Vira, or Wira, is a traditional

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

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 ...

for three players that game designer Dan Glimne has called "Sweden's national card game".

History

Playing Vira was a popular social pastime during the 19th century and there are still Vira parties in Sweden. It is unclear when the game arose. According to tradition, the game was invented in Vira courthouse around 1810. It is said that a terrible storm caused the court to become snowbound inside and they could not leave the mill. So they played card games and eventually invented a new one, which was named after the place. Two gentlemen of Walloon extraction are supposed be the inventors of the game. But since Vira is a game for three, a third party was probably involved.

Description

Vira is a

trick-taking game 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 ...

. The actual trick play is preceded by an auction, as in

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

. The player who bids the highest contract plays against the other two players. Vira is a very complicated card game and there are several variants of the rules. It is played with gaming chips of which there are three or four different types. The stakes are placed in a so-called '' virapulla'' (''pictured''). The

dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

deals 13 cards each. Then an auction takes place in which there are 40 contracts to choose from. The one who announces the highest contract becomes the declarer; the other two become the defenders. After the auction, the declarer may 'buy' cards from the talon in a procedure called the 'purchase' (''köpet''). Then the trick-taking game begins. When play is finished, the 'payment' (''betalningen'') follows. Here, the declarer either gets paid in chips or has to pay chips to the opponents depending on what bid the declarer made and how the game went. Then the next round begins. For a long time it was the most advanced and popular card game in Sweden. Perhaps because it never became standardized as, for example, Skat did in Germany, its popularity fell fast after the arrival of

Contract Bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...

in the early 1930s.

Literature

* * * *

External links

Stockholm Vira Club

at bredband.net. (in Swedish).

{{Trick-taking card games Swedish card games Three-player card games French deck card games

History

Description

See also

Literature

External links