Kaiserspiel, also called Kaisern or Cheisärä, 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 ga ...

, usually for 4 or 6 players, that is played in parts of Switzerland using a variant of the standard Swiss playing cards with 40 or 48 cards. It is a descendant of

Karnöffel Karnöffel is a trick-taking card game which probably came from the upper-German language area in Europe in the first quarter of the 15th century. It first appeared listed in a municipal ordinance of Nördlingen, Bavaria, in 1426 among the games ...

, one of the oldest card games known.''Kaiserspiel''
at www.pagat.com. Retrieved 4 Jun 2018. It is sometimes misleadingly called ''Kaiserjass'', although it has nothing to do with the

Jass :Jass ''was also an early name for Jazz music. For other uses, see JASS.'' Jass ()David Parlett ''The Oxford guide to card games'', pg. 292-293, David Parlett (1990) is a family of trick taking, Ace-Ten card games and, in its key forms, a dis ...

family of games that are popular in Switzerland.

Cards

The Kaiserspiel pack comprises four suits:

Shields A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of ...

Flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

, Bells and Acorns each of ten cards ranked as follows:

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, Ober, Unter,

Banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

, (9), (8), 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 ( Deuce). The four Banners are normally part of the trump suit and are known as ''Kaisers'', hence the name of the game. In the 40-card variants, the 8s and 9s are removed. There are no

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

References

External links

* Matthew Macfadyen and Kirsty Healey, rev. John McLeod
''Kaiserspiel''
at www.pagat.com. Retrieved 4 Jun 2018. {{List of trick-taking games Swiss deck card games Karnöffel group Four-player card games Six-player card games Swiss card games