Hindersche

Hindersche or Hintersche [ˈhɪntɐʃə], also known as 4-Strich, is an unusual card game, of the trick-avoidance genre, that is still played in the Black Forest region of Germany.

[1] The game includes the unique feature – known as schleipfen – of allowing a player to take a trick won by an opponent, provided no-one objects.

Little is known about the origins of Hindersche, but the facts that it is played anticlockwise, that the Ten ranks low and that it still uses 36 cards all suggest considerable age.

The earliest known written record is 1933 article about a Hindersche tournament held in the town of Schapbach with proceeds going towards the funds of the local gymnastics team to enable them to participate at a festival in Stuttgart.

[3] In recent years, Hindersche tournaments have been held, for example, at Schapbach in the Wolf valley.

[5] In 2015, Martin Thörmer, became the Hindersche World Champion in a competition at Schapbach in the festival hall.

[6] He was succeeded in 2016 by Emma Hoferer of Schapbach,[7] Benjamin Heitzmann from Oberwolfach in 2018[8] and in 2019 by Bernd Dieterle.

[4] To become the world champion in Hindersche requires skill, experience and a bit of luck.

The trump Jack is the highest card in the game and known as "the Old Man" (de alt, der Alte); the Jack in the next suit is the second-highest card and is known as "the Little Man" (de kloei, der Kleine).

The first dealer is determined either by lots (lowest card) or is the newest player to join the session.

The game is played as before, except that the player who scores the fewest card points erases 1 mark, hence the name Butzen ("cleaning").

The player with the highest score adds a mark to his corner of the slate, except in certain situations.

[12] A Schleipfe may go through accidentally if it is a high value trick, because the player who legally should have picked it up may be content for the wrong person to collect it.

Rules of play are as in Hindersche, except that undertrumping is only permitted if the led suit is not held.

Typical Jass/Tapp pack used for Hindersche
Scoring slate in Hindersche. The player at the bottom right has already lost the first game of the rubber. There are more than four marks because one player has "made a 100".