Bauerchen

Bauerchen, also Bauerchens, Bauersche or Bauersches, is a trick-taking card game of the Ace-Ten family that is played in the Palatinate region of Germany, especially around the city of Kaiserslautern.[1] It is often played during leisure times as an alternative to well known games such as Schafkopf or Skat.[1] Regular Bauerchen tournaments also take place.[1] The game is named after its four permanent trumps or "Bowers" (Bauer).

Bauerchen
The 4 permanent trumps
OriginPalatinate, Germany
TypeTrick-taking
Players4
Cards20
DeckFrench pack
Card rank (highest first)♣J ♠J ♥J ♦J
TA TK TQ T10-7
A K Q 10-7 (led suit)

History

Historically the game was popular in the Siegerland and in the county of Lahn-Dill-Kreis, where this "strange and traditional card game" was associated with the tradition of making Stauze(n)weck or Studdewäcke - local buns, particularly around the Christmas-New Year holiday period. The game was played in taverns that were often attached to bakeries. The winners of a game won a Stauzeweck from each of the losing players. In 1965 it was reported as dying out with only 10 men in the village of Haiger able to master the game and being completely unknown in the surrounding area.[2]

Today the game seems to have centred itself on the city of Kaiserslautern where Bauerchen tournaments take place irregularly in various pubs in and around the city. The entry fee is decided by the publican.[3]

Players

Bauerchen is a game for four, the two players sitting diagonally opposite one another forming a team, resulting in two teams of two.[4]

Cards

The game is played with 20 cards from a French pack. A French-suited Skat pack may be used, in which case the Sevens, Eights and Nines are removed leaving the: Ace, Ten, King, Queen and Bower (Jack). The suits are:

French suits
Clubs Spades Hearts Diamonds

Trumps

Permanent trumps are the so-called Bowers (Bauern) i.e. promoted Jacks, from which the game gets its name. In addition there are all the cards in the trump suit, the ranking of the individual cards remaining the same as normal. Consequently there are always eight trumps in the game. These are, from the highest Bower to the lowest trump card: Bower of Clubs > Bower of Spades > Bower of Hearts > Bower of Diamonds > Trump Ace > Trump 10 > Trump King > Trump Queen.

Card points

The values of the individual cards are as follows:

Ranks and card-point values of cards
Rank A 10  K   Q  J (Bower)987
Value 1110432 –

In addition the last trick of the game scores 10 points extra, so that there is a total of 130 points per game.

Playing

A game is a deal of five tricks, a round comprises several deals - until one team reaches 12 points. The team that wins two rounds scores a stein ("rock"), sometimes called a knoddel; after which a new stein is played.

Dealing

Dealing and play are clockwise. Dealer shuffles the cards and offers them to the cutter to his right. The cards are then dealt in packets of 2 and then 3 to each player, each player receiving five cards.

Trump suit

After picking up his cards, forehand (on the dealer's left) calls trumps. Once all players have picked up their cards, forehand leads to the first trick. When the game is finished, forehand then becomes the next dealer.

Trick-playing rules

Each player must play to the trick in accordance with the following rules:

  1. Players must always follow suit if possible (Farbzwang).
  2. If unable to follow suit, players must trump (Trumpfzwang).
  3. If unable to do either, a player may play any card (where possible 'smearing' their partner with high-value cards or playing low-value cards to tricks likely to be won by their opponents).
  4. If a trump is played, players must beat the highest trump in the trick if possible. If unable to do so, they must play a trump. If that is not possible, rule 3 applies.

Other rules
  1. "Natural Trick" (Naturstich): a suit trick (Farbstich) is one to which no trump has been played and the trick is thus made up of natural cards i.e. the Ace wins the trick (Ace, 10, King, Queen).
  2. "Melding" (melden): if a player has a King and Queen of the same suit in his hand and plays either one of them, he can meld a "20", i.e. on the scoresheet and extra game point (Rundenpunkt) is credited. If they are of the trump suit, the player may meld a "40" and receives 2 bonus points. A meld cannot be declared if it would take the game score to 31 points.
  3. "Double" (spritzen): the team that announced trumps plays "at home" (zuhause) and their opponents are said to be playing "away" (auswärts). A player from the away side has the right to "double" (spritzen), if he is sure of winning. In response, the home side may redouble (zurückspritzen) by calling "retour" or "re". Teams may spritz as often as they like and raise the stakes, usually 3-4 times being enough.
  4. "Cards down" (Kart' ab): If a player is certain that he can win all the tricks alone (i.e. without the assistance of a partner), then he can say "cards down", "solo" (ledig) or "bump" (buckel), which means that his partner must lay his cards face down on the table and no longer take part. The winner of a solo game automatically gets 12 points and ends the round.

Scoring

Game is 31 points. If a player reaches 31, the opposing side is given a "knoddel". If the opponents get 2 knoddels, the team wins a stein, which used to mean that their opponents had to buy them a stein of beer, i.e. a litre of beer.

If both teams each have one knoddel, the deciding game, is called a "Gehampelter", "Hängo" or various other names.

Depending on the card points won, the following game points are scored:

If the opposing team scores...

  • 0 card points - schwarz (nackig gespielt): 3 game points
  • 1 - 30 card points - schneider: 2 game points
  • 31 - 64 card points - schneider frei: 1 game point

if the points are split 65:65, the away team wins. If the away team wins they always get an extra game point (i.e. 2, 3 or 4 game points). If players have spritzt, the points are doubled for each spritz.

Optional rules
  1. "Carry forward" (Weiterschreiben): a round ends with 31 points, but excess points are carried forward to the next round. Also called the Siegelbach rule.
  2. "Forty Rule at 10 Game Points" (40er-Regel bei 10 Rundenpunkten): instead of an extra 2 game points, only 1 is added.
  3. "The Last" (Die Letzte): if a player is dealt 2 Bowers at the start and has to announce trumps, he can flip his 5th and last card for trumps instead.
  4. "Single" (Ledig): In Gehampelten there is no "Ledig Spiel" (solo game).

Hessian variant

The former Hessian variant was described by Löeber in 1965. It was a game for four players in two teams of two using a Skat pack minus the 7s and 8s leaving 24 cards. Again the highest cards were the Jacks. After dealing 5 cards to each player, trumps were determined by turning the next card (not by forehand). Curiously, you had to take either the first two tricks or the last three to win. Each team chalked up five crosses (Striche) thus, +++++, and one was erased for each win (en Strich aus) or added if you lost (en Strich oo), which suggests there may have been some sort of bidding. The team that was first to erase all five received a 'blob' (Nullchen) on the slate and a Stauzewecke from each of the losing players. Löeber admits that he has not been able to describe the finer points of the game.[2]

References
  1. Bauerchen at ebbesspielen.spiellokal.de. Retrieved 20 Sep 2018
  2. Löeber 1965, pp. 82/83.
  3. e.g. see Bauerchen-Turnier: Siegerliste at www.bk-kaiserslautern.de. Retrieved 20 Sep 2018
  4. Krämer 1965, pp. Vol 1, col. 618-623.

Literature
  • Krämer, Julius (1965-1998). Pfälzisches Wörterbuch. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden.
  • Löeber, Karl (1965). Beharrung und Bewegung im Volksleben des Dillkreises/Hessen. Elwert.
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