The Marriage group is a large family of

point-trick A trick-taking game is a card game, card- or tile-based game in which play of a ''Hand (card games), hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of ...

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

s in which the 'marriage' of two cards, usually a king and queen, plays an important role and attracts a bonus. They are believed to be descended from a German game, Mariagenspiel or Mariage, which dates back to at least 1715. Well-known games in this group include

bezique Bezique () or bésigue () is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players, which was imported to Britain and is still played today. The game is derived from piquet,''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Philolo ...

and the national card games of Austria (

Schnapsen Schnapsen, Schnapser or Schnapsa is a trick-taking card game of the bézique (ace–ten) family that is very popular in Bavaria and in the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and has become the national card game of Austria and Hung ...

), Czechia (

Mariáš Mariáš or Mariasch a three-player, solo trick-taking game of the king–queen family of ace–ten games, but with a simplified scoring system. It is one of the most popular card games in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but is also played in Ba ...

), Hungary (

ulti Ulti, or Ultimó, is Hungary's national trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for three players. It is virtually unknown outside its home borders. History Its name derives from the winning of the last trick with the lowest trump, a feature de ...

), France (

belote Belote () is a 32-card, trick-taking, ace–ten game played primarily in France and certain European countries, namely Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia (country), Georgia (mainly Guria), Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Mac ...

), Switzerland (

Jass Jass ()David Parlett ''The Oxford guide to card games'', pg. 292-293, David Parlett (1990) is a family of trick taking, ace–ten card games and, in its key forms, a distinctive branch of the marriage family. It is popular in its native Switz ...

) and the Netherlands (

klaverjas Klaverjas () or Klaverjassen () is a Dutch four-player trick-taking card game that uses a Piquet pack of 32 playing cards. It is closely related to the game of Klaberjass (also known as Bela) and is one of the most popular card games in the Net ...

Description

Mariagenspiel (German for '' game'', using the original

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

word for marriage rather than the German word, ''Heiraten'') is the earliest and most typical representative of the group. It was first described in a 1715 ladies' encyclopedia printed in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. The game's entry said that the game was popular among ladies, and the entry for ''playing card'' listed ' first among nine card games played with the German pack. Despite the marriage theme, the Queen was replaced by the equivalent male character in the German cards. Apart from the standard

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Ober Ober may refer to: * Ober (playing card), court card in the German and Swiss styles of playing cards * Ober, Indiana, an unincorporated community in Washington Township, Starke County * Oberek (also ''ober''), a lively Polish dance in triple metre ...

jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, incl ...

/ Unter translation, the game was described precisely as detailed at Mariage. Games in this family are typically played by 2–4 players using a pack of 20–40 cards, with aces and tens scoring 11 and 10 points in tricks, respectively, and marriages scoring 40 points in trumps and 20 points in a plain suit.. An elaborated form of Mariagenspiel known under various names including

Klaberjass Klaberjass () or Bela is a trick-taking ace–ten card game that is most popular in Germans, German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack. As in other point-trick games of ...

and Bela is especially popular among

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

communities and spread worldwide. Its offshoots form the Jass group, or jack–nine card games, characterized by the fact that the jack and nine of the trump suit are the highest trumps. According to

David Parlett David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. Life David Sidney Parlett was bo ...

, the modern German/Austrian variant of Mariagenspiel, sixty-six, which remains close to the original, is "one of the best two-handers ever devised". The "marriage" theme seems to have originated in France in the context of unrelated card games. Two-handed

and three-handed

and

Ulti Ulti, or Ultimó, is Hungary's national trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for three players. It is virtually unknown outside its home borders. History Its name derives from the winning of the last trick with the lowest trump, a feature de ...

are the most popular card games in the area of the former

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

....

, first documented in the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

as a Jewish game, developed into Dutch

Klaverjas Klaverjas () or Klaverjassen () is a Dutch four-player trick-taking card game that uses a Piquet pack of 32 playing cards. It is closely related to the game of Klaberjass (also known as Bela) and is one of the most popular card games in the Net ...

, Swiss

and French

Belote Belote () is a 32-card, trick-taking, ace–ten game played primarily in France and certain European countries, namely Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia (country), Georgia (mainly Guria), Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Mac ...

Bezique Bezique () or bésigue () is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players, which was imported to Britain and is still played today. The game is derived from piquet,''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Philolo ...

and its variants,

Binokel Binokel is a card game for two to eight players that originated in Switzerland as Binocle, but spread to the German state of Württemberg, where it is typically played with a Württemberg pattern pack. It is still popular in Württemberg, where i ...

and

Pinochle Pinochle (), also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking ace–ten card game, typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by ...

, are further examples of popular games in the King–Queen or marriage family. The Marriage group is further subdivided into three: * King–queen games are the largest group in which the marriage of a king and queen (or pairing of a king and Ober) attract a bonus * Queen–jack games in which there is a special bonus for a certain combinations of queen and jack (or Ober and Unter) * Jack–nine games, in which the trump jack and nine are the top trumps.

Jack–nine games

In this subfamily, the jack ("Jass") and nine (the "manille", meaning second-higher trump) of the trump suit are the highest trumps. Games in this family are typically played by four players with the 32 French-suited cards of a piquet pack. The family contains the closely related French (

, belote contrée) and Dutch (

) national card games. The Swiss national card game (

) is also a close relative but features a number of peculiarities, has spawned numerous variants, and is played with 36 cards. The popular South Asian card games twenty-eight and twenty-nine are derivatives of this family and share many of its characteristics. The earliest known games of this family were two-handed, such as

(also known as Bela) which is still played worldwide

References

{{reflist.

Description

Jack–nine games

See also

References