Jass 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.
Klaberjass or Bela is a trick-taking Ace-Ten card game that is most popular in German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack.
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.
Mariage or Mariagenspiel is a German 6-card trick-and-draw game for two players in which players score bonus points for the "marriage" of King and Queen of the same suit. The game, first documented in 1715 in Leipzig, spawned numerous offshoots throughout continental Europe and gives its name to the Marriage group of card games, the widest known of which is probably Sixty-Six. Many of these are still the national card games of their respective countries.
The Jack–Nine card games, also known as the Jass group, form a family of trick-taking games in which the jack (jass) and nine (manille) of the trump suit are the highest-ranking trumps, and the tens and aces of all suits are the next most valuable cards. Games in this family are typically played by 2 or 4 players with 32 French-suited cards.
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" which are worth extra points.
Gaigel is a card game from the Württemberg region of Germany and is traditionally played with Württemberg suited cards. It is a Swabian variant of Sechsundsechzig and may be played with 2, 3, 4 or 6 players. However, a significant difference from Sechsundsechzig and other related games like Bauernschnapsen is the use of a double card deck. The four-player game is usually called Kreuzgaigel. The game emerged in the early 19th century.
The card game of Bauernschnapsen is an expanded form of the popular Austrian card game of Schnapsen, played by four players. This variant of Schnapsen is played throughout the whole of Austria.
Dobbm or Tappen is a card game played in the Stubai valley in Austria and is one of a family of games derived from the Tarot game of Grosstarock by adapting its rules to a regular, shortened pack of 36 cards. The ranking and point value of the cards in Dobbm is typical of the family and, like its other members, one player always plays as a soloist against all the others. It is highly popular in the Stubai valley among card players of all generations, but is unknown in the surrounding regions.
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.
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.
Quodlibet 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.
Rumpel is a card game, that is native to the Danube region from Regensburg to Linz, but is played especially in the region of Hauzenberg in the German county of Passau in Bavaria. Mala describes a version with 8 or 12 contracts from a menu of 29 called Großer Rumpel. It is a descendant of the old Austrian student's game of Quodlibet.
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.
Kein Stich is a card game, which is well known in the German-speaking parts of the world under various regional names such as Herzeln, King Louis, Kunterbunt ("Multicoloured"), Schwarze Sau, Fritz, Brumseln, Fünferspiel ("Fives"), Lieschen, Lizzy or Pensionisteln ("Pensioners").
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.
Mulatschak or Fuchzenawa 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.
Unteransetzen, Unteranlegen, Unterauflegen or Unterlegen is an Austrian and Bavarian card game of the Domino family for 2-6 players that is played exclusively with German-suited playing cards. The name means refers to the building of cards onto an Unter. It is a classic children's game.
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 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.
Romestecq is an historical Dutch card game for two, four or six players in two teams that dates to at least the 17th century. It was also popular in France for over a century. Despite being criticised in contemporary sources as "complicated" it continued to appear in the literature until the end of the 19th century and was sufficiently interesting for it to appear in The Penguin Book of Card Games in 2008.
