Juckerspiel, also known as Jucker or Juckern, is a

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 ...

that was popular in the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

region. It is believed to be the ancestor of

Euchre Euchre or eucre () is a trick-taking card game commonly played in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States. It is played with a deck of 24, 28, or 32 standard playing cards. Normally there are four players, two on e ...

and may have given its name to the playing card known as the Joker.Bumpo (1999), pp. 7–9.

History

The earliest known reference to the game occurs in 1792 in a German dictionary where it is described as "a game with cards" and assigned to

the Palatinate The Palatinate (german: Pfalz; Palatine German: ''Palz'') is a region of Germany. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz'') and Lower Palatinate (''Unterpfalz''), which strictly speaking designated only the wes ...

region. By 1848 it was well known enough for Spindler to mention it in his ''Vergißmeinnicht'' ("Forget-me-Not"), in which a young man gambles his time away in pubs playing various games including Jucker ('' rjuckert''). In

Erckmann-Chatrian Erckmann-Chatrian was the name used by French authors Émile Erckmann (1822–1899) and Alexandre Chatrian (1826–1890), nearly all of whose works were jointly written.Mary Ellen Snodgrass, ''Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature''. New York, Facts ...

's 1864 novel ''L'ami Fritz'', set in

, there are frequent references in French to playing the game of ''youker'' as far back as the 1830s. In 1856, Hackländer recounts playing Juckern, a new game to him, in the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

region. The game also appears in an 1874 book of poetry in the dialect of the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

region of Germany in 1874. No complete rules have been found, but Martin and Lienhart (1899) describe Juckerspiel as a "card game in which the ''Bauer'' ackis worth more than the Ace" and a ''Marsch'' was to take all five tricks in Juckerspiel. Rausch (1908) states that Juckerspiel was widespread in Alsace and ''e Marsch mache'' means to take all the tricks and that the ''Bauer'' is the highest card. Modern sources state that the game was played in the

and the South Hessian region. 19th century American sources show that ''eucre'' was being played as early as 1810 and that by 1829, as ''uker'', itn was played with ''Bowers'' as early as 1829 in the American Mid-West, and that Euchre was invented in America during the 1820s from the mixing of Ecarte with ideas from German card games by German immigrants. Bumpo (1999) refutes the "canard" of a link with Ecarté pointing out that the two games emerged at roughly the same time and that Ecarté is a two-handed game in which Jacks are not the top trumps.

David Parlett David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. His published works include many pop ...

, an expert on the history of card games, goes further and argues that, "on linguistic grounds alone there can be no doubt as to uchre'sorigin in the Alsatian game of Juckerspiel as brought to America by German immigrants." Not only are Jucker and Euchre phonetically alike, but the terms ''Bauer'' and ''Marsch'' have been imported into Euchre as 'Bower' and 'march'. His conclusion is that Euchre derives from the Alsatiam game of Jucker which, in turn, is descended from

Triomphe Triomphe (French for triumph), once known as French Ruff, is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain (as triunfo) and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared ...

or French Ruff, probably via

Bête Bête, la Bête (french: Jeu de la Bête), Beste or la Beste (''Jeu de la Beste''), originally known as Homme or l'Homme (''Jeu de l'Homme''), was an old, French, trick-taking card game, usually for three to five players. It was a derivative of Tr ...

.Parlett (2006), p. 261.

Related games

Recently, members of the

International Playing Card Society The International Playing-Card Society (IPCS) is a non-profit organisation for those interested in playing cards, their design, and their history. While many of its members are collectors of playing cards, they also include historians of playing car ...

identified two games, still being played today in the region north of Alsace in Germany, that could be descendants of Juckerspiel: Bauer and Hunsrücker Bauern.

Hunsrücker Bauern

Possibly the closest relative of Juckerspiel is a variant of Bauer, or Bauern, played in the

, uses 32 French-suited cards and is a six-handed, two-team game in which there are two Jacks as top trumps: the trump Jack and the Jack of the same colour. Like Jucker, players receive 5 cards each and there is a bonus for a slam, known as a ''Durch''. If the cut card is a Jack, it determines the trump suit unless superseded later. Players are dealt five cards each from a Skat pack and, if trumps have not already been decided, the top card of the ''skat'' is turned for trumps. If it is a Jack, it determines trumps even if the cut card was a Jack. If it is a Jack, the bottom card of the ''skat'' is turned and, if it is the same suit, dealer may exchange with it. If not, players are asked in turn if they will play with the turnup suit. If any player says yes, the dealer may exchange with it. If no-one wants to play with the turnup suit, it is turned over again and players are asked if they will play with another suit. If all pass, the cards are redealt. This process is similar to that used in Euchre. Teams start with five lines marked on a slate (''Striche'') and play for the best of five tricks. If the declarers win, they erase a line; if they lose, they add a line and the winners erase a line.

Bauer

There is another version of ''Bauer'' played in the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

which is a four-handed, plain trick, partnership game. This time 8 cards are dealt to each player clockwise in two packets of 4, trumps being chosen by forehand after the first packet has been dealt. It employs a 32-card, French-suited

Skat pack 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 suits of Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (''Grün'', ''Blatt'', ''Lau ...

and there are 2 Jacks (''Bauer'') as top trumps: the trump Jack or ''Dicke'' ("fat one") and the Jack of the same suit colour or ''Linke'' ("left one"). Forehand leads with a trump (sometimes optional). Suit must be followed, but players may play any card if unable to follow. Teams start with eight points and aim to be first to zero, one point being deducted to the winners of a deal if they declared trumps. If the declarers lose, they add a point and their opponents deduct one. On reaching zero, the team earns a ''Brot'' ("loaf" or "roll") or ''Schròòm''. The equivalent of a march is ''Karten weg'' which is announced by a player who intends to take every trick. The partner's cards are set aside and the march player leads off. Winning earns an extra ''Brot''. The game is sometimes played with a shortened pack of 20 cards or by two teams of 3.''Bauer -- Euchre in its area of origin''
at i-p-c-s.org. Retrieved 4 Jul 2019.''Bauer (Kartenspiel)''
at www.spielwiki.de. Retrieved 4 Jul 2019.

Reunion

Reunion Reunion may refer to: * Class reunion * Family reunion Reunion, Réunion, Re-union, Reunions or The Reunion may also refer to: Places * Réunion, a French overseas department and island in the Indian Ocean * Reunion, Commerce City, Colorado, U ...

, a 19th-century

game, also shares the feature of having two Jacks as the top trumps, but is a three-hand game played with 10-card hands and a 32-card

Bester Bube

Bester Bube Bester Bube ("Best Bower") or Fünfkart ("Five Cards") is an historical German card game for 3–6 players played with a Piquet pack. It is one of the Rams group of card games characterised by allowing players to drop out of the current game if the ...

also employs two Jacks as top trumps and a 5-card hand, but is a member of the

Rams group Rams is a European trick-taking card game related to Nap and Loo, and may be played by any number of persons not exceeding nine, although five or seven make a good game. In Belgium and France, the game of Rams is also spelt Rammes or Rems, in Germ ...

in which players may drop out if they don't think their hand is strong enough. There appears to be no equivalent of the ''Marsch''.

References

Literature

* Bumpo, Natty (1999). ''The Columbus Book of Euchre''. 2nd edn. Brownsville, KY: Borf. * Cowell, Joseph (1845) ''Thirty_Years_passed_among_the_Players_in_England_and_America.''
Part_2:_America._NY:_Harper. *_Erckmann-Chatrian_ Erckmann-Chatrian_was_the_name_used_by_French_authors__Émile_Erckmann_(1822–1899)_and_Alexandre_Chatrian_(1826–1890),_nearly_all_of_whose_works_were_jointly_written.Mary_Ellen_Snodgrass,_''Encyclopedia_of_Gothic_Literature''._New_York,_Facts__...