The name Schwarzer Peter is thought to be reminiscent of a comrade of Schinderhannes, the robber Johann Peter Petri, who was also known as Black Peter. It’s thought that the game originated in his prison years, from 1811 onward, however, the true origin is probably older.Although there are many different published decks of cards with nice illustrations on them for playing this game it can also easily be played with a regular deck of cards.When playing with two players you both know from the beginning which of you has the Black Peter, but this doesn’t actually make much difference, in that the second player can still accidentally draw it on their turn. It’s generally chance as to whether or not you will be dealt the Black Peter at the beginning or will draw it from another player. There’s little to be said for strategy in this game. In this game I have clearly won, as my opponent was left with the Black Peter card, despite having quite a lot of pairs.

In the event that the player with the most pairs is also holding the Black Peter card, the player with the next highest number of pairs is announced the winner. Once all the pairs have been made the player left with the Black Peter card is the loser, and the player with the most pairs is the winner. When playing with two this means you will always (unless you draw the Black Peter card) manage to make a pair. Once every player has finished laying down their pairs they take it in turns to take one card at random from one other player. Players then find all pairs that they have in their hand and place them on the table like this: Each player has laid down the pairs they had to start with. To begin the game the deck is thoroughly shuffled and the entire deck is dealt out to the players. One deck of cards! Playing The Game: Objective: To have the most pairs at the end of the game, and not be holding the black cat card. As I was unable to find accurate dates for Schwarzer Peter, I have here included the details for Old Maid instead. Schwarzer Peter is the German version of Old Maid. Creator(s): Hans-Joachim Behrendt, Beatrice Braun-Fock, Dick Brunaand Wilhelm Busch (artists) Who’s got the lucky black cat?

Old maid card game rules