The Bavarian

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card g ...

Schafkopf Schafkopf (), also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German trick-taking card game of the Ace-Ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. It is still very popular in Bavaria, where it ...

has such a plethora of special words, terms and phrases that it is described as a Schafkopf language (german: Schafkopf-Sprache) which is often unintelligible to outsiders. The language ranges from associative terms to coarse language. Grumbling, bleating and schimpfing are part of the game of Schafkopf and are, so to speak, the "salt in the soup". Here are examples of some of the more common words, names and phrases.Schafkopfweisheiten der ''Schafkopfschule e. V.''
/ref> Note: the expressions listed here are mainly those used in the Old Bavarian dialect, although the most common terms are used throughout

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

and thus also found in the Franconian, Swabian and Hessian (Aschaffenburg, Odenwald) dialects. Regional terms are designated as such. Note that some idioms cannot be precisely translated or may lose their poetry or impact in English. Where no translation is offered, the original is used.

Card names

Nicknames given to the Obers and Unters

Nicknames for the Aces / Sows

Other card nicknames

Contracts

Various words and phrases are used to describe or announce the different Schafkopf contracts:

Special terms

Some "official" terms

Various

References

Literature

* * {{cite book , last=Peschel , first=Wolfgang , year=1990 , title=Bayerisch Schaffkopfen , edition=2nd , location=Munich , publisher=Stöppel Card game terminology Schafkopf group Culture of Altbayern Bavarian language Glossaries of card games Wikipedia glossaries using tables