Dreeg

Dreeg is a special Franconian form of Sixty-Six, representing the most common variant of that trick-taking family played in the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany, typically by three or, more usually, four players aged twelve and up, with a single match lasting roughly forty minutes. It is played as a compendium game, meaning a match is made up of four different sub-games played in sequence and then repeated in reverse order, for a total of eight games across a complete match, giving players a varied sequence of related but distinct challenges rather than one repeated format. The game uses a 24-card Franconian-pattern German-suited deck spanning the Nine, Unter, Ober, King, Ten, and Ace across the four suits of Acorns, Leaves, Hearts, and Bells. Dreeg is also known by the alternative names Nuremberg Dreck, Nurnberger Dreck, and Nambercher Dreeg, reflecting its strong regional identity within Franconia. The game's rules were first published by Weickmann in 1981, with more recent documentation appearing in a 2012 account by Bamberger, showing continued scholarly and enthusiast interest in preserving the game's formal ruleset. Dreeg remains genuinely popular in Franconia today, with organized tournaments held in the towns of Neustadt an der Aisch and Simonshofen near Lauf an der Pegnitz, evidence of an active regional playing community rather than a purely historical curiosity.