Cego

Last updated
Cego
Adler-Cego trumps.jpg
The honour trumps
Origin Germany
Alternative namesBaden Tarock, Cego-Tarock, Caeco, Ceco, Zeco, Zego, Zigo
Type Trick-taking
Players3-4
SkillsTactics, Strategy
Cards51 or 54
DeckTarock
Rank (high→low)Trumps: Stiess, 21-1
Black suits: K Q C J 10 9 8 7
Red suits: K Q C J 1 2 3 4
PlayAnti-clockwise
Playing time30 min.
ChanceModerate
Related games
Tapp-Tarock  • Königrufen  • Zwanzigerrufen

Cego is a Tarot card game for three or four players played mainly in and around the Black Forest region of Germany. It was probably derived from the three-player Badenese game of Dreierles when soldiers deployed from the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars and, based on a Spanish game they had encountered, introduced Cego's distinctive feature: a concealed hand, or blind (Portuguese: cego). Cego has experienced a revival in recent years, being seen as part of the culture of the Black Forest and surrounding region. [1] It has been called the national game of Baden and described as a "family classic". [2]

Contents

History and development

Sometimes called Baden Tarock [3] [lower-alpha 1] and, historically, also Zeco, [4] Zego, [5] Zigo, [6] Caeco, [7] Cäco [8] and Ceco [9] (Latin : caecus, meaning blind), Cego is seen as part of the cultural heritage of the Black Forest and Baden region. [10]

After the defeat of Further Austria, in 1805 much of its territory was allocated to the Grand Duchy of Baden. During the ensuing Napoleonic Wars, soldiers from Baden deployed with Napoleon's troops to Spain where, among other things, they learnt a new card game, Ombre. Recent research suggests that they took elements of this game back to Baden and modified the Tarot game of Dreierles which was played with Tarock playing cards that were then still in popular use in southern Germany. [11] The result was the game of Cego [12] which became sufficiently popular to develop into the national game of Baden and Hohenzollern and these are the only regions of Germany where Tarot or Tarock cards are still used for playing games. [13]

The military background to this is that, in 1808, the Grand Duchy of Baden was ordered by Napoleon to raise additional troops in the shape of a 1,733 strong regiment which was deployed for the following six years to the Iberian Peninsula under Major General Heinrich von Porbeck, where it fought at the Battles of Talavera and Vitoria as well as against Spanish guerrilleros. It suffered heavy casualties, only 500 soldiers returning to Baden by 1814. [14] [lower-alpha 2]

The first known mention of dedicated packs comes in 1852 when used Zego (Tarrok) cards are offered for sale "at a cheap price" by a restaurateur in Karlsruhe. [16] The earliest full description of Cego's rules appears in 1860 in a treatise on Zigo which includes details of rules for 3 and 4 players as well as a song. [6] Even at that early stage there were two Solo, two Gegensolo and several Zigo contracts, but no special games such as Piccolo or Bettel. As Zego it appears in 1868 in a Rhenish-Swabian poem about the game called Die Begischten. [5] In 1901, Cego was reported to be one of the most popular penny ante games in the city of Pforzheim in Baden alongside Sixty-Six, Skat, Tapp and Tarrock (possibly Grosstarock or Dreierles). [17]

In 1907 there were both 42- and 54-card versions and it was described as "especially popular in Baden". [4] [lower-alpha 3] In 1909, Cego was described as "the most popular card game in Baden." [18] In 1914, the Baden Landtag (government) banned the Gendarmerie from playing Cego "for disciplinary reasons". [19]

A sketchy description of apparently simpler rules for Cego-Tarock, with just three contracts, is given by Robert Hülsemann in 1930. [20] However, the first special contracts appear in print in 1950: Pikkolo, where the declarer must take exactly 1 trick, and Bettel, in which the declarer must not take any tricks. [21] By 1960, however, the game had declined in popularity to such an extent that it was only found in "remote off-the-beaten-path localities" in Baden and Hohenzollern and played mainly by the elderly. [22]

In 1967, a Ramsch contract appears; played when all pass, it is simply Räuber under a different name. No tariffs are given. [23] [24] The Cego bid of Half (Ein Halbe) only appears in online sources within the last decade and is not universal. The Ultimo contract, in which the sole aim is to take the last trick with the lowest trump and which is a constant feature of Tarot games since the earliest rules, does not appear in print until 2005 and is clearly a borrowing. [25] [26] John McLeod records the contract as Ulti in 1997 being played in Bräunlingen. [13]

Cego's decline has been reversed in recent years as it has become seen as a traditional part of Baden and Black Forest culture. The game has grown organically and there are many regional variations but in recent years, the establishment of a Cego Black Forest Championship has led to official tournament rules being defined. [11] [10] In addition, regular courses and local tournaments are held and it is a permanent feature of Alemannic Week, held annually in the Black Forest at the end of September. [27]

The noted German economist Gerold Blümle has researched, lectured, taught and written on the subject of "Baden's national game of Cego" [28] [29] and has done much to promote the game. Today, Cego is played mainly in the Upper Rhine valley, [30] the Black Forest, the adjacent Baar lowland [27] and around Lake Constance in Switzerland and Austria. A project to revive and promote the game and run live and online courses is being supported by Black Forest actor and cabaret artist, Martin Wangler. [31] [32] Cego courses are run in the autumn by the Dreisamtal and High Black Forest Colleges (Volkshochschule Dreisamtal and Volkshochschule Hochschwarzwald), regional folk high schools. [27] [33]

Cego was also recorded as being played in Switzerland on the border with Baden in the late 20th century. [34]

Pack

Cego traditionally uses a French-suited tarot pack of German design; two distinct patterns being still in use. In each case, the remaining cards (court and pip cards) are of the suits: Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. In addition to the King, Queen, and Jack, there is also a Knight or Cavalier. Court cards cannot beat trumps, but are important because of their card value with respect to the total of points and their ability to win a suit trick. Pip cards have neither high card value nor are they very useful in winning tricks. Like the Austrian Industrie und Glück deck, the red pip cards are numbered from one to four (one being the highest card) and the black pip cards are numbered from ten to seven, with no corner indices.

Adler Cego pattern

Adler Cego: all 22 trumps Cego Animal Tarot - All Trumps.jpg
Adler Cego: all 22 trumps

The most common type of Cego pack still in production is an Animal Tarot deck that dates to the early 19th century. Although originally comprising 78 cards, it was shortened to 54 cards to play Cego. The name "Adler Cego" (Eagle Cego) was coined when shortened packs for the game were manufactured by Lennhoff & Heuser in 1879–1882 and referred to a small eagle printed on the ♦Q, the eagle being the symbol of the city of Frankfurt where the cards were made. The firm was sold to V.A.S.S. in 1882, who have continued to produce it, without the eagle, until the present day. Packs for Cego had been produced since at least 1852, but it is not known whether they were of the Animal Tarot type or another pattern that preceded the Encyclopaedic Tarot also used for Cego.

The shortened Animal Tarot pack comprises 22 trumps, 16 face cards (images) and 16 pip cards (empty cards). Trump 1 shows the Kleiner Mann ("Little Man", based on Hanswurst) but is typically called the Geiss ("nanny goat"), while trump 2 has mythological hybrids. Trumps 3 to 21 depict real animals. The highest trump lacks the pink panels that the other trumps have on both ends of the cards depicting its rank in Arabic numerals. Instead, it shows a gleeman and is called the Stiess, G'stiess or Geiger (fiddler or violinist, see also The Fool). Despite the name Adler, the former eagle symbol does not appear on any of the cards today. [35] [36] The last manufacturer of this deck is ASS Altenburger.

Bourgeois Tarot pattern

Bourgeois Tarot: the top 4 trumps Cego Bourgeois Tarot - Top 4 Trumps - IMG 7812.jpg
Bourgeois Tarot: the top 4 trumps

The second type of pack in current use is one originally produced by F.X. Schmid, again dating to the 19th century. This is a variant of the Bourgeois Tarot with genre scenes of rural and town life based on woodcuts by Ludwig Richter. [37] The same pack was produced by Bielefelder Spielkarten from 1955 to 1974 [37] and the pattern was also manufactured by A.S.S. [38] In the 1970s, this was the most common pattern used for playing Cego, [38] but more recently ASS have only released it through a couple of outlets. [lower-alpha 4] It is sometimes called the Black Forest Cego pattern.

Another variant of Bourgeois Tarot, the French Tarot Nouveau deck, was also sometimes used, particularly in Alsace. When using a 78-card Tarot Nouveau deck, the Aces to sixes are removed from the blacks suits (Spades and Clubs) and the fives to tens are extracted from the red suits (Hearts and Diamonds). This then conforms to the 54-card pack needed for four-handed Cego.

Black Forest pattern

In late 2023, a new pattern was released. Designed by local graphics design artist, Anita Schwörer ("Fox"), it follows the Adler Cego concept, but replaces the court figures with images of people in local costume and the domestic and wild animals of the Adler Cego pack with animals native to the Black Forest, such as grouse, deer, badger, wild boar and squirrel. [41]

Card names and values

Cards - names and values
RankRegional namesPoint value
King König, Kenig [42] or Hanor [43] 5 points
Queen Dame or Gouvernante4 points
Cavalier, Knight or Rider Reiter [44] or Cavall [44] 3 points
Jack Bube or Bueve [42] 2 points
Fool or ExcuseStiess, [43] Gstiess, [45] Giegemärti, [42] or Geiger (fiddler, violinist) [43] 5 points
Trump 21 Mund, Mun [45] or Mond (moon); [45] Gack (rooster) or Monde (world) 5 points
Trump 1 Pagat, [45] Geiss (nanny goat), [43] [lower-alpha 5] Kleiner Mann (little man), [43] Kleiner Ma, [45] Pfeif (pipe), [43] Babber, Babberl, [45] Babberle, Bäbberle, [46] [43] Babberli, [42] Bagätli [42] Batleur or Bachquakli [47] 5 points
Remainder Trucks, [13] [43] Drucks or Trocks [45] (trumps or tarocks); Leere (empties i.e. pip cards) 1 point

The three high value trumps are known as the Trull from the French tous les trois (all three). [45] The blind is variously known as the Blinde, Leger [45] or Cego.

Rules

Overview

Cego has no standard or official rules. Every region where it is played has established its own traditional rules and they sometimes differ even within the same village. The following rules are for four players and largely follows those by Gerhard Baumann and Gerold Blümle, of the Black Forest Club at Schopfheim, supplemented by other sources where indicated. [43]

There is an auction in which players bid for contracts or 'games'; the winning bidder becomes the declarer and plays alone against the three defenders. In normal games, the declarer aims to take more card points than the others combined. In special games there are different aims and, in some, each plays for him- or herself. Deal, bidding and play are anti-clockwise. [13]

Deal

The dealer deals the top 10 cards of the pack to the table, face down, as the blind, and then 11 cards to each player in turn and in a single packet. [43]

Auction

Phase 1 - Hand games

In Phase 1 players bid for one of the two Hand games: [lower-alpha 6] Solo or Ultimo. In these games, players use their hand cards, not the blind. [43]

  • Solo. Forehand (on the dealer's right) opens the bidding and players, in turn, either pass by saying "fort" or bid "Solo!" [lower-alpha 7] If a Solo bid is not countered, its bidder becomes the declarer and plays against the three defenders. The blind belong to the Solo player but may not be seen or scored until the end.
  • Counter-Solo. If Solo is bid, a later player, in turn, may call "Counter-Solo!" [lower-alpha 8] which is a bid to play a Cego (see below) and cannot be overcalled. [lower-alpha 9]
  • Ultimo. A player confident of winning the last trick with the Geiss may call "Ultimo!" which ends the auction immediately and is played. If the declarer succeeds, the game is won; otherwise it is lost. [lower-alpha 10] Ultimo must be called before bidding begins. [43] Under some rules, forehand must ask if anyone has an Ultimo before opening the bidding.

If all pass, players may call one of the following special games. [lower-alpha 11] [lower-alpha 12] [45] If two or more want to play a special, positional priority applies. [lower-alpha 13] The options are: [43]

  • Piccolo. The declarer must take exactly one trick or the game is lost. It ranks over all other games except Ultimo.
  • Bettel. As Piccolo but the declarer must lose every trick.
The four court cards in the suit of Clubs Cego-bilder.png
The four court cards in the suit of Clubs
The four pip cards in the suit of Clubs Cego-schwarze-leere.png
The four pip cards in the suit of Clubs
The four pip cards in the suit of Hearts Cego-rote-leere.png
The four pip cards in the suit of Hearts

Phase 2 - Cego games

If Counter-Solo was bid, it ends the bidding and a Cego is played. If all pass in Phase 1 and no specials were bid, there is now an auction of bidding with immediate hold. Forehand opens by calling "Cego" and subsequent players, in turn, either pass by saying "good" or "fort", [lower-alpha 14] or name the next higher bid; no jump bidding being allowed. If a later player overcalls a bid, the earlier bidder may hold by saying "mine" or "my game" [lower-alpha 15] otherwise must pass. If a bid is held, the later player must raise to the next level or pass. As soon as either passes, the next player in turn may pass or name the next game. This continues until three have passed, whereupon the successful bidder becomes the declarer and plays the announced game. It may not be raised further. Possible bids are: [43]

  • Cego. The declarer keeps 2 hand cards, setting aside the rest in a pile called the Legage, picks up the blind and discards 1 more card to end up with 11 cards in hand.
  • One-er (Eine). The declarer keeps 1 card, sets aside the Legage, picks up the blind and plays with it.
  • One Pip (Eine Leere). The declarer lays 1 pip card down face up, sets the Legage aside, and picks up the blind. The pip is led to the first trick.
  • Two Pips (Zwei Leere). The declarer lays 2 pip cards of the same suit face up on the table, sets the Legage aside, picks up the blind, discards 1 card and leads the pips to the first 2 tricks.
  • Two Odds (Zwei Verschiedene). As Two Pips, except that the 2 cards must be of different suits.
  • Geiss. The highest bid. A player with the Geiss keeps it and sets the Legage aside, picking up the blind. The Geiss must be led to the first trick (which it will lose); the declarer then continues to play with the blind.

In all Cego games, the Legage and any discards count to the declarer at the end.

Special forehand games

If forehand bids Cego and the rest pass, forehand may announce a (negative) game: [43]

  • Robber (Räuber). All play for themselves and the loser is the one with the most points. The game is doubled for each player who takes no tricks. If forehand loses, the game is doubled.
  • Thresher (Drescher). Whoever takes the last trick loses. If this is the declarer the game is lost double. [45]

Play

The aim is to amass more card points than the opposition. The declarer leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if able, otherwise must trump. Only if unable to do either, may a player discard any card. There is no compulsion to head the trick. A trick is won by the highest trump or, if no trumps are played, by the highest card of the led suit.

In Two Pips and Two Odds, the declarer also leads to the second trick, regardless of who wins the first. [lower-alpha 16]

Scoring

Normal games

In the normal (Solo and Cego) games, players work out their card points using the Tarock scoring system: the cards are scored in packets of three, for each packet the card points are totalled and 2 points deducted. In Solo games, the cards in the blind count to the declarer; in Cego games those laid aside in the Legage count to the declarer. [38]

Example: K C J = 5 + 3 + 2 - 2 = 8 card points and Truck 14, Truck 11 and Truck 1 (Geiss) = 1 + 1 + 5 - 2 = 5 points. Two blanks (ordinary Trucks or pip cards) left over score 1 point; a single blank left over scores nothing. There are 70 card points in total and the declarer needs at least 36 to win; a tie on 35-35 is win for the defenders.

In social rounds, each contract has a game value in (euro) cents. This is multiplied by a factor based on the declarer's score in card points; in the table this is negative if the declarer lost. [lower-alpha 17] Note that a Solo wins double and loses single; a Countersolo wins fourfold and loses double. The game values and factors are: [43]

Scoring Table – normal games
Game values
GameCego One-er One Pip Two Pips Two Odds Pagat Solo won Solo lost Countersolo won Countersolo lost
Value1¢ 2¢ 3¢ 4¢ 5¢ 6¢ 2¢ 4¢ 4¢ 2¢
Score factors
Declarer's score   0   1–56–1011–1516–2021–2526–3031-3536–4041–4546–5051–5556–6061–6566–69   70   
Factors-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Example: if Anna wins a One Pip game (game value 3¢) with 47 card points, she earns 3¢ x 3 = 9¢ from each defender i.e. a total of 27¢. If game points are used instead of money, Anna scores +27 and each defender -9 game points. If Anna loses the game with 27 card points, she pays each defender 3¢ x 2 = 6¢, paying out a total of 18¢. In soft score, she would deduct -18 games points and each defender would score +6.

Special games

In the specials a fixed score or payment is made. These vary widely; the table illustrates payments by Grupp (1994), [48] Baumann & Blümle (2013), [43] the Cegofreunde St. Georgen (2012), [49] Weißauer (2017), [45] Kastner & Folkvord (2005) [3] and cego-online (2011). [11]

Game values – special games
(in cents, except where stated)
GameGruppB&BCSGWeißauerK&Fc-onlineRemarks
Piccolo30 pf10 or 1515704040Take one trick.
Bettel20 pf15 or 1020805030Take no tricks.
Ultimo–2020808080Take all tricks.
Robber
(Räuber)		10 pf510403040Avoid most points. Doubled if anyone takes 0 tricks. If tied, pay jointly. [49]
Thresher
(Drescher)		––1080––Avoid taking last trick. Doubled if declarer loses.

The blind is ignored in special games. Note that in a Robber, card points are calculated as in normal games in order to determine the loser; in the other special games, card points are not reckoned because there is a specific objective to achieve or avoid.

Penalties for revoking

For transgressions, such as the declarer forgetting to discard and has one card too many at the end, the game is lost. By pre-agreement, such an infraction may incur an eightfold loss of the game. [43]

Variations

There are many local and regional variations in the rules. The following is a selection:

Solo variations

Schinden is not cheating, but a legal way of conduct bearing the risk of being caught.[ citation needed ]

Special game variations

Forehand special variations

Sometimes two versions of Robber are played: [45]

Cego game variations

Scoring variations

In some parts of the Black Forest, a simplified card point scoring system is used which involves counting the cards in pairs. If there are no counters (court cards or Trull cards) in a pair it scores 1 point, if one card is a counter it scores the full amount and if both cards are counters, 1 point is deducted. This gives 80 points in the pack and 40 are needed for a win. [43] [49] [45]

Three-hand Cego

The three player game has the following key differences: [43]

Two-hand Cego

There are two variants of two-handed Cego. The first is Officers' Cego (Offiziers-Cego). In the Unadingen version, each player receives 27 cards. In a manner reminiscent of Officers' Skat or Officers' Schafkopf, the non-dealer is given 5 cards face down on the table, followed by 5 likewise to the dealer. This is repeated before the final 14 cards are dealt, 7 to each player to form their hand cards. Any faced Trocks are picked up and added to the hand cards. Non-dealer leads to the first trick and suit must be followed if possible. If unable to follow, a player must trump with a Trock. Lacking a card of the led suit or a Trock, the player must discard any available card (i.e. one from the hand or face up on the table). The trick winner leads to the next trick. If an upcard is played from the table, the downcard beneath it is turned over at the end of the trick, any Trocks being added to the hand cards. After all cards are played, the score is reckoned using the 78-point system and the player with 40 or more wins. [51]

A quite different version, Dorset Cego, was devised in England in 2022 in order to practise and replicate the normal three-player game. Three cards are removed from the pack and the cards dealt as in Three-hand Cego, the third player being represented by a dummy hand. Beginning with non-dealer, players bid as normal for Solo or Ultimo in Phase 1. If neither wants to play a Solo, non-dealer must bid Cego and either may overcall the other until one passes, jump bidding being allowed. If the Cego goes unchallenged, non-dealer may switch to a Robber or Thresher. After the auction is decided, the defender turns the dummy face up and plays from both hands. Scoring is as per the three-hand version. [52]

Traditions

Going "up the mountain"

One tradition in the High Black Forest is that a player who plays a Cego fails to take a single trick has to go "up the mountain". The player buys a round of schnaps and the others stand and sing the opening line of the Lake Constance Song (Bodenseelied) substituting the player's name e.g. "Auf dem Berg so hoch da droben, da steht der Karl" ("On the mountaintop so high above, there stands Karl"). [53]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ German: Badisches Tarock
  2. ↑ A detailed account of the Baden Regiment's deployment is given by von Weech in the Badische Neujahrsblätter of 1892. [15]
  3. ↑ No rules for a 42-card game are known, but it is likely that it was a three-hand game in which 11 cards were dealt to each player and 9 to the blind; the Cego contracts being "with three", "with two", "two cards [of a suit]", "two odds", etc., since two cards would be needed from the hand cards to supplement the blind.
  4. ↑ For example, Fahnen Staeb [39] and the Fürstenberg Brewery. [40]
  5. ↑ Geiss, spelt Geiß in German, is pronounced with a hard "g" and rhymes with "dice".
  6. ↑ Hand-Spiele.
  7. ↑ Alternatives to "fort" are "fort Solo" or "Solofort".
  8. ↑ Called a Gegensolo and bid with e.g. "ich gehe dagegen".
  9. ↑ None of the rules are explicit about the bidding sequence after a call of Solo except John McLeod's description at pagat.com which makes clear that, as soon as Solo is called, the opportunity to bid a Countersolo goes first to forehand and then the others in turn, rather than continuing to the next player to the right. It makes no real difference provided all are allowed to speak, since forehand has positional priority anyway. The same applies to a bid of Countersolo in McLeod because his rules allow for further bidding as per Phase 2. However these rules follow Baumann & Blümle in which a Countersolo ends the bidding.
  10. ↑ Baumann & Blümle call the Pagat the Kleiner Mann, the "Little Man".
  11. ↑ Sometimes called a Null game or Nullspiel because the aim is to take no tricks or very few tricks.
  12. ↑ In Baumann & Blümle, bidding for Null games takes place at the start of Phase 2, but the process is unclear. Weißauer places it here and adds Pascha, Duo, Trio, Quarto and Quinto as options.
  13. ↑ In effect Piccolo and Bettel are of equal ranking. In the Black Forest Championship, however, Piccolo takes precedence over Bettel and so there are two rounds of bidding at this point; first for Piccolo, then for Bettel.
  14. ↑ Or alternatively "I'm fine" or "happy"; in German: weg, mir ist recht, mir'sch wohl, Genehm or Fort are used.
  15. ↑ In German: selbst or hab' ich selber.
  16. ↑ McLeod states that, if these tricks are made be different players, the one who won with the higher winning card leads to the third trick; if of equal rank, the card of the higher suit wins; the suits ranking in descending order: ♣♠♥♦. [13] None of the other sources here mention this, so presumably the winner of the second trick leads to the third.
  17. ↑ In tournaments or other games where points are reckoned, the game value is earned in plus points and paid in minus points.
  18. ↑ Schinden, also called lauern ("lurking") in card games normally means holding back a high value card in order to capture another high value one. See e.g. Castelli (1839). [50]
  19. ↑ That is, eight times the last game value bid.

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Bauerntarock 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bavarian Tarock</span> Card game

Bavarian Tarock or, often, just Tarock, is a card game that was once popular in Bavaria and also played in parts of Austria as well as Berlin. The name is a clue to its origin in the historical German game of [Gross-]Tarock, a game using traditional Tarot cards. At some point in the mid- to late-18th century, attempts were made to emulate Taroc using a standard 36-card German-suited pack, resulting in the formerly popular, south German game of German Tarok. During the last century, the variant played with a pot (Haferl) and often known as Bavarian Tarock or Haferltarock, evolved into "quite a fine game" that, however, has less in common with its Tarock progenitor. German Tarok also generated the very similar game of Tapp, played in Württemberg, and both are related to Bauerntarock, Dobbm and the American games of Frog and Six-Bid Solo. Bavarian Tarock should not be confused with Königrufen, also known as Austrian Tarock or just Tarock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tapp (card game)</span>

Tapp is a trick-taking, card game for 3 or 4 players using 36 French-suited cards that is played in the south German region of Swabia, especially in the former Kingdom of Württemberg. It is the French-suited offshoot of German Tarok; its German-suited form being called Württemberg Tarock in that region. Tapp is one of a family of similar games that include Bavarian Tarock, the Austrian games of Bauerntarock and Dobbm, and the American games of Frog and Six-Bid Solo. Although probably first played in the early nineteenth century, the game of Tapp is still a local pastime in its native Württemberg, albeit in a greatly elaborated form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zwanzigerrufen</span>

Zwanzigerrufen or Zwanz'gerrufen is the leading trick-taking card game of the Tarock family in many regions of eastern Austria. Its rules are simpler than the game of Königrufen which is more widely played in the whole of Austria. As is common in Tarock games, the cards have various point values – the primary goal in an individual game is to win the majority of points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trull (cards)</span> The Trull cards (The Fool, the Pagat and the Mond) treated specially in many tarot games

The trull is a trio of three special trump cards used in tarock games in Austria and other countries that have a much higher card value than the other trumps. The individual cards are known as trull cards (Trullstücke). The word trull is derived from the French tous les trois which means "all three".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illustrated Tarock</span> Austrian card game

Illustrated Tarock or Illustrated Dreiertarock is an Austrian card game that has been described as the "queen" of all three-handed Tarock games played with the 54-card pack. It was thought by Mayr and Sedlaczek to be extinct but, in 2009 when the two Tarock authors were guests on an ORF radio programme, players from Vienna called in who confirmed they still played the game. It is sometimes called Point Tarock which, however, is a different, probably extinct, game, albeit a close cousin. Although it has "a reputation for being a little more convoluted than the others", Furr maintains that this is not so, but recommends that players become familiar with Tapp Tarock before attempting this game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Tarock</span> Three-player tarot card game

Point Tarock was a three-player tarot card game, played mainly in Austria, which used the 54-card Industrie und Glück deck. It is probably extinct. Furr describes it as being "identical to Tapp but for the addition of a special announcement, allowing a Declarer to capitalize on a very good hand... spicing up the game considerably." Point Tarock is sometimes confused with its close cousin, Illustrated Tarock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Droggn</span> Tarock card game for three players

Droggn, sometimes called French Tarock is an extinct card game of the Tarock family for three players that was played in the Stubai valley in Tyrol, Austria until the 1980s. Droggn is originally local dialect for "to play Tarock", but it has become the proper name of this specific Tarock variant. An unusual feature of the game compared with other Tarock games is the use of a 66-card deck and that, until recently, there was no record in the literature of a 66-card game and no current manufacturers of such a deck. The structure of the game strongly indicates that it is descended from the later version of Tarok l'Hombre, a 78-card Tarock game popular in 19th-century Austria and Germany, but with the subsequent addition of two higher bids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dreiertarock</span> Austrian card game

Dreiertarock is a 3-handed card game of the Austrian Tarock family. Although less popular than it once was, it is still played in Austria, especially in Carinthia, and in neighboring Slovenia. In 2013, it was one of five variants of Tarock game competed for in the International Piatnik Tarock Tournament in Vienna. For a long time, three-handed variants of Tarock were played alongside the four-handed games and were very popular everywhere in Austria. They have since fallen behind in popularity which "is a pity because they are interesting variants which demand a high level of skill". They remain popular in Slovenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosakeln</span> Two-hand Tarock card game

Kosakeln ("Cossack") is a relatively recent, two-hand card game of the Austrian branch of the Tarock family. It is a two-handed version of the three-player game of Illustrated Tarock, itself an elaborate and challenging variant of Tapp Tarock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taroc l'Hombre</span> Extinct card game of the European Tarot card game family

Taroc l'Hombre or Tarok-l'Hombre is an extinct card game of the European Tarot card game family for three players that was played with a full pack of 78 tarot cards, known as tarocs or taroks. It emerged in Italy around 1770 as Tarocc 'Ombre but later spread to Austria and Germany. It was a crucial development, with the important idea of bidding imported from l'Hombre, hence the name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Husarln</span> Card game, an Austrian variant of Hungarian Tarok

Husarln ("Hussar") is a mid-20th century, three-hand card game of the Austrian branch of the Tarot family. It is a 42-card variant of Illustrated Tarock and appears to be a close Austrian relative of the 42-card Hungarian tarock card games. The game is dominated by the distribution of Tarocks, giving it a "brisk and energetic feel" that is reflected in its name. It is also known as Block Tarock, although that name was given to a quite different and older game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dreierles</span> Popular German card game

Dreierles is a three-handed, trick-taking Tarot card game that is popular in the German region of central Baden. It is very old and appears to be a south German cousin of Tapp Tarock, the oldest known 54-card Tarot game. Dreierles is played with Cego cards - the only surviving German Tarot cards still produced. German soldiers fighting with Napoleon almost certainly introduced a Spanish modification to Dreierles that produced Baden's national game of Cego. Its relative simplicity makes it a good introduction to games of the central European Tarot family, usually called Tarock games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German Tarok</span> Card game

German Tarok, sometimes known as Sansprendre or simply Tarok, is an historical Ace-Ten card game for three players that emerged in the 18th century and is the progenitor of a family of games still played today in Europe and North America. It became very popular in Bavaria and Swabia during the 19th century before being largely superseded by Schafkopf, but has survived in the local forms of Bavarian Tarock and Tapp. During the mid-19th century, it became the most popular card game among Munich's middle classes and was also played in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by notable Bavarian author Ludwig Thoma, frequently appearing in his novels and journal articles. It was superseded after the First World War by other forms such as Bavarian Tarock.

References

  1. ↑ Das alte badische Kartenspiel Cego feiert ein Comeback at badische-zeitung.de. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  2. ↑ Cego Verbrüdert at hochschwarzwald.de. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 Kastner & Folkvord (2005), p. 229.
  4. 1 2 Herders Konversations-Lexikon (1907), pp. 431 & 1780.
  5. 1 2 Bielefeld (1868), p. 147.
  6. 1 2 P.A. (1860)
  7. ↑ Birlinger & Pfaff (1916), p. 31.
  8. ↑ Boerschel (1915), pp. 50 & 262 (as Cäcospiel).
  9. ↑ Chronik der Röm. kathol. Pfarrei Eschbach bei St. Peter Landkapitel Breisach at stegendreisamtal.de. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Cego - Regeln at cego.de. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 Vermutliche Herkunft at cego-online.de. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  12. ↑ Martin & McLeod 2018, pp. 81–84.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Cego at pagat.com. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  14. ↑ Harder (1987), p. 85.
  15. ↑ von Weech (1892), pp. 3–59.
  16. ↑ Karlsruhe Tagblatt, No. 288, Tuesday 19 October 1852, p. 1357.
  17. ↑ Stolz (1901), p. 592.
  18. ↑ H.G. (1909). "Der Mühle-Xander: eine Geschichte aus dem Schwarzwald" in Der Volksfreund, No. 49. 17 June 1909. Karlsruhe. p. 1.
  19. ↑ Proceedings of the Baden Landtag in Der Volksfreund. No. 26. 31 January 1914. p. 3.
  20. ↑ Hülsemann (1930), pp. 205–206.
  21. ↑ Schlager (1950), p. 296.
  22. ↑ "Playing Cards Currently in Popular Use in Germany" in Chicago Playing Card Collectors Inc, Vol. 7, December 1960, p. 8.
  23. ↑ Gööck (1967), p. 128.
  24. ↑ Grupp (1979), p. 97.
  25. ↑ Kastner & Folkvord (2005), p. 228.
  26. ↑ For example, Ultimo is not mentioned in the 1860 rules, nor by Schlager (1951) or Dummett (1980).
  27. 1 2 3 Cego - ein altes Kartenspiel, das eine Renaissance erlebt at schwarzwaldregion-freiburg.de. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  28. ↑ "Cego soll wieder salonfähig werden" in Badische Zeitung, 27 Apr 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  29. ↑ Das badische Nationalspiel Cego at swv-schopfheim.de. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  30. ↑ "Es geht um Cents und Emotionen". Badische Zeitung (in German). 27 October 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  31. ↑ Schauspieler Martin Wangler spielt ein vom Aussterben bedrohtes Kartenspiel at bnn.de. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  32. ↑ Cego, ein schwarzwälder Kartenspiel at martin-wangler.de. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  33. ↑ Cego-Kurse at vhs-hochschwarzwald.de. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  34. ↑ Hoffmann (1972), p. 85.
  35. ↑ Mann, Sylvia (1990). All Cards on the Table. Leinfelden: Jonas Verlag. pp. 67, 83, 315.
  36. ↑ Depaulis, Thierry (1984). Tarot, jeu et magie. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale. pp. 119–120.
  37. 1 2 Alte Spielkarten, Cego Kartenspiel von F.X. Schmid. at picclick.de. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  38. 1 2 3 Dummett & McLeod (1975), pp. 30–46.
  39. ↑ Cego Karten nach FX Schmid at fahnen-staeb.de. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  40. ↑ Cego-Karten at fuerstenberg.de. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  41. ↑ Neues Design für Cego-Karten aus dem Schwarzwald at swr.de. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 _ (1916). "D'Veef" in Offenburger Zeitung, 30 April 1916.
  43. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Das Cegospiel by Gerhard Baumann and Gerold Blümle of the Schwarzwaldverein Schopfheim. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  44. 1 2 Schmid, F.X. [1990]. ZEGO, Cego od. Ceco. Rules.
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Weißauer (2017), pp. 108–133.
  46. ↑ Cego-Spielregeln Freiamt. 2016.
  47. ↑ Kramer, Martin (1993). Cego. Rules as played in Unadingen.
  48. ↑ Grupp (1994), p. 92.
  49. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cegofreunde St. Georgen at cegofreunde.jimdofree.com. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  50. ↑ Castelli (1839), pp. 39 & 44.
  51. ↑ Regeln Offiziers-Cego at unadingen.de. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  52. ↑ Dorset-Cego zu zweit: Innovation aus England at cego.de. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  53. ↑ Cego spielen ist Adrenalin pur at hochschwarzwald.de. Retrieved 10 January 2023.

Literature

Cego sites
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