Scharwenzel, formerly also called Schipper-Schrill, is a traditional north German

plain-trick A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...

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 ...

of the

Schafkopf Schafkopf (), also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German Trick-taking game, trick-taking card game of the Ace-Ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. It is still very popular i ...

family that is played by two teams with two to four players on each team. The game is at least three centuries old and is played today only on the island of

Fehmarn Fehmarn (, da, Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "''Fe More''", meaning "''In the Sea''") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rüg ...

in the German state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

. It may be a regional variant of

German Solo German Solo or just Solo is a German 8-card plain-trick game for 4 individual players using a 32-card, German- or French-suited Skat pack. It is essentially a simplification of Quadrille, itself a 4-player adaptation of Ombre.''Neuestes Spielbuc ...

with which it bears some similarities and it may also have been ancestral to

. It is not related to a different game called Scharwenzel or Scherwenzel that was once played in Bavaria.

History

Scharwenzel has been played on Fehmarn since the 18th century and probably came from Denmark.''Bräuche und Traditionen''
at www.fehmarn-travel.de. Retrieved 6 November 2018 Apparently a game "of German origin" called ''Scharrewenselen'' was also being played in Holland around 1710 and ''Scharwentzeln'' was recorded in Germany in 1715. In Denmark, ''Schierwentzel'' is recorded as a gambling game in 1772 alongside Styrvolt, Cinq & Neuf, Passedix, Hypken,

Trekort Trekort, Tre-Kort or, in Swedish, also Trikort, is an old card game of Danish origin for four or five players that was usually played for money. It was also known in Sweden, where it developed into the variant of Knack. The name Trekort is also ...

, Dutmachen or Highest Trump, Bys, Rusk and others. The Danish variant, Skærvindsel, and the Faroese variant, Sjevinsel, bear great similarity to the Fehmarn Scharwenzel. Sometimes the same terminology is used, e.g. the matadors (''Matadoren'') are called Matadorer in Skærvindsel and Makadorer in Sjevinsel. The game is probably related to

. As ''Scherwenzel'', the game is recorded as being played at Yuletide in Anglia on the

Jutland peninsula Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

to the northwest in the 1840s. In 1910, Wossidlo reported it as a

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

game without, however, giving any details. The word 'Scharwenzel' or 'Scherwenzel' used to mean a person who was overly polite and ready to serve out of self-interest those people from whom something could be gained. It may have derived from the Italian ''servente'', or be composed of the words ''scharren'' ("scraping") and the name ''Wenzel'' ("Wenceslas") which is a nickname for the Jack. Hence it may refer to the fact that the Jacks in this game are subordinate to two Queens, whereas in other popular German games (e.g. Skat and

German Schafkopf German Schafkopf (german: Deutscher Schafkopf) is an old German card game and the forerunner of the popular modern games of Skat, Doppelkopf and Bavarian Schafkopf. Today it is hardly ever played in its original form, but there are a number of r ...

) they are the top trumps. Other colourful, seafaring-related names were given to the top trumps, such as Captain's Daughter for the Q and Water Carrier for the J (see

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, compound word, or multi-wor ...

below).

Overview

Scharwenzel is a

trick-taking A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...

game in which players form two teams, "You" and "Us" (''Ihr'' and ''Wir''), who compete to win tricks. The rules on scoring vary from village to village. Since 2012, there has been a tournament on Fehmarn every November where the winner is chosen from 26 to 30 participating teams.''"Tout", "fetter Bock" und "Petersdorfer" bei der 4. Fehmarnschen Scharwenzel-Meisterschaft''
– report of the 4th annual championship. Retrieved 7 November 2018 The overall aim of Scharwenzel is to score the most 'threads' (''Fäden''), recorded by lines on the scoresheet or slate. Threads are earned by winning a game i.e. 24 points. Points are earned by winning the majority of the tricks in a particular deal.

Cards

French-suited pack French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...

of 32 or 36 cards is used; the number of cards depending on the number of players. There is only a trump Queen when the

trump suit 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 ...

is hearts or diamonds, because the Queens of clubs and spades are permanent trumps, formerly known as the Captain's Wife and Captain's Daughter, but later called ''Olsch'' and ''Basta'' respectively. The trump 6 only appears in six-hand games, because only 32 cards are used when there are four or eight players. Recently, the Fehmarn Tourist Office has marketed bespoke cards for the "historic game of Scharwenzel". These are 36-card, French-suited packs with seaside motifs that come in a boxed set with scorecards and a set of rules. The ranking of the cards is:

Play

The following is based on McLeod and Detlef.

Teams

Cards are dealt to determine the teams. The players with the same suit colour are on the same side i.e. if the first player is dealt a red card such as the Nine of Diamonds, the next player to receive a red card becomes his ''Macker'' ("mucker" i.e. "partner"). In four-hand games, the ''Mackers'' sit opposite one another. In six- or eight-hand games the players from opposing sides sit in alternate seats.

Bidding

The cards are shuffled, then offered to the right for cutting. In clockwise order beginning with forehand (on the dealer's left), players are then dealt all the available cards in packets of 2 or, for 4 players: 3, 2 and 3. Forehand then leads the bidding. Players bid the number of cards in their longest (potentially trump) suit or "pass" (''"weiter"'' or ''"paß"'') if they have 2 or fewer in every suit. Each bid must exceed the previous one or the player must pass. Players may overbid either with a higher number of cards in one suit or, if their longest suit is clubs, by bidding the same number i.e. by declaring "4 better" (''4 besser'' or ''4 echt'') if the current highest bid is 4 and they have 4 clubs. The winning bidder announces the trump suit. If everyone passes (only possible in the eight-hand game), a game is played in which clubs are trumps and usually results in a draw or ''Bock'', whereby the points are carried forward.

Trick-taking

Forehand leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit or, if unable, they may play any card. The trick is won by the highest trump or, if no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit. The winner leads to the next trick. Because players are not allowed to disclose to their own side which cards they hold, a member of the opposing team always sits between two players. Nevertheless, players are allowed to suggest their teammates should play a heart, for example, by saying something like "everyone has a heart".

Scoring

Scoring is a combination of points, threads (''Fäden''), drawn as lines (l) and hooks (''Haken''), drawn as an inverted L (┐): A hook is the equivalent of one thread plus a round of

schnaps Schnapps ( or ) or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and "flavored liqueurs" made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to neu ...

, and a ''Petersdorfer'' equals 2 threads. Based on this system, for example, a ''Petersdorfer'' and a thread is the same as 2 hooks and a thread. Where minus scores are shown, these are added to the opponents' score, not deducted from the losers' score. If a ''Tout'' is won, there are no bonuses for the first tricks or matadors, and no ''Bock'' can be claimed.

Terminology

Top trumps

Scharwenzel was formerly known as ''Schipper-Schrill'' because it was popular with sailors, ''Schipper'' being German for skipper or boatman and ''Schrill'' being an old word for a gooseneck or a lubber.Haselmayer (1877), p. 20 It should not be confused with ''Scharwenzeln'', the Bavarian variant of Färbeln, which was a gambling game for two to eight players in which the Jacks or Unters, known as the ''Scharwenzels'', were wild. The top trumps had the following names:''Jahrbuch für Heimatkunde im Kreis Oldenburg-Holstein'' (1957), p. 158. The later names of the top trumps in Scharwenzel (left to right, highest to lowest) were undoubtedly imported from another game, probably German Solo which in turn used names from Ombre. The table shows the comparison:

Other terms

In addition to the names for the top trumps, additional terms are used in Scharwenzel: *''besser'' – a game in clubs (as trumps) *''Bock'' – a drawn game *''in echt'' – a game in clubs *''Macker'' - a team mate * ''Mackedors'' – matadors, the highest cards. If a team has the 3 highest matadors, for example, they get 3 bonus points. *''Petersdorfer'' – when a team reaches 24 points, but their opponents fail to score. It may be derived from the village of Petersdorf whose players were particularly good at Scharwenzel. *''Tout'' – a team wins every trick in a deal

Footnotes

References

Literature

* _ (1957). ''Jahrbuch für Heimatkunde im Kreis Oldenburg-Holstein.'' Oldenburg: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Heimatkunde im Kreise Oldenburg. * ''Amaranthes'' (1715). ''Nutzbares, galantes und curiöses Frauenzimmer-Lexicon''. Leipzig: Gleditsch & Son. * * Handelmann, Heinrich (1866) ''Weihnachten in Schleswig-Holstein'', Kiel: Schwers. * Haselmayer, Johann Evangelista (1877). ''Handbuch der Orthographie nach den Berliner Konferenzbeschlüssen.'' Würzburg: J. Staudinger. * Holmsen, Paul (1884). ''Kristiana Politis Historie''. Kristiana: W.C. Fabritius. * * * Wossidlo, Richard (1910). ''Aus dem Lande Fritz Reuters: Humor in Sprache und Volkstum Mecklenburgs''. O. Wigand.

External links

Brief description of Scharwenzel by Parlett under "Euchre and related five-trick games"
{{Trick-taking card games Schafkopf group French deck card games German card games Card games of Schleswig-Holstein