Johann Kaspar Hechtel (1 May 1771 – 20 December 1799) was a German businessman, owner of a brass factory in Nuremberg, non-fiction writer and designer of parlour games including the prototype for the Petit Lenormand cartomancy deck.

Some examples of the game are included in an extensive collection of playing cards bequeathed to the British Museum by Lady Charlotte Schreiber.

Das Spiel der Hoffnung is listed among Hechtel's works in an advertisement by publisher Gustav Philipp Jakob Bieling of Nuremberg dated 1799.

The 54-card French deck discards both Jokers and the 2, 3, 4, and 5 of each suit, keeping the Ace and the Face Cards (King, Queen, and Jack).

The German deck doesn't use Aces and renames the 2 as the Ass ("Ace") or Daus ("Deuce"), the 10 as the Panier ("Banner"), the Jack as the Unter (Untermann or "Lesser Knave", a sergeant or footman with the suit pip at the lower corner of the field), and the Queen as the Ober (Obermann or "Greater Knave", a knight or officer with the suit pip at the upper corner of the field).