http://www.pagat.com/couillon/couillon.html
... has formed a group of games, which are similar to that which is described by Daniel Martin.
Couillon is a popular Belgian card game. Versions of it are also played in the southern Dutch province of Limburg and on the border of Luxembourg and Germany. The name "couillon" almost certainly derives from the Walloon word coyon (=testicle), which refers to the circles or balls that were traditionally used as part of the method of keeping score. However, in Flanders and Luxembourg, the name has been modified to the similar sounding Kwajongen and Kujong respectively. In the Netherlands it is known as Troeven (trumps), which makes it likely that it is related to the old game Trümpfspiel recorded in Strasbourg in 1637, which had the same card values.
The page links to
* Couillon (Basic game)
* Couillon Forcé
* Couillon with the Mit' - Deal - Play - Scoring - Tournament Rules - Dame de Make - Six Players - Eight Players - Other Variants
* Kwajongen
* Kujong
* Troeven - Three Players - Two Players
There's a Durch game server, where one can play Troeven.
http://www.toepenplus.eu/CGame302/Troef.php
Dutch language.
There's a description of
http://www.jeux-de-cartes.com/jeux-de-cartes/couillon/
Historique
Le couillon est un jeu de cartes très facile. Relativement récent par rapport aux autres jeux de cartes (apparu vers la fin du XIXe siècle), le couillon est pratiqué un peu partout en Europe. Mais c’est surtout la Belgique, tant en Flandre qu’en Wallonie, qui connaît son plus grand lot d’adeptes.
Le couillon se joue à quatre. Sa convivialité et son attrait reposent sur un fait très ludique : quand le déclarant ne réussit pas son contrat et entraîne son coéquipier dans le fond ! D’où le nom évocateur du jeu : couillon !
... exists since end of 19th century.
All these games have in common, that ...
Ace = 4
King = 3
Queen = 2
Jack = 1
... as in the game of Strassburg 1637.
The region seem to be mostly Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, also Western border of Germany, often connected to Alsace in playing card matters, possibly cause of older Burgundian connections.
The special rule of Strassburg 1637, that ...
ace of hearts, king of diamonds,
queen of spades, jack of clubs have some special function
... isn't in these games, beside something special about the
queen of spades.
This appears in "Couillon with the Mit" in a very special form - a player, who has the queen of spades, can declare "Mit" at the begin of the game and then the queen of spades becomes 2nd highest trump. However, the risk exist, that the opposite team can now declare "Kontra" and this increases the game value and possibly the loss of the party. This rule is - occasionally - used also in other games of this family, sometimes slightly modified.
Changed trump row, if "Mit" is declared:
heartA-spadeQ-heartK-heartQ-heartJ-heart10-heart9
**********
I see another relationship between these games and the game, which has my own special favor, "Doppelkopf".
These games are mostly played with 4x6=24 cards (Ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9), Doppelkopf is played with 2x24 cards (or 2x20; without 9s).
Doppelkopf is played usually with 4 players, these games also.
The final counting of Doppelkopf is similar (few points only) to that of these games (also few points only). Kontra and Re are handled in a similar way (though in Doppelkopf not connected to the Queen of Spades).
In a sidepath variant of Doppelkopf, called "Schwarze Sau", the Queen of Spades gets a special function. The player, who gets the second Queen of Spades (it appears as all other cards twice) in the game has to declare a Solo after this trick and plays alone against the 3 others and has only limited chances to win the game.
Armut
Die folgenden Varianten werden gespielt, wenn der von der Armut betroffene Spieler nicht mitgenommen wird.
Variante 1 (Schwarze Sau)
Hier wird unterstellt, dass mindestens ein Spieler ein gutes Blatt besitzen muss, da der Spieler mit der Armut ja kaum Trümpfe besitzt. Schwarze Sau soll diesen Spieler „bestrafen“. Es ist jedoch ohne weiteres möglich, eine Schwarze Sau zu gewinnen.
Ablauf:
Jeder spielt für sich alleine, bis die zweite Pik-Dame (die Schwarze Sau) fällt.
Der Spieler, der den Stich mit der zweiten Pik-Dame bekommt, spielt ab diesem Zeitpunkt ein Solo, das er sofort bestimmen muss.
Abgerechnet wird wie bei einem normalen Solo, wobei die verbliebenen drei Spieler ihre Stiche natürlich zusammenlegen.
Strategien:
Entweder versuchen die Spieler die Pik-Dame loszuwerden, wenn sie kein Solo spielen wollen oder können.
Oder ein, bisweilen auch zwei Spieler, versuchen die Pik-Dame zu bekommen, um dann mit ihren verbliebenen Karten – und bereits vorhandenen Stichen – ein Solo zu gewinnen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelkopf-Sonderregeln
I'm puzzled, if this Doppelkopf variant had developed from the Dutch playing custom with the MIT.