Neunkart
Neunkart ("Nine Cards") or Fett und Mager ("Fat and Lean") was a traditional North German card game.
History and description
The game is mentioned as early as 1800 by Schütze as Neegenkaart and Fett un Mager in his Holstein dictionary, where it is described as a game for Holstein farmers and citizens. Players were dealt 9 cards each and there was a trump suit.[lower-alpha 1] The first, "higher paid" tricks were the "fat ones" and the last tricks, paid at half the value, were the "lean ones."[1]
The game was also spelt Negenkaart.[2] Around 1865 it is one of the many card games played by farmers at Christmas alongside, Brausbart, Dreikart, Fünfkart, Fips, Karnüffel, Scherwenzel, Hahnrei and others.[3] It was one of two played by farmers in the Eiderstedt region alongside Dreekort around 1890.[4]
Footnotes
- Presumably played by four players with a standard 36-card, French-suited pack, typical of the region.
References
- Schütze (1800), p. 208.
- Berghaus (1883), p. 89.
- Die Grenzboten (1865), p. 983.
- _ (1892), p. 93.
Bibliography
- _. (1865). "Weihnachten in Schleswig-Holstein" in Die Grenzboten, Vol. 4; Vol. 24, pp. 974–986.
- _. (1892). Zeitschrift für deutsche Kulturgeschichte, Volume 3, Bauer & Raspe.
- Berghaus, Dr. Heinrich Karl Wilhelm (1883). Der Sprachschatz der Sassen: ein Wörterbuch der Plattdeütschen Sprache. Vol. 2 (J–R). Berlin W.: R. Eisenschmidt.
- Schütze, Johann Friedrich (1800). Holsteinisches Idiotikon. Part 1. Hamburg: Heinrich Ludgwig Villaume.
