Kaiserspiel, also called Kaisern or Cheisärä, is a card game, usually for 4 or 6 players, that is played in parts of Switzerland using a variant of the standard Swiss playing cards with 40 or 48 cards. It is a descendant of Karnöffel, one of the oldest card games known.[1] It is sometimes misleadingly called Kaiserjass, although it has nothing to do with the Jass family of games that are popular in Switzerland.

Kaiserspiel
The card deck for Kaiserspiel
OriginSwitzerland
TypeTrick-taking
Players2, 4, 6
Cards40 or 48
DeckSwiss deck (Kaiserspiel variant)
PlayAnticlockwise
Related games
Karnöffel • Knüffeln • Watten
One chosen suit

Cards

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The Kaiserspiel pack comprises four suits: Shields, Flowers, Bells and Acorns each of ten cards ranked as follows: King, Ober, Unter, Banner, (9), (8), 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (Deuce). The four Banners are normally part of the trump suit and are known as Kaisers, hence the name of the game. In the 40-card variants, the 8s and 9s are removed. There are no Aces.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Kaiserspiel at www.pagat.com. Retrieved 4 Jun 2018.
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  • Matthew Macfadyen and Kirsty Healey, rev. John McLeod. Kaiserspiel at www.pagat.com. Retrieved 4 Jun 2018.