 German pack | |
| Origin | possiblyAustria |
|---|---|
| Alternative names | Einunddreißig, Knack, Schnauz, Wutz, Bull, Hosen runter, Hosn obe, Hosn obi, Hosn owi, Hose ab, Hosenabe |
| Type | Shedding card game |
| Players | 2 to 9 |
| Cards | 3 per player |
| Deck | 32-cardFrench orGerman. Larger or multiple decks for 6+ players. |
| Play | Clockwise (Anti for Switzerland) |
| Playing time | 5 minutes |
Schwimmen orEinunddreißig is a socialcard game for two to nine players, played with a 32-cardPiquet pack, that is popular inAustria andGermany. Similar games in the United States and Great Britain go under the names ofThirty-One, Blitz and Scat, but are played with a 52-card pack. Schwimmen is also played intournament form.
Schwimmen is German for "swimming" which refers to the last chance that a player gets before they drop out. Although it is also calledEinunddreißig,[a] this should not be confused with a predecessor ofSiebzehn und Vier,[b] also calledEinunddreißig. As well as Schwimmen and Einunddreißig the game is also known in Germany asKnack,Schnauz,Wutz andBull. In Austria it is calledHosen runter,Hosn obe,Hosn obi,Hosn owi andHose ab (Vorarlberg). In Switzerland it isHosenabe.
According to Kastner, the game is not well recorded in the literature, but appears to go back to a French ancestor,Commerce, that was first mentioned in 1718 in theAcademie des Jeux.[1]
The game was included in thelist of games prohibited in Austria-Hungary by the Ministry of Justice under the namesTrente-un andFeuer – but whilst the former name can also refer to the aforementionedSiebzehn und vier ancestor, the nameFeuer clearly refers to this game, because in the most common variation a hand of three Aces (Feuer) has special significance (see below).
Schwimmen is played in clockwise order with a pack of 32French,Double German orGerman playing cards (Skat pack). A second pack may be used if there are more than 6 players. When on lead, each player aims to form a certain combination of hand cards by exchanging. The aim of the game is to avoid having the combination with the lowest point value.
There are two ways in which combinations can be formed. The first is where a player either collects cards of the samesuit and adds their point values (c.f. the game ofEinundvierzig), whereby:
The highest possible number of points is thus thirty-one (Einunddreißig): a hand consisting of an Ace and 2 courts or an Ace, a court and a Ten of the same suit.
The second option is for a player to collect cards of the same rank, e.g. three 7s, three Queens, etc. (obviously of different suits). This combination always scores 30 ½ points.
In an 'open game' (offenes Spiel) the dealer deals three cards, face down and individually, to each other player and then deals to self 2 packets of three cards. The dealer looks at the cards from one packet and decides whether or not to play with them. If the dealer is happy to play with the cards from this first packet, lay the second packet must be laid face up in the middle of the table. If the dealer does not want to play with the first packet, these three cards are laid face up in the middle of the table and the dealer must play with the cards in the second packet. The remaining cards are put to one side.
Eldest hand, the player left of the dealer, begins. Players may either swap one card or all three of their hand cards with the cards in the middle – but not two cards. A player doesn't want to exchange may either say "I'll shove" ("Ich schiebe") or close the game by 'knocking', usually by knocking on the table. In some areas players may say "I'm closing" ("Ich mache zu.") instead of knocking.
A deal may be ended in two ways:
Players only score for pairs or prials of the same suit or for 3 of a kind.
| Cards | Score |
|---|---|
   | 10 + 10 = 20 points (only the Queen and Ten belong to the same suit) |
   | 11 + 10 + 9 = 30 points |
   | 11 + 10 + 10 = 31 points |
   | Three of a kind always scores 30½ points (if two have 30½, the higher ranking hand wins) |
If several deals are played, each player is symbolically given three 'lives'. These may be indicated by counters such as chips, matches or coins. Players have to give up a 'life' each time they lose, by placing one of the counters in the middle of the table.
A player who has lost all three lives may continue to play but is now 'swimming' (schwimmt) or is a 'cow rider' (Kuhreiter), hence the name of the game. A player who loses again 'goes under' (geht er unter) and drops out. So 'swimming' is effectively a fourth life and the player's last chance to avoid dropping out.
In this way, there is a form of tournament in which the individual players drop out one by one and eventually only one player is left, the overall winner. If the game is played for stakes, the winner wins the stakes of the losers (or their lives).
Schwimmen or Einunddreißig are played in many variations which differ in detail from the basic rules above. The rules given here are in no wise binding like the rules ofchess, for example – before the start of a session, players should ascertain which rules are being used. The most important variations relate to:
