Bassadewitz is an old German

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

for 4 players that is still played today. It is a member of the Hearts family of games.

History

The game is also called Passadewitz, Bassarowitz, Passarowitz, Passorowiss or Bassarowiz. It is recorded as early as 1729 in a humorous poem, ''Das schöne Spiel Bassarowiz'', which describes it as a "much vaunted game". It is first recorded in the 1811 in Hammer's ''die deutschen Kartenspiele'' and is still played as a family game in parts of German-speaking Europe. It is a member of the trick avoidance group of playing cards.

Playing

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puts up a

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

of twelve counters and deals eight cards each from a 32-card pack of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

German playing cards German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suit (cards), suits of Acorns (suit), Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (s ...

''Bassadewitz''
in Meyers Konversations-Lexikon 1905 ranking and counting as follows:

Eldest hand Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position. Position Games of Anglo-American origin In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...

leads to the first

trick Trick(s) may refer to: People * Trick McSorley (1852–1936), American professional baseball player * Armon Trick (born 1978), retired German international rugby union player * David Trick (born 1955), former Ontario civil servant and universi ...

and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

Suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...

must be followed if possible. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led. There are no

trumps A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically, an entire suit is nominated as a ''trump suit''; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the terms ''tru ...

Scoring

Whoever takes the fewest

card point The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge (card game), Bridge, Hearts ...

s wins 5 counters, second fewest 4, third fewest 3. Ties are settled in favour of the

eldest ''Eldest'' is the second novel in the ''Inheritance Cycle'' by Christopher Paolini and the sequel to ''Eragon''. It was first published in hardcover on August 23, 2005, and was released in paperback in September 2006. ''Eldest'' has been released ...

player, but a player taking no tricks beats one who merely takes no card points. A player winning every trick is paid 4 counters each by the others and a player taking 100 or more in card points, but failing to win every trick, pays 4 each to the other players. In these cases, the pool remains intact and the same dealer deals again, as also if all four take the same number of card points.

Variant

The

Ace An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...

may count 5 points instead of 11, and players adds 1 point per trick to their total of card points, which may be classified as the easiest form of playing the game

References

Literature

* _ (1983). "Bassadewitz". In: Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg (publ.): ''Erweitertes Spielregelbüchlein aus Altenburg'', Verlag Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik, Leipzig 1983, pp. 41ff * *
Bassadewitz
in ''Brockhaus' Konversationslexikon'', 14th edition, 1894–1896, Vol. 2, p. 472 * Parlett, David (2008). ''The Penguin Book of Card Games''. London: Penguin (2008). p. 157. . * Grupp, Claus D. ''Karten-spiele'', Niederhausen: Falken (1975/1979), p. 47. . * Heinrici, Christian Friedrich (1732). ''Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte: Mit Kupffern'', Volume 3. Leipzig: Joh. Theod. Boetiiseel. The poem is dated 1729. {{Trick-taking card games Trick-avoidance games German card games French deck card games German deck card games