Acorns (suit)

German playing card suit

Acorns

Symbol from Bavarian pattern

Native name| German: Eichel
Decks|

* German-suited playing cards
* Swiss-suited playing cards

Invented| 15th century

Acorns () (German: Eichel, or more unusually Hackl or Ecker) is one of the four playing card suits in a deck of German-suited and Swiss-suited playing cards. This suit was invented in 15th-century German-speaking lands and is a survivor from a large pool of experimental suit signs created to replace the Latin suits. Around 1480, French card makers adapted this sign into clubs in a French deck (known as clovers in France).[1]

In English, cards are referred to as in a French deck (e.g. the "10 of Acorns"), but in German as Eichel-Zehn.

Acorns are the highest suit in the games of Skat, Schafkopf and Doppelkopf, but the lowest in Préférence. In Watten, the 7 of Acorns (the Spitz or Soach) is the third highest trump card.

The standard German-suited system of leaves, acorns, hearts, and bells appears in the majority of cards from 1460 onwards. There is no evidence for this system prior to this point.[1]

Acorns appear as one of four suits alongside crowns, bells, and shields in a set of mutilated cards possibly made in Alsace in 1480.[1]

Acorns appear as one of four suits alongside pomegranates[a], leaves, and flowers in a pack of cards (circa 1523) created by Hans Sebald Beham. The ranks go from 2 through 10 with three court cards: King seated on a horse, Ober, and Unter. Roman numerals are indexed at the top of the cards while Arabic numerals are indexed at the bottom.[3] Notably, all the pip cards have a central stem and there is a sow on the three of acorns; which later would migrate to the deuce when the 3-rank was dropped in later packs.

The standard four Swiss-German suits of shields, acorns, hawkbells, and flowers were found in playing cards inside a book cover (circa 1530) made in Basel. These cards feature the distinguishing banner replacing the 10-rank, and have the three court cards: King seated in a throne, Ober, and Unter.[4] This Swiss-German suit system is believed to have developed earlier with the earliest example dated between 1433 and 1451, though only cards from the shields suit survived.[5]

## Gallery

[edit]

### German pattern

[edit]

The gallery below shows a suit of Acorns from a German-suited deck of 32 cards. The pack is of the Saxonian pattern in which the seeds of the Acorns are red:

* 7

* 8

* 9

* 10

* Unter

* Ober

* King

* Deuce or Ace

### Swiss-German pattern

[edit]

The following images depict the suit of Acorns from an 1850 Swiss-suited pack in which the seeds of the Acorns are yellow:

* 6

* 7

* 8

* 9

* Banner

* Unter

* Ober

* King

* Deuce

## Individual cards

[edit]

The following cards have special powers or names in certain games:

* Ober of Acorns - permanent top trump in Schafkopf, where it is known as the Old Man (der Alte)
* Unter of Acorns - permanent trump in Schafkopf and top trump in Skat.
* Seven of Acorns - one of the top three trumps in games like Watten, where it is called the Spitz ("tip" or "point")

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ The pomegranates suit appeared earlier in a 1496 modified Spanish-suited pack made by a south German engraver where the pomegranates replaced the coins suit. It possibly alludes to the kingdom of Granada.[2]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Dummett, Michael (1980). The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth. pp. 10–32.
2. ^ Wintle, Simon (July 3, 1996). "South German Engraver". www.wopc.co.uk. The World of Playing Cards. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
3. ^ Wintle, Simon (July 7, 2014). "Hans Sebald Beham". www.wopc.co.uk. The World of Playing Cards. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
4. ^ Wintle, Simon (July 3, 1996). "Antique Swiss Playing Cards, c.1530". www.wopc.co.uk. The World of Playing Cards. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
5. ^ Dummett, Michael (1980). The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth. pp. 14–16.

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Playing cards

Standard
52-card deck|

| Playing card suits (French)|

* Spades
* Hearts
* Diamonds
* Clubs

|

Ranks|

* Ace
* Ace of spades
* Ace of hearts
* King
* Queen
* Queen of spades
* Jack
* Curse of Scotland
* Beer card

Specific decks|

* Ambraser Hofjagdspiel
* Archaeology awareness
* Charruan
* Flemish Hunting Deck
* Hamas most wanted
* Hofämterspiel
* Jerry's Nugget
* Most-wanted Iraqi
* Politicards
* Stuttgart pack
* Transformation

Other packs
and decks|

* As-Nas
* Chinese
* Four-colour pack
* Ganjifa
* ganjapa
* Karuta
* hanafuda
* Hyakunin Isshu
* kabufuda
* uta-garuta
* Kvitlech
* Polish
* Portuguese-suited
* Russian
* Tarot pack
* Tujeon
* Zi pai

Cards|

* Banner
* Blank
* Court card
* knight
* Ober
* Unter
* Pip card
* deuce
* Weli
* Joker
* Nicknames
* Stripped deck
* Talon
* Unicode

Other suits|

| German|

* Leaves

|

Swiss|

* Shields
* Roses

German and Swiss|

* Acorns
* Bells

Latin (Italian/Spanish/Portuguese)|

* Cups
* Coins
* Batons
* Swords
* Japanese
* Guru (circular whirls)

Chinese (Money)|

* Cash
* Strings of Cash
* Myriads of Strings
* Tens of Myriads

Manufacturers
and brands|

| Manufacturers|

* ASS Altenburger
* Cartamundi
* Copag
* Dal Negro
* Fournier
* France Cartes
* F.X. Schmid
* Gemaco
* J.O. Öberg & Son
* Modiano
* Nintendo
* Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag
* Oishi Tengudo
* Piatnik
* Ravensburger
* Trefl
* U.S. Games Systems
* United States Playing Card Company

|

Brands|

* Bicycle
* Grimaud

Defunct|

* Aspioti-ELKA
* Bielefelder Spielkarten
* C.L. Wüst
* Charles Goodall
* Dondorf
* Lewis Cohen
* Waddingtons

Notable people|

* Lee Asher
* Hubert Auer
* Bryan Berg
* David Blaine
* Derren Brown
* Lewis Cohen
* Dan and Dave
* Thierry Depaulis
* S. W. Erdnase
* Lennart Green
* Richard Harding
* Johann Kaspar Hechtel
* Ricky Jay
* Sekiryo Kaneda
* René Lavand
* Ed Marlo
* Master of the Playing Cards
* John McLeod
* Anton Moser
* Samuel J. Murray
* David Parlett
* Ferdinand Piatnik
* Richard Valentine Pitchford
* Franco Pratesi
* Johann Georg Rauch
* Juan Tamariz
* Howard Thurston
* Charles Troedel
* Dai Vernon
* Fusajiro Yamauchi

Groups and
organisations|

| Skat|

* British Skat Association
* German Skat Association
* International Skat Court
* International Skat Players Association

|

* 52 Plus Joker
* Cary Collection of Playing Cards
* Fournier Museum of Playing Cards
* German Doppelkopf Association
* German Playing Card Museum
* International Playing-Card Society
* The Playing-Card
* Musée Français de la Carte à Jouer
* Saga Arashiyama Museum of Arts and Culture
* Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards

Card manipulation
and cardistry|

| Tricks|

* The Acme of Control
* Ambitious Card
* Blackstone's Card Trick Without Cards
* The Circus Card Trick
* The Four Burglars
* Out of This World
* Rising Card
* Spelling Bee
* Twenty-One Card Trick

|

* Bottom dealing
* Card marking
* Card sharp
* Card throwing
* Cards in the hat
* Cardistry-Con
* Cutting
* Double lift
* The Expert at the Card Table
* Herrmann pass
* History of cardistry
* House of cards
* One-way deck
* Palms and grips
* gambler's
* magician's
* mechanic's
* Tenkai
* The Phantom of the Card Table
* Second dealing
* Shuffling
* faro
* Gilbreath
* Zarrow
* Si Stebbins stack
* Spoke card
* Three-card monte
* Trick decks

Art and media|

| Paintings|

* The Acrobats
* The Bezique Game
* The Card Players
* The Card Players II
* Card Players in a Rich Interior
* The Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds
* Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room
* The Cardsharps
* Dogs Playing Poker
* Still Life with a Poem
* Violin and Playing Cards on a Table

|

Film and television|

* Card Sharks
* Playing Cards (1896)
* Play Your Cards Right

Video games|

* Balatro

Literature|

* Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1865)

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German-suited playing cards

Standard 36-card
German deck|

|  Suit/rank|  Deuce (Daus)|  King (König)|  Ober (Ober)|  Unter (Unter)|  10|  9|  8|  7|  6

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Acorns |  Deuce|  King|  Ober|  Unter|  10|  9|  8|  7|  6
Leaves |  Deuce|  King|  Ober|  Unter|  10|  9|  8|  7|  6
Hearts |  Deuce|  King|  Ober|  Unter|  10|  9|  8|  7|  6
Bells |  Deuce|  King|  Ober|  Unter|  10|  9|  8|  7|  6

Others|

* Face card / Court card
* Pip card
* Weli

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