Clabber is a four-player card game played in southwestern Indiana near Evansville.

It is a member of the Jack–nine family of point-trick card games that are popular in Europe and is similar to Klaberjass.

Additional points can also be scored for a combination of cards in a hand, which would assist in "making it", or, not going set.

The origin of the game, as played in Evansville, and surrounding areas, has not yet been established with any certainty.

Some lend its beginnings with the European game Klaberjass, while others have said it was brought to the Evansville Ohio River banks by African-American steamboat workers.

A newspaper article was later published in 1931 indicating the game being played by at least 1881, and possibly as early as 1871 on an Ohio River steamboat by Black workers in Evansville.

The article mentions a game played by Black trustees at Evansville police headquarters in 1891.

In 1931 Walter Schlang was noted as serving as President of the Evansville Clabber Club[3] In 1935, Leo Bruttrum, Secretary of the Evansville Clabber Club, and his clubmates formed the first known written rules for the game.

Prior to this time, the game was played by different rules depending on the venue.

Mr. Buttrum wrote to the United States Playing Card Company only to be told that they had no information on such a game.

[3] During WWII, many of the manufacturing plants, such as Servel, Republic Aviation and others began challenging each other to games, and in 1944, the Evansville Clabber League was formed by Servel Inc., Bucyrus-Erie, the Order of Owls, Order of Eagles, Order of Moose, West Side Sportsmans Club, Germania Maennerchor and Knights of Columbus.

[4] Clabber is played by four players in fixed partnerships with partners sitting opposite (on tables where the length is longer than the width, players arrange themselves around the table, two on each side, with partners sitting diagonally opposite one another).

During the first trick, players announce melds, scoring combinations of cards that they hold.

In order to score any meld, the player must announce it just before playing a card to the first trick.

At the end of the play, each team totals the value of the cards in the tricks that they won, plus any score for melds or Bella.

"a hick", "turkey tracks", while the other team scores whatever points they won in tricks and melds.

Possible reneges are: Many bars, and private clubs, hold Clabber tournaments, some year-round, and others in the Winter months.

Alternative scoring can be based on Game-points only, with the number of games won being irrelevant.

The Evansville Clabber League also holds annual tournaments to determine a City Champion for that year.