Introduction to Karnöffel: The First Recorded Card Game

What This Is

A compact playable guide to Karnöffel, one of the oldest identifiable European card games, with enough rules to put cards on the table and find out why the trump suit is so gloriously strange.

Original Handout

Original handout is available as a PDF.

Class Material

What Karnöffel Is

Karnöffel rhymes approximately with kerfuffle, with N replacing the first F. Its literal meaning is a scrotal hernia and, by extension in some contexts, the testicles.

The game was referred to as early as 1426 and appears in sermons and satirical writings. One of its supposed evils was its anarchic card order: low cards could beat high cards, and the normal social order of the deck did not stay put.

Players and Deck

• Playable by 2, 4, 6, or 8 players.
• Uses a 48-card German-suited deck, or a modern 52-card deck with the aces removed.
• With four or more players, form two partnerships. Each player sits with an opponent on either side.
• Deal and play pass to the left.

Normal Card Order

In every non-trump suit, cards rank in standard order: King, Ober or Queen, Unter or Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

Deal and Trump

• The dealer gives five cards to each player.
• The first card is dealt face up to each player; the remaining cards are dealt face down.
• The lowest-ranking face-up card determines the trump suit for that hand.
• If there is a tie, the card dealt first determines trump.
• Players pick up their cards after the deal is complete.

Trick Play

• The player to the left of the dealer leads any card to the first trick.
• Play proceeds clockwise around the table.
• There is no requirement to follow suit.
• The highest card of the suit led, or the highest trump, wins the trick.
• The trick winner leads the next trick.
• Play continues until all cards are played. The team with the most tricks wins the round.
• The player who led the first trick deals the next hand.

Special Trump Cards

• Unter / Jack of trump, the Karnöffel: beats all other cards.
• 7 of trump, the Devil: beats all cards except Karnöffel, but only if led. Otherwise it is just a seven. The Devil cannot be led on the first trick.
• 6 of trump, the Pope: beats all cards except the two above.
• 2 of trump, the Kaiser: beats all cards except the three above.
• 3 of trump, the Oberstecher: does not beat a King or the higher special trumps.
• 4 of trump, the Unterstecher: does not beat a King, Ober / Queen, or the higher special trumps.
• 5 of trump, the Farbenstecher: does not beat King, Ober / Queen, Unter / Jack, or the higher special trumps.

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