Königrufen or Königsrufen (German: "Call the King") is a four-player, trick-taking card game of the tarot family, played in Austria and Southern Tyrol, with variants for two, three and six players. As with other regional tarot card games, it is usually called Tarock (the German term for tarot card games) by its players. It is the only variant of Tarock that is played over most of Austria and, in 2001, was the most popular card game in Austria after Schnapsen and Rommé. By 2015, it had become "the favourite card game of Austrians". It has been described as the most interesting tarot game for four players, the "Game of Kings", a game that requires intelligence and, with 22 trumps in play, as good "training for the brain".
In comparison with other card games, Königrufen may be played with a wide range of possible contracts. The name of the game comes from the practice in the most basic contracts of naming a specific King in order to choose a playing partner, known as "calling a King". In most contracts the four players form two sides – either two against two or one against three – who compete to score the majority of the card points. According to the rules, the 54 cards have a total value of 70 points.
Although the basic rules of Austrian Königrufen are common, the contract announcements and bonuses and their values have a large number of variations. Many private groups play by their own house rules. In addition, more widely accepted tournament rules have emerged, although these vary considerably from region to region. This makes Königrufen the most varied of all the Tarock games. Regular tournament series have been held since the 1990s and, since 2008, an annual Austrian Final has taken place.
In a broader sense, the term Königrufen may be used for a family of closely related tarot games mainly played in other regions of the former Habsburg monarchy, most notably in Slovenia.
History
Background
The original form of the Tarock card game family emerged around 1425 in Northern Italy during the Early Renaissance. The most important feature of the new game was that 21 permanent trump cards, the trionfi, were added to the existing suits. Today these trump cards are also called Tarock in German-speaking countries and are usually numbered with Roman numerals. In addition to the trumps, a valuable card called the "Fool" was added, to which special rules applied. The Fool is often wrongly regarded as a precursor of the Joker in modern card games. Called L'Excuse in French, since it was played with a ritualized apology, it was later changed to Sküs in German.
According to the oldest known French rules of 1637 Tarock (or tarot in French) was a trick-taking card game for three players using 78 cards of designated values, the players vying with each other to score as many points as possible. In its heyday from about 1730 to 1830 Tarock was played with this rule framework across a large part of Europe. In addition, variants were developed for four players with two teams of two – usually similar in principle to the game of Troccas that is still widespread today in Grisons.
From the middle of the 18th century onwards, especially in the German-speaking world and in the Habsburg monarchy, the Tarock game went through a series of profound reforms: