Kontraspiel

Kontraspiel
The Unter of Acorns - the top trump
TypePlain-trick
Players4
Cards24-card
Rank (high→low)A K O (U) 10 9
Related games
Kratzen, Lupfen, Mauscheln, Mistigri, Tippen, Zwicken
Features: pot, 5 cards, 2 Wenzels as top trumps

Kontraspiel, also called Contra, is a German 5-card plain-trick game for four individual players using 24 cards. Eldest hand has the first right to accept or make trumps. The Unters of Acorns and Leaves (the equivalent of the two black Jacks) are permanent highest trumps, the Wenzels. Kontraspiel is similar to the Scandinavian game Polskpas and is recorded as early as 1811.[1]

  1. ^ Hammer 1811, pp. 193–214.