Vogelspiel

Vogelspiel (game of "Bird") or Hexenspiel (game of "Witch") was an historical Bavarian and Austrian card game for a variable number of players and played with special cards. The game is named after the bird or the witch, respectively, that appeared on one or other of the cards.

History

The game is was descended from Cuccù, an 18th-century Italian game that, as Malcontenta, in turn was derived from the French game of Mécontent, a gambling and children's game that goes back to the early 16th century.[1][lower-alpha 1] Special packs of 32 cards were made for Vogelspiel, Hexenspiel or Hexelspiel. These comprised 2 sets of 10 picture cards and 1 set of numerals ranging from I to XII. The earliest surviving packs date to the second half of the 18th century and they were produced in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Bavaria until the end of the century; one pack still being issued by Piatnik in the 1930s.[2][3] The name Hexenspiel was used in Austria; the Bavarians called it Vogelspiel.

Cards

The pack comprises 32 cards with 12 numeral cards and 10 pairs of non-identical picture cards ranking from highest to lowest as follows:[2]

  • Bird (Pfeiff)
  • Guard (Werda)
  • Cat (Miau)
  • Horse (Hott)
  • Tavern (Einkerth)
  • Roman numerals I to XII (I lowest)
  • Plate (Deller)
  • Sausages (Wurst)
  • Glass (Glas)
  • Fool (Narr)
  • Witch (Hex)

Rules

Smith (1991) states that while the ranking of the cards is consistent and clear from leaflets dating to the late 18th century and early 19th century, the actual rules of play are not very explicit, but may have been similar to those of Cuccù with the exception that the player with the lowest card was only penalised if either no-one has been penalised during play or if the person so penalised was unable to pay the full penalty.[3]

A description by Karl Adrian (1909) in a book on Salzburg's culture and customs gives much simpler rules. Four to twenty may play; everyone gets 1 card and has 3 lives. In turn, a player may keep the card dealt or exchange it with the left-hand neighbour. A neighbour with one of the top 5 cards names it, the cards are not exchanged and the exchanger loses a life, or 2 lives if it is the Pfeiff. Presumably the dealer may exchange with the stock. Once everyone has had a turn, the cards are faced and the player with the lowest loses a life, or 2 if it is the Hex. The player with the most lives at the end, wins. The lives were recorded as strokes (Striche), probably on a slate, and a stroke was erased each time a life was lost.[4]

Footnotes
  1. The game was also known as Hère but eventually the name Coucou ("Cuckoo") prevailed. The game is still played in France today.

References
  1. Depaulis (1981), pp. 23–24.
  2. Endebrock (2018), p. 78–80.
  3. Smith (1991a), pp. 100–101.
  4. Adrian (1909), pp. 46–48.

Bibliography
  • Adrian, Karl (1909). "Das Kartenspiel" in Salzburger Volksspiele, Aufzüge und Tänze. pp. 46–48.
  • Depaulis, Thierry (1981). "Quand le Cuccu est Mécontent". L'As de Trèfle. 11: 23–24.
  • Endebrock, Peter (2018). "One of a Kind: Hexenspiel or Vogelspiel" in The Playing-Card, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Oct–Dec 2918), pp. 78–80.
  • Smith, A. G. (1991). "The 'Cambio' Packs and the Games Played with Them. I. Hexenspiel and Quittli" in The Playing-Card, Vol. XIX, No. 3 (February 1991), pp. 93ff.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.