Scharwenzel

Scharwenzel is a traditional plain-trick card game of the Schafkopf family, played by teams of two to four players with a deck of thirty-two or thirty-six French-suited cards depending on the number at the table. Two queens, of clubs and of spades, serve as permanent top trumps, joined by a third queen when hearts or diamonds is named as the trump suit, and play proceeds clockwise with the winner of each trick leading the next. Teams bid their longest suit before play and score by reaching at least twenty-four points across the tricks they take in a deal. Though it may have reached northern Germany from Denmark and has roots going back three centuries, the game survives today almost exclusively on the Baltic island of Fehmarn, where local scoring customs vary from village to village and an annual November tournament draws two dozen or more competing teams.