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Hub AI
Scherwenzel AI simulator
(@Scherwenzel_simulator)
Hub AI
Scherwenzel AI simulator
(@Scherwenzel_simulator)
Scherwenzel
Scherwenzel or Scharwenzel is a 16th-century, German, gambling game played with cards and named after the Unters or Jacks that had special privileges. It appears to have been an elaboration of Grobhäusern or Färbeln played in Germany, Poland, Silesia and Bohemia, but especially in Bavaria in which the Unters were variously known as Scharwenzels, Scherwenzels, Scherers or Wenzels. They, and to some extent also the Nines, functioned as wildcards. According to Adelung, Grobhäusern, on which it was based, was "far simpler than Scherwenzeln".
This game should not be confused with the north German partnership game of Scharwenzel, in which the Jacks have no special role, but the top trumps, as in Hombre and Solo are the black Queens and trump 7.
The word Wenzel was a short form in German of the male first name Wenzeslaus which is Wenceslas or Wenceslaus in English. For reasons that are not entirely clear a Scherwenzel was originally a pejorative name for an obsequious servant or lackey.
A game called Scherlenzen is mentioned as early as the 1563 in a list of games played by disreputable "drunkards" and "players" who "never read the Bible from one day to the next." Around 1600 a poem was published entitled Teutsch- und Frantzösisch Scharwentzel Spiel ("The French and German Game of Scharwentzel") that describes the game as one of bluffing and cheating in which Wenzels and Sevens are important cards and a flush (Fluß) plays a key role. During the 17th and 18th centuries, there are further references to the game, for example, in a 1711 French-German dictionary, it is recorded that a tricon is a triplet in the game of Scherwenzel.
Scherwenzel is recorded as early as 1563 as scherlentzen in a list of card games by Marstaller.
As the name of a card, probably an Unter, the German-suited equivalent of a Jack, Scherwenzel is mentioned in a 1700 play by Christian Weise, thus implying it was in common usage by then. Another early record which may hint at the eponymous game occurs in a 1722 natural history book by Johann Friedrich Henkel where he likens 3 Principiis to "the two Scherwenzels (pity there aren't three) which can be turned into any suit in the pack". Another reference to the Scherwenzels as wildcards, able to be converted into any card in the pack, occurs in a 1726 book on medicine.
Grobhäusern and Trischak are described as "similar", but nevertheless "different" from Scherwenzel by Adelung in 1780. In the late 18th century, Grobhäusern was played in rural Upper Saxony, while Scherwenzel was played in rural areas of Germany, Poland, Silesia and Bohemia.
The game of Scherwenzel was popular enough in the early 18th century that it was used, at least in Bavaria, pars pro toto to refer to any game at cards.
Scherwenzel
Scherwenzel or Scharwenzel is a 16th-century, German, gambling game played with cards and named after the Unters or Jacks that had special privileges. It appears to have been an elaboration of Grobhäusern or Färbeln played in Germany, Poland, Silesia and Bohemia, but especially in Bavaria in which the Unters were variously known as Scharwenzels, Scherwenzels, Scherers or Wenzels. They, and to some extent also the Nines, functioned as wildcards. According to Adelung, Grobhäusern, on which it was based, was "far simpler than Scherwenzeln".
This game should not be confused with the north German partnership game of Scharwenzel, in which the Jacks have no special role, but the top trumps, as in Hombre and Solo are the black Queens and trump 7.
The word Wenzel was a short form in German of the male first name Wenzeslaus which is Wenceslas or Wenceslaus in English. For reasons that are not entirely clear a Scherwenzel was originally a pejorative name for an obsequious servant or lackey.
A game called Scherlenzen is mentioned as early as the 1563 in a list of games played by disreputable "drunkards" and "players" who "never read the Bible from one day to the next." Around 1600 a poem was published entitled Teutsch- und Frantzösisch Scharwentzel Spiel ("The French and German Game of Scharwentzel") that describes the game as one of bluffing and cheating in which Wenzels and Sevens are important cards and a flush (Fluß) plays a key role. During the 17th and 18th centuries, there are further references to the game, for example, in a 1711 French-German dictionary, it is recorded that a tricon is a triplet in the game of Scherwenzel.
Scherwenzel is recorded as early as 1563 as scherlentzen in a list of card games by Marstaller.
As the name of a card, probably an Unter, the German-suited equivalent of a Jack, Scherwenzel is mentioned in a 1700 play by Christian Weise, thus implying it was in common usage by then. Another early record which may hint at the eponymous game occurs in a 1722 natural history book by Johann Friedrich Henkel where he likens 3 Principiis to "the two Scherwenzels (pity there aren't three) which can be turned into any suit in the pack". Another reference to the Scherwenzels as wildcards, able to be converted into any card in the pack, occurs in a 1726 book on medicine.
Grobhäusern and Trischak are described as "similar", but nevertheless "different" from Scherwenzel by Adelung in 1780. In the late 18th century, Grobhäusern was played in rural Upper Saxony, while Scherwenzel was played in rural areas of Germany, Poland, Silesia and Bohemia.
The game of Scherwenzel was popular enough in the early 18th century that it was used, at least in Bavaria, pars pro toto to refer to any game at cards.