Neunkart
Neunkart ("Nine Cards") or Fett und Mager ("Fat and Lean") was a traditional North German card game played with 36 French-suited cards.
History and description[edit]
The game is mentioned as early as 1800 by Johann Friedrich Schütze as Neegenkaart and Fett un Mager in his Holstein dictionary, where it is described as a favourite game of Holstein farmers and townsfolk. Players were dealt 9 cards each and there was a trump suit.[a] The first, "higher paid" tricks were the "fat ones" and the last tricks, paid at half the value, were the "lean ones."[1][b]
The game was also spelt Negenkaart.[2] Around 1865 it is one of the many card games played by Eiderstedt farmers at Christmas alongside, Brausbart, Dreikart, Fünfkart, Fips, Karnüffel, Scherwenzel, Hahnrei and others.[3] But by around 1890, it was one of only two card games still being played by farmers in the Eiderstedt region alongside Dreekort.[4]
As Nikort or Fedt og Magert it was played in Denmark in the 19th century alongside numerous other games.[5]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ Presumably played by four players with a (then) standard 36-card, French-suited pack, typical of the region.
- ^ If stakes were anted by all players each time, there were probably three fat tricks and six lean ones. Players anted 3 stakes each, making 12 in total. The first three tricks paid 2 each and the last six tricks 1 stake each, thus emptying the pot. If only the dealer anted, the stake had to be quite large e.g. with 13 stakes, the first four tricks would be worth 2 each and the last five 1 each.
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
- _. (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.
- Feilberg, Henning Frederik (1864). Fra Heden Hadersley.
- Schütze , Johann Friedrich (1800). Holsteinisches Idiotikon. Part 1. Hamburg: Heinrich Ludgwig Villaume.
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