[2] Little is known of the origins of Viersche, but its mode of play – anticlockwise, number of 36 cards and ranking of the ten all suggest it is very old.

[a] It is closely linked to Hindersche, a game that was played by foresters, farmers and day workers in the old Principality of Fürstenberg, an old Swabia state whose rulers governed the southwestern part of the Black Forest and the Baar region.

[2] However, the earliest record of Viersche is a 1932 map of where the most common card games in the state of Baden are played, which shows that Hundert was played in the area of the Wolf valley as well as in small isolated clusters to the north, south and west.

[3] Viersche tournaments have been held, apparently annually, since at least 2003, usually around Epiphany, in Bad Rippoldsau in the central Black Forest and hosting 36 to 40 players from that village as well as Schapbach, Oberwolfach, Kniebis, Fischingen and Hausach.

There are the usual four suits – clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds – each of nine cards ranking A > K > Q > J > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7.

The dealer shuffles the pack and offers it to the left for cutting before dealing nine cards each, anticlockwise and in turn, in batches of 3, beginning with forehand.

At the end of a deal, teams tot up their card points in tricks, their combined total should always come to 140.

The game ends once either team has erased 4 rungs; the losers chalk a mark in the form of a line or a ball on their side of the slate.