Wallachen is an Old Bavarian card game which used to be very popular in eastern Bavaria. Although, by 2012, it had become a rarer sight at pub tables, there have been more recent moves to revive it. Wallachen is a relatively simple three-hander that is easy to learn. As a result, like Grasobern, it has a relatively relaxed character without the mental demands of Schafkopf or the psychological stress of Watten. It is a member of the Préférence family of card games.
History and distribution
Wallachen appears to have originally come from the Bohemian area. It emerges in the literature as early as 1784, as Wallacho or Walacho, when it was added along with Macao to a long list of banned gambling games across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is locally banned in Bohemia in 1830, and continues to be banned until at least 1851 in Austria-Hungary In a 1798 account, Wallachen is played under the name of Preference in order to "thumb the nose" at the law. The game is not dissimilar to the widely popular Préférence for which Piatnik continue to produce bespoke packs today.
In 1853, the Lower Bavarian Historical Society reported that Bavarians were "lovers of all games and especially card games." Certain games were as regionally defined as village costumes and modes of house construction. "For example, the game of Wallach (Wallachspiel) is played from the eastern Tyrol down to this area [ Landshut ] as a unique folk game", yet west of the upper Inn and the lower Isar it is not known under that name.
In 1875, Wallachen is described as a favourite pastime of certain gentlemen in Bavarian Vilsbiburg along with Quadrille and Stichbrandeln. And again, in the Rott valley during the early 19th century, a favourite pastime of the men was playing cards of which Wallachen was one of the most common, alongside Stichbrandeln and Zwicken. The farmers often played late into the night, despite the presence of local policemen. Their wives did not approve of this and often gave told their menfolk off in no uncertain terms and with choice expressions.
The game goes under various other names depending on the region, for example in the area of Grafenau in eastern Bavaria it is also called Säbeln ("Sabre"). Other spelling variants include Wallach, Wallacha, Walachen, Wallachan (Bavarian) or Wallachern. According to Rohrmayer (2015), after Schafkopf and Watten, Wallachen is probably still the most widely played card game in Old Bavaria (especially East Bavaria including Regensburg) and therefore an indispensable part of Bavarian pub culture. The terminology for the contracts - Brand, Bettel and Mord - may be derived from the old German game of Brandeln, which dates to the 17th century.
Courses were being run in places like Schierling as recently as 2019.
Cards
Like Schafkopf, Wallachen is played with German playing cards of the Bavarian pattern. These are usually marketed as Tarock/Schafkopf packs of 36 cards. The Sixes are removed as in Schafkopf and Grasobern.
Aim
The aim is to win six or more tricks out of a total of ten. Players usually play for small sums of money, but they may also keep score by using counters or recording points.
Card ranking
Trick-taking power
For trick-taking the cards rank as follows (from highest to lowest): Sow (Sau) (Deuce, marked "A") > King > Ober > Unter > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7.
Trumps
In the normal game, the card led to the first trick determines the trump suit for the hand. Within the trump suit cards rank as shown above and all trumps outrank other suit cards. There are no trumps in Bettel and Mord.
Playing
Dealing
Dealer shuffles the pack, offers it to middlehand to cut and then deals ten cards each, either in two packets of 5 or in two packets of 4 and one of 2 or in three packets of 3, 4 and 3 cards respectively. Two cards are then dealt to a start. Each player has a doubling token such as a coin or matchbox in front of them. After the first 3 cards have been dealt to each player, the deal is paused while players look at these cards, and any player may 'double' (doppeln) the stake by pushing their token called the Doppler (formerly a matchbox, usually a coin) forwards. For example if all three players do this the stake is multiplied by 8 for this deal.