| Danish and Estonian version ofBrusbart | |
 The Brus | |
| Origin | NorthGermany |
|---|---|
| Type | Plain-trick game |
| Family | Karnöffel group |
| Players | 4 |
| Cards | 36 |
| Deck | French pack |
| Rank (high→low) | J♣K♥8♠ 9s As Js 6s Windmills: Ks Qs 8s 10s |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Related games | |
| Bräus • Brús • Bruus • Drużbart • Voormsi | |
| Features 'chancing' and 'smacking'; double and triple tricks; K♣ (Stodderkongen) with special powers. | |
Brus is a four-hand card game of German descent that was once played inDenmark andEstonia. The game is descended from the oldest known card game in Europe,Karnöffel, a fact testified by its unusual card ranking and lack of a uniform trump suit.
Brus is designed for four players and is played with 36 cards of aFrench pack, each of the foursuits comprising the cards 6-10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace.
Brus is described as an old Jutlandish game, but its rules and terminology suggest that it is descended from the centuries-old German game ofBrusbart, now known asBruus, which was once the national game of Hamburg and which spread across most of northern Europe spawning a family of games such as Russian Bruzbart, PolishDrużbart, SwedishBräus, GreenlandicVoormsi and others. Brusbart in turn is descended fromKarnöffel, the oldest card game in Europe with a continuous tradition of play down to the present day, a fact testified to by "the wildly disturbed ranking order in thechosen suit and particularly by the special role of the chosen Seven".[1][2][a]
Swedish-speaking peoples used to live on theEstonian islands until 1944 and, in 1855, were recorded by Russwurm as playing Brus. Although the description of the rules is scanty, the matadors are those typical of the Brus family of games:K♥,8♠ andJ♣. The Sevens are calledfriare and the aim is to win five tricks, presumably from a total of nine.[3]
Much more detail is known of the Danish variant of Brus which was part ofWest Jutland's rural culture in the first half of the 19th century.[4] For example, it is described as one of two games[b] played around Christmas time by the older folk in Skanderup in the Danishcounty of Ribe. It was not played for money; instead the score was chalked up, presumably on a slate or the table. The top trumps were theSpidt (Jack of Clubs),Brus (King of Hearts) andGal Hund (Eight of Spades). The men would play cards all evening while drinking schnapps and beer and reminiscing about theNapoleonic Wars.[5]
The rules of the Danish game are described in various sources from 1853 to 1973. It is a 36-card, 4-player game, with the same matadors as those in the Estonian game. Players received 3 hand cards and played for the best of nine tricks.[3]
There is evidence that the game is still be being taught and played in Denmark.[6][c] Unsurprisingly, its mechanics are very similar to its German Schleswig cousin, Bruus, played south of the border in German west Jutland.
| Card ranking inBrus | |||
| Matadors | |||
| J♣K♥8♠ | |||
| Trick cards | |||
| 9♣9♠9♥9♦A♣A♠A♥A♦J♠J♥J♦6♣6♠6♥6♦ | |||
| Sevens - unbeatable when led except byK♣ | |||
| 7♣7♠7♥7♦ | |||
| Windmills (worthless cards) | |||
| K♣K♠K♦Q♣Q♠Q♥Q♦10♣10♠10♥10♦8♣8♥8♦ | |||
The following rules for Danish Brus are based on Smith's reconstruction of three Danish texts dating to 1853, 1920 and 1952.[3]
A 36-card, Danish-pattern pack is used. Cards rank as follows:[3]
The top three cards -Spids,Brus andGalhund - are thematadors. The Nines, Aces, Jacks and Sixes are called 'trick cards' (stikkort) and, at each rank, beat each other in suit order:♣♠♥ and♦. The Sevens have a special role: they are unbeatable when led to a trick, except by a Seven of a higher suit or by theK♣ – theStodderkonge[d] or Beggar King – otherwise the Sevens are worthless and cannot beat anything.[3] If the Beggar King is played, it can only be beaten by theK♠, nicknamedKristian Andersen. Apart from these circumstances, neither King had any value. This was also true of the remaining cards: the other Kings, the Queens, Tens and Eights (except theGalhund). The worthless cards are 'windmills' and can never win a trick unless all four cards are windmills, in which case the led card wins.[3]
Four players form two teams of two for the session with partners sitting opposite one another. Three may also play, each playing alone.[3]
Playerscut for thedeal, lowest card deals first. Three cards are dealt clockwise to each player in onebatch, starting with thedealer. The rest are placed face down on the table to form thetalon.[3]
Forehand (left of dealer) leads to the firsttrick; the winner of a trick leads to the next. There is no requirement tofollow suit,trump orhead the trick. Players may always play any card. As in other games in the family, two or three cards of the same rank may be led and all must be beaten to win the double- or triple-trick thus arising. For example,Galhund and two other Eights can only be beaten bySpids orBrus and any two trick cards. When the trick is taken, players replenish their cards in order starting with the trick winner.[e][3]
A player with theGalhund orBrus may say "I'll chance it" or "I dare"[7] as the card is played. This is only permitted, however, if a higher matador is still in play and not held by the chancer, if the talon is not exhausted, if another player has yet to play to the trick and if winning the bonus would not result in winning the rubber. The chancer scores a point unless the matador is 'smacked' by a higher card played by an opponent in which case the opposing side score two points. If the8♠ is chanced and smacked by theK♥, but beaten in turn by theJ♣, it is an 'oversmack' and worth 3 points, unless theK♥ was also chanced in which case it is worth 4 points. If a card is found to be unlawfully chanced, it is automatically smacked.[3]
In addition to the bonuses for chancing and smacking, the team that wins the most tricks in each deal scores a point. Two points are scored for winning the first 5 tricks i.e. winning 5–0.[3]
To keep score, players draw a so-called 'comb', a horizontal line with vertical lines drawn across it at right angles. Each team has one half of the comb and points are scored by erasing or striking out the lines on the team's side of the comb. The first side to erase or cross off all its lines wins. Game is usually 9 points.[3]
In a variant originally played in Ringkøbing during the 1950s and 1960s, there are the following differences from the above rules:[6]
