How Different Are German Cards?

These cards were established in the early fifteenth century. There may still be very early packs that have 52 cards still in them, however, at a very early stage the standard German pack came consisted of 48 cards.

Just the same as our cards there are face cards, this includes a king, an upper jack (Obermann) with the suit symbol at the top, a lower jack (Untermann) with the suit symbol at the bottom, a ten sometimes shown as a banner, and further numerals from nine down to two. The main game this 48 deck of cards was used for was Karnoffel.

There are many other games you can play but like poker here in the USA is so popular. Karnoffel is popular among German cards. When the ace of the French and Italian packs was promoted to be the highest card in many games, the same thing happened to the two or deuce (Daus) of the German suited card pack. Several games became popular in which the pack was shortened to 36, 32 or even fewer cards, by omitting what were now the lowest numerals: 3,4,5, sometimes 6, and so on. The deuce, is now isolated as the highest card, has come to be thought of as the ace, even though it has two suit marks. In Germany and Austria it is also known as the Sow (Sau).

German suited cards are all still are still the primary type of cards used in many parts of central Europe. Each country or region has its own variation of the pattern, with noticeably different designs. The mains places where German cards are now used are as follows, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, and Poland.

German card packs are uncommon use in the southern and eastern provinces, Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Saxony and Thuringia. There are several regional patterns of somewhat different appearance. In the north and west of the country, German cards have been almost entirely been superseded by French suited cards.

Karnoffel is one of the earliest European card games whose rules can be reconstructed with some confidence. It dates back from the early 15th century, as early as 1426, and is one of the first trick-taking card games in which there is a "chosen" suit of whose cards have the most power to beat other cards of other suits.

Karnoffel is played with a pack of 48 cards, omitting the Aces from a standard pack of 52. In all suits except the cards rank in the accustomed order, King(high), Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2(low) Four players play as partners, each player seated between two opponents and across from their partner.

Deal: The first dealer deals five cards to each player, one at a time. The first card is dealt face up to each player, the others face down. The lowest-ranking face-up card in cause of ties, the first such card dealt determines the (trump) for that round. All players then pick up their cards.

Play: The player to the left of the dealer leads any card to the first trick. Each other player in clockwise order plays any card. There is no requirement to follow suit, as in many other games, the player of the highest card of the suit led, or the highest (trump) if any are played, wins the trick and leads to the following trick. Continue until all cards have been played: the team winning a majority of the five tricks wins the round, the player who led to the first trick then deals for the next round.

That is how you play Karnoffel and now you have a little more knowledge on German cards.