" and "9-5-2" played throughout the world. (Full article...)
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Mulatschak or Fuchzenawa ("Fifteen Down") is an Austrian card game for two to five players that comes from the Salzburg area and is considered the quintessential game of the region. Although Mulatschak has been called the national card game of Salzburg, its rules were almost certainly unpublished before 2004. Mulatschak 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. There is a variant known as Murln or Murlen, which is played in Vienna and the Styria. (Full article...) -
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...) -
Préférence, frequently spelt Preference, is a Central and Eastern European 10-card plain-trick game with bidding, played by three players with a 32-card Piquet deck, and probably originating in early 19th century Austria, becoming the second most popular game in Vienna by 1980. It also took off in Russia where it was played by the higher echelons of society, the regional variant known as Preferans being still very popular in that country, while other variants are played from Lithuania to Greece. (Full article...) -
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...) -
Oma Skat or Grandmother's Skat (in German, also Blinden-Skat or Skat mit totem Mann) is a variation of the card game, Skat, for two players. It is especially popular in the Lüneburg Heath area of north Germany, but is also played in other parts of Germany, albeit sometimes under other, regional names.
The game is usually played when a third player is unavailable, but also to introduce beginners to the Germany's most popular card game, as it is easier to play than conventional Skat. (Full article...) -
Gilten or Giltspiel is a "very old" Austrian card game for four players, playing in partnership, with 32 German-suited cards of the William Tell pattern. Despite its age, it is still played locally in parts of Austria today. It is a trick-taking game which involves betting on the outcome and certain card combinations. (Full article...) -
Calabresella, Calabragh, sometimes spelled Calabrasella, "the little Calabrian game", also known as Terziglio, is an Italian trick-taking card game variation of Tressette for three players, but it can be played by four with the dealer receiving no cards for the hand. One of the earliest references of the game dates from 1822. (Full article...) -
Klammern is an ace–ten card game and variant of Jass, which is particularly widespread in the Alemannic region. It is played mainly in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and in parts of southern Germany and Alsace. But the game is also finding more and more fans in the north-west of Germany, mainly in North Rhine-Westphalia. In Hamburg the game goes under the name Klapperjazz or Klapperjass and was initially played mainly by stevedores for "nen Heiermann", a 5 Mark piece. A die was used to keep score. In other parts of North Germany it is called Klappern or Klapper-Jas and was popular in the 1950s and 60s in pubs and bars and also among lorry drivers as they waited, for example, for customs clearance at Hamburg's free port.
Klapperjass may be over a century old as the word is recorded in an Alsatian dictionary in 1899 as a card game and as a children's word for a beating or spanking, from which verklapperjassen, "to beat at cards" or "to beat by cheating" , is derived. No rules are given. (Full article...) -
Zehnerlegen, Zehneranlegen or Zehner-Auflegen is a card game of the Domino family that is usually played with German-suited cards of the Bavarian pattern, the aim of which is to be first to shed all one's cards. It is thus a shedding-type card game. The name means "laying tens" and refers to the Tens (Zehner) which are the first card in each suit to be played to the table. It is played in Bavaria and in the Austrian state of Burgenland. (Full article...) -
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...) -
Pilotta and a Jack (40 points)
Pilotta (in Greek Πιλόττα) is a trick-taking 32-card game derived from Belote. It is played primarily in Cyprus, being very popular among the Cypriot population, especially the youngsters, who usually arrange “pilotta meetings” in places such as cafés and cafeterias. Its counterpart played in Greece is named Vida (in Greek βίδα). (Full article...)
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Selected images
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The Ober of Bells from a Württemberg-pattern pack (from Binokel) -
The Fool as used today in the game of Troggu (from Königrufen) -
Book cover detail of the Illustrirtes Wiener Tarokbuch of 1899 (from Königrufen) -
Austrian-style 54-card Tarock hand (from Königrufen) -
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The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts (from Card game) -
Belgian pattern (from French-suited playing cards) -
Baronesse pattern (from French-suited playing cards) -
Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling tokens used in scoring and bidding of card games. (from Card game) -
A transitional deck with suits of hearts and crescents (François Clerc of Lyon, late 15th century) (from French-suited playing cards) -
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) -
Tarock II showing a Tyrolean cloth dealer in front of the Vienna Hofburg (from Königrufen) -
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Modern pack of Tarock cards by Piatnik; Industrie und Glück design, Type 6 by Josef Neumayer, 1890 (from Königrufen) -
The values of Königrufen cards. The columns (from l to r) are: Card Type, Number, Card Value (from Königrufen) -
Bukovina (orange) (from Königrufen) -
Galicia with today's limits (from Königrufen) -
Pagats by modern, Central European manufacturers; three type 6, one type 5 (here smaller, in Austria however usually larger than type 6) (from Königrufen) -
Petrtyl's deck with Indian and American motifs (from Königrufen) -
The Trull can be announced as a bonus (from Königrufen) -
Dondorf Rhineland pattern (from French-suited playing cards) -
North German pattern: the Kings (from French-suited playing cards) -
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) -
French Rouen pattern on the left, Spanish Toledo pattern on the right (from French-suited playing cards) -
Sigmund Freud indulged in Königrufen in his spare time. (from Königrufen) -
The standard English (Anglo-American or International) pack uses French suit symbols. Cards by Piatnik (from French-suited playing cards) -
The four lowest trumps from an 18th-century animal Tarock pack (from Königrufen) -
Russian pattern (from French-suited playing cards)
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