 The honour trumps | |
| Origin | Germany |
|---|---|
| Alternative names | Baden Tarock, Cego-Tarock, Caeco, Ceco, Zeco, Zego, Zigo |
| Type | Trick-taking |
| Players | 3-4 |
| Skills | Tactics, Strategy |
| Cards | 51 or 54 |
| Deck | Tarock |
| Rank (high→low) | Trumps:Stiess, 21-1 Black suits: K Q C J 10 9 8 7 Red suits: K Q C J 1 2 3 4 |
| Play | Anti-clockwise |
| Playing time | 30 min. |
| Chance | Moderate |
| Related games | |
| Tapp-Tarock • Königrufen • Zwanzigerrufen | |
Cego is aTarot card game for three or four players played mainly in and around theBlack Forest region of Germany. It was probably derived from the three-playerBadenese game ofDreierles when soldiers deployed from theIberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars and, based on a Spanish game they had encountered, introduced Cego's distinctive feature: a concealed hand, orblind (Portuguese:cego). Cego has experienced a revival in recent years, being seen as part of the culture of the Black Forest and surrounding region.[1] It has been called the national game of Baden and described as a "family classic".[2]
Sometimes calledBaden Tarock[3][a] and, historically, alsoZeco,[4]Zego,[5]Zigo,[6]Caeco,[7]Cäco[8] andCeco[9] (Latin:caecus, meaning blind), Cego is seen as part of the cultural heritage of theBlack Forest andBaden region.[10]
After the defeat ofFurther Austria, in 1805 much of its territory was allocated to theGrand Duchy of Baden. During the ensuingNapoleonic Wars, soldiers from Baden deployed with Napoleon's troops to Spain where, among other things, they learnt a new card game,Ombre. Recent research suggests that they took elements of this game back to Baden and modified theTarot game ofDreierles which was played withTarock playing cards that were then still in popular use in southern Germany.[11] The result was the game of Cego[12] which became sufficiently popular to develop into the national game of Baden andHohenzollern and these are the only regions of Germany where Tarot or Tarock cards are still used for playing games.[13]
The military background to this is that, in 1808, the Grand Duchy of Baden was ordered by Napoleon to raiseadditional troops in the shape of a 1,733 strong regiment which was deployed for the following six years to theIberian Peninsula underMajor General Heinrich von Porbeck, where it fought at theBattles of Talavera andVitoria as well as against Spanishguerrilleros. It suffered heavy casualties, only 500 soldiers returning to Baden by 1814.[14][b]
The first known mention of dedicated packs comes in 1852 when usedZego (Tarrok) cards are offered for sale "at a cheap price" by a restaurateur inKarlsruhe.[16] The earliest full description of Cego's rules appears in 1860 in a treatise onZigo which includes details of rules for 3 and 4 players as well as a song.[6] Even at that early stage there were twoSolo, twoGegensolo and severalZigocontracts, but no special games such asPiccolo orBettel. AsZego it appears in 1868 in a Rhenish-Swabian poem about the game calledDie Begischten.[5] In 1901, Cego was reported to be one of the most popularpenny ante games in the city ofPforzheim inBaden alongsideSixty-Six,Skat,Tapp and Tarrock (possiblyGrosstarock orDreierles).[17]
In 1907 there were both 42- and 54-card versions and it was described as "especially popular in Baden".[4][c] In 1909, Cego was described as "the most popular card game in Baden."[18] In 1914, theBaden Landtag (government) banned theGendarmerie from playing Cego "for disciplinary reasons".[19]
A sketchy description of apparently simpler rules forCego-Tarock, with just three contracts, is given by Robert Hülsemann in 1930.[20] However, the first special contracts appear in print in 1950:Pikkolo, where thedeclarer must take exactly 1trick, andBettel, in which the declarer must not take any tricks.[21] By 1960, however, the game had declined in popularity to such an extent that it was only found in "remote off-the-beaten-path localities" in Baden and Hohenzollern and played mainly by the elderly.[22]
In 1967, aRamsch contract appears; played when all pass, it is simplyRäuber under a different name. No tariffs are given.[23][24] TheCego bid ofHalf (Ein Halbe) only appears in online sources within the last decade and is not universal. TheUltimo contract, in which the sole aim is to take the last trick with the lowest trump and which is a constant feature of Tarot games since the earliest rules, does not appear in print until 2005 and is clearly a borrowing.[25][26]John McLeod records the contract asUlti in 1997 being played inBräunlingen.[13]
Cego's decline has been reversed in recent years as it has become seen as a traditional part of Baden and Black Forest culture. The game has grown organically and there are many regional variations but in recent years, the establishment of a Cego Black Forest Championship has led to official tournament rules being defined.[11][10] In addition, regular courses and local tournaments are held and it is a permanent feature of Alemannic Week, held annually in the Black Forest at the end of September.[27]
The noted German economistGerold Blümle has researched, lectured, taught and written on the subject of "Baden's national game of Cego"[28][29] and has done much to promote the game. Today, Cego is played mainly in theUpper Rhine valley,[30] theBlack Forest, the adjacentBaar lowland[27] and aroundLake Constance inSwitzerland andAustria. A project to revive and promote the game and run live and online courses is being supported by Black Forest actor and cabaret artist,Martin Wangler.[31][32] Cego courses are run in the autumn by the Dreisamtal and High Black Forest Colleges (Volkshochschule Dreisamtal andVolkshochschule Hochschwarzwald), regionalfolk high schools.[27][33]
Cego was also recorded as being played in Switzerland on the border with Baden in the late 20th century.[34]
Cego traditionally uses a French-suitedtarot pack of German design; two distinct patterns being still in use. In each case, the remaining cards (court andpip cards) are of thesuits: Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. In addition to theKing,Queen, andJack, there is also aKnight or Cavalier. Court cards cannot beat trumps, but are important because of their card value with respect to the total of points and their ability to win a suit trick. Pip cards have neither high card value nor are they very useful in winning tricks. Like the AustrianIndustrie und Glück deck, the red pip cards are numbered from one to four (one being the highest card) and the black pip cards are numbered from ten to seven, with no corner indices.
The most common type of Cego pack still in production is anAnimal Tarot deck that dates to the early 19th century. Although originally comprising 78 cards, it was shortened to 54cards to play Cego. The name "Adler Cego" (Eagle Cego) was coined when shortened packs for the game were manufactured by Lennhoff & Heuser in 1879–1882 and referred to a small eagle printed on the♦Q, the eagle being the symbol of the city ofFrankfurt where the cards were made. The firm was sold toV.A.S.S. in 1882, who have continued to produce it, without the eagle, until the present day. Packs for Cego had been produced since at least 1852, but it is not known whether they were of the Animal Tarot type or another pattern that preceded theEncyclopaedic Tarot also used for Cego.
The shortened Animal Tarot pack comprises 22trumps, 16face cards (images) and 16pip cards (empty cards). Trump 1 shows theKleiner Mann ("Little Man", based onHanswurst) but is typically called theGeiss ("nanny goat"), while trump 2 hasmythological hybrids. Trumps 3 to 21 depict real animals. The highest trump lacks the pink panels that the other trumps have on both ends of the cards depicting its rank in Arabic numerals. Instead, it shows agleeman and is called theStiess,G'stiess orGeiger (fiddler or violinist, see alsoThe Fool). Despite the nameAdler, the former eagle symbol does not appear on any of the cards today.[35][36] The last manufacturer of this deck isASS Altenburger.
The second type of pack in current use is one originally produced byF.X. Schmid, again dating to the 19th century. This is a variant of theBourgeois Tarot withgenre scenes of rural and town life based on woodcuts byLudwig Richter.[37] The same pack was produced byBielefelder Spielkarten from 1955 to 1974[37] and the pattern was also manufactured byA.S.S.[38] In the 1970s, this was the most common pattern used for playing Cego,[38] but more recently ASS have only released it through a couple of outlets.[d] It is sometimes called the Black Forest Cego pattern.
Another variant of Bourgeois Tarot, the FrenchTarot Nouveau deck, was also sometimes used, particularly inAlsace. When using a 78-card Tarot Nouveau deck, the Aces to sixes are removed from the blacks suits (Spades and Clubs) and the fives to tens are extracted from the red suits (Hearts and Diamonds). This then conforms to the 54-card pack needed for four-handed Cego.
In late 2023, a new pattern was released. Designed by local graphics design artist, Anita Schwörer ("Fox"), it follows the Adler Cego concept, but replaces the court figures with images of people in local costume and the domestic and wild animals of the Adler Cego pack with animals native to the Black Forest, such as grouse, deer, badger, wild boar and squirrel.[41]
| Cards - names and values | ||
| Rank | Regional names | Point value |
| King | König,Kenig[42] orHanor[43] | 5 points |
| Queen | Dame orGouvernante | 4 points |
| Cavalier, Knight or Rider | Reiter[44] orCavall[44] | 3 points |
| Jack | Bube orBueve[42] | 2 points |
| Fool orExcuse | Stiess,[43]Gstiess,[45]Giegemärti,[42] orGeiger (fiddler, violinist)[43] | 5 points |
| Trump 21 | Mund,Mun[45] orMond (moon);[45]Gack (rooster) orMonde (world) | 5 points |
| Trump 1 | Pagat,[45]Geiss (nanny goat),[43][e]Kleiner Mann (little man),[43]Kleiner Ma,[45]Pfeif (pipe),[43]Babber,Babberl,[45]Babberle,Bäbberle,[46][43]Babberli,[42]Bagätli[42]Batleur orBachquakli[47] | 5 points |
| Remainder | Trucks,[13][43]Drucks orTrocks[45] (trumps or tarocks);Leere (empties i.e. pip cards) | 1 point |
The three high value trumps are known as theTrull from the Frenchtous les trois (all three).[45] Theblind is variously known as theBlinde,Leger[45] orCego.
Cego has no standard or official rules. Every region where it is played has established its own traditional rules and they sometimes differ even within the same village. The following rules are for four players and largely follows those by Gerhard Baumann andGerold Blümle, of theBlack Forest Club atSchopfheim, supplemented by other sources where indicated.[43]
There is anauction in which playersbid forcontracts or 'games'; the winning bidder becomes thedeclarer and plays alone against the threedefenders. In normal games, the declarer aims to take morecard points than the others combined. In special games there are different aims and, in some, each plays for him- or herself. Deal, bidding and play are anti-clockwise.[13]
Thedealer deals the top 10 cards of thepack to the table, face down, as theblind, and then 11 cards to each player in turn and in a singlepacket.[43]
In Phase 1 players bid for one of the twoHand games:[f]Solo orUltimo. In these games, players use theirhand cards, not the blind.[43]
If all pass, players may call one of the following special games.[k][l][45] If two or more want to play a special,positional priority applies.[m] The options are:[43]
IfCounter-Solo was bid, it ends the bidding and aCego is played. If all pass in Phase 1 and no specials were bid, there is now an auction ofbidding with immediate hold. Forehand opens by calling "Cego" and subsequent players, in turn, either pass by saying "good" or "fort",[n] or name the next higher bid; nojump bidding being allowed. If a later playerovercalls a bid, the earlier bidder mayhold by saying "mine" or "my game"[o] otherwise must pass. If a bid is held, the later player mustraise to the next level or pass. As soon as either passes, the next player in turn may pass or name the next game. This continues until three have passed, whereupon the successful bidder becomes the declarer and plays the announced game. It may not be raised further. Possible bids are:[43]
In allCego games, theLegage and any discards count to the declarer at the end.
If forehand bidsCego and the rest pass, forehand may announce a (negative) game:[43]
The aim is to amass morecard points than the opposition. The declarer leads to the first trick. Players mustfollow suit if able, otherwise must trump. Only if unable to do either, may a player discard any card. There is no compulsion tohead the trick. A trick is won by the highest trump or, if no trumps are played, by the highest card of theled suit.
InTwo Pips andTwo Odds, the declarer also leads to the second trick, regardless of who wins the first.[p]
In the normal (Solo and Cego) games, players work out their card points using theTarock scoring system: the cards are scored in packets of three, for each packet the card points are totalled and 2 points deducted. In Solo games, the cards in the blind count to the declarer; in Cego games those laid aside in theLegage count to the declarer.[38]
Example: K C J = 5 + 3 + 2 - 2 = 8 card points andTruck 14,Truck 11 andTruck 1 (Geiss) = 1 + 1 + 5 - 2 = 5 points. Two blanks (ordinaryTrucks or pip cards) left over score 1 point; a single blank left over scores nothing. There are 70 card points in total and the declarer needs at least 36 to win; a tie on 35-35 is win for the defenders.
In social rounds, each contract has a game value in (euro) cents. This is multiplied by a factor based on the declarer's score in card points; in the table this is negative if the declarer lost.[q] Note that aSolo wins double and loses single; aCountersolo wins fourfold and loses double. The game values and factors are:[43]
| Scoring Table – normal games | ||||||||||||||||
| Game values | ||||||||||||||||
| Game | Cego | One-er | One Pip | Two Pips | Two Odds | Pagat | Solo won | Solo lost | Countersolo won | Countersolo lost | ||||||
| Value | 1¢ | 2¢ | 3¢ | 4¢ | 5¢ | 6¢ | 2¢ | 4¢ | 4¢ | 2¢ | ||||||
| Score factors | ||||||||||||||||
| Declarer's score | 0 | 1–5 | 6–10 | 11–15 | 16–20 | 21–25 | 26–30 | 31-35 | 36–40 | 41–45 | 46–50 | 51–55 | 56–60 | 61–65 | 66–69 | 70 |
| Factors | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
Example: if Anna wins aOne Pip game (game value 3¢) with 47 card points, she earns 3¢ x 3 = 9¢ from each defender i.e. a total of 27¢. If game points are used instead of money, Anna scores +27 and each defender -9 game points. If Anna loses the game with 27 card points, she pays each defender 3¢ x 2 = 6¢, paying out a total of 18¢. Insoft score, she would deduct -18 games points and each defender would score +6.
In the specials a fixed score or payment is made. These vary widely; the table illustrates payments by Grupp (1994),[48] Baumann & Blümle (2013),[43] theCegofreunde St. Georgen (2012),[49] Weißauer (2017),[45] Kastner & Folkvord (2005)[3] and cego-online (2011).[11]
| Game values – special games (in cents, except where stated) | |||||||
| Game | Grupp | B&B | CSG | Weißauer | K&F | c-online | Remarks |
| Piccolo | 30 pf | 10 or 15 | 15 | 70 | 40 | 40 | Take one trick. |
| Bettel | 20 pf | 15 or 10 | 20 | 80 | 50 | 30 | Take no tricks. |
| Ultimo | – | 20 | 20 | 80 | 80 | 80 | Take all tricks. |
| Robber (Räuber) | 10 pf | 5 | 10 | 40 | 30 | 40 | Avoid most points. Doubled if anyone takes 0 tricks. If tied, pay jointly.[49] |
| Thresher (Drescher) | – | – | 10 | 80 | – | – | Avoid taking last trick. Doubled if declarer loses. |
The blind is ignored in special games. Note that in aRobber, card points are calculated as in normal games in order to determine the loser; in the other special games, card points are not reckoned because there is a specific objective to achieve or avoid.
For transgressions, such as the declarer forgetting to discard and has one card too many at the end, the game is lost. By pre-agreement, such an infraction may incur an eightfold loss of the game.[43]
There are many local and regional variations in the rules. The following is a selection:
Schinden is not cheating, but a legal way of conduct bearing the risk of being caught.[citation needed]
Sometimes two versions ofRobber are played:[45]
In some parts of theBlack Forest, a simplified card point scoring system is used which involves counting the cards in pairs. If there are no counters (court cards orTrull cards) in a pair it scores 1 point, if one card is a counter it scores the full amount and if both cards are counters, 1 point is deducted. This gives 80 points in the pack and 40 are needed for a win.[43][49][45]
The three player game has the following key differences:[43]
There are two variants of two-handed Cego. The first isOfficers' Cego (Offiziers-Cego). In the Unadingen version, each player receives 27 cards. In a manner reminiscent ofOfficers' Skat orOfficers' Schafkopf, the non-dealer is given 5 cards face down on the table, followed by 5 likewise to the dealer. This is repeated before the final 14 cards are dealt, 7 to each player to form their hand cards. Any faced Trocks are picked up and added to the hand cards. Non-dealer leads to the first trick and suit must be followed if possible. If unable to follow, a player must trump with a Trock. Lacking a card of the led suit or a Trock, the player must discard any available card (i.e. one from the hand or face up on the table). The trick winner leads to the next trick. If an upcard is played from the table, the downcard beneath it is turned over at the end of the trick, any Trocks being added to the hand cards. After all cards are played, the score is reckoned using the 78-point system and the player with 40 or more wins.[51]
A quite different version,Dorset Cego, was devised in England in 2022 in order to practise and replicate the normal three-player game. Three cards are removed from the pack and the cards dealt as in Three-hand Cego, the third player being represented by adummy hand. Beginning with non-dealer, players bid as normal for Solo or Ultimo in Phase 1. If neither wants to play a Solo, non-dealer must bid Cego and either may overcall the other until one passes, jump bidding being allowed. If the Cego goes unchallenged, non-dealer may switch to a Robber or Thresher. After the auction is decided, the defender turns the dummy face up and plays from both hands. Scoring is as per the three-hand version.[52]
One tradition in the High Black Forest is that a player who plays a Cego fails to take a single trick has to go "up the mountain". The player buys a round ofschnaps and the others stand and sing the opening line of the Lake Constance Song (Bodenseelied) substituting the player's name e.g. "Auf dem Berg so hoch da droben, da steht der Karl" ("On the mountaintop so high above, there stands Karl").[53]
| Type I /II (Fool as an excuse) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Type III (Fool as highest trump) | ||
| Related games |
| |
| Suits | ||
| Packs(French suits) | ||
| Packs(Latin suits) | ||
| Related articles | ||
