Differenzler Jass is a popular Swiss Jass game in which the players must predict in advance how many points they will take in tricks. You get penalty points according to the difference between the number of points you take in the play and your predicted total. If you get it exactly right you can deduct 10 points from your penalty point total (except that there is no bonus for predicting and making zero). There is no score for Stock or Weis. Match (all the tricks) counts as 157 points taken. Research Differenzler Jass
Jass is a collection of Swiss card games. Many of the most popular card games in Switzerland, especially in the German speaking cantons, belong to the Jass group, and are played with characteristic Swiss cards, which have come to be known as Jass cards. All Jass games are played counter- clockwise. The cards are played in tricks. As usual each trick is won by the highest trump in it, or if no trump is played, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of each trick leads to the next. In many games the player to the right of the dealer leads to the first trick, but in some games with bidding the declarer leads first. Research Jass
Kaiserspiel is a card game and direct descendant of Karnoffel, one of the oldest card games known. Karnoffel was referred to as early as 1426 and was the subject of a many sermons and satirical writings in the following centuries. It may appear that most of its dreadfulness lies in the level of anarchy of the play - you can play any card you like to each trick, and can talk as much as you like about what cards you have and what you want your partner to do. In the 15th century what was apparently more shocking was the anarchic card order, taken as symbolising a disruption of the status quo, with the king being beaten by low cards, the Pope (6) beaten by the Under-knave, and special privileges given to the Devil (7).
The modern game of Kaiserspiel (often known as Kaiserjass, though it is not really has nothing to do with Jassgames) is played in a small area around Stans and in the Engelberg valley, in Canton Nidwalden, south of Luzern in Switzerland. Of the surviving members of the Karnoffel family, this is the closest to the original game. The cards used are similar to the standard Swiss Jasspack, but the suits contain 3, 4, and 5 and not 8 or 9 (all the 8's and 9's should be removed from the pack before playing). Research Kaiserspiel
Mittlere Jass is an unusual Swiss Jass game for three players. It is a point trick game, with the basic object of each hand being to avoid ending up with the middle score. Mittlere is played with a 36-card jasspack. There are four suits: acorns, shields, flowers, and bells. In each suit, there are nine cards: ace (or sow), king, ober, under, banner, 9, 8, 7, 6. If you cannot obtain such a pack, you can play it with a bridge or pokerpack, using queens for obers, jacks for unders, 10s for banners, and discarding cards smaller than 6s. Research Mittlere Jass
 
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert