Several Central European countries too play with cards of German origin: Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (once united), Hungary, Austria and Croatia, whose national traditions are influenced by a German cultural heritage. Patterns exclusive to Austria are dealt with in a specific gallery.

	Berlin pattern featuring Polish indices (Trefl brand, by KZWP, Poland)

In Poland the standard international 52-card pattern is the one more often used, but the Rhineland pattern too exists in 52-card editions, while Skat players prefer the French-suited Berliner Bild and the German-suited Preussisches-Silesisches Bild.

The latter pattern (left) is based on the traditional German one, but the Polish version developed into a less detailed modern-looking design. The four daus cards feature the same personages as the original ones, while the ones on the courts are rather different, and their indices are in Polish: K, D, W. The typical scenic views at the base of single-ended pip cards feature national cities. Both the Rhineland and the Berlin pattern, instead, remain quite faithful to the original design (see the opening picture) but in Polish versions, indices in the local language often replace the standard ones.

Polish variety of the Prussian pattern (Trefl brand, by KZWP, Poland)

The German-suited pattern more commonly used in all central European countries is the so-called Tell or Four Seasons, shown below; in Germany, instead, these cards are barely used at all. The daus cards of the deck feature allegorical scenes of the four seasons of the year: the daus of Hearts shows spring (usually a girl picking flowers), Bells show summer (corn threshing), Leaves show autumn (wine making) and Acorns show winter (an old woman carrying a bundle of wigs). Many pip cards too are decorated with small views or tiny personages, in this resembling the tirolian Salzburger or Einfachdeutsch style (see picture). Czech "Four Seasons" (Tell) pattern, by O.T.K.; the second and fourth cards in the bottom row are the daus of Leaves (autumn) and of Acorns (winter) In Hungarian versions, the subjects of the daus cards are not the same ones as in Austrian or Czech decks. The "winter" personage carries the most evident changes, being featured as a man who warms himself by a fire, but also the other three contain elements of difference. The illustrations of the remaining cards are more or less the same, except the unter knave of Hearts, whose personage looks rather different in the two versions. The name of the season is often (but not always) stated above the illustration, in the country's own language. the four daus cards in both versions, from "Four Seasons" decks by Berliner Spielkarten (Germany) and Offset Nyomda (Hungary) The court cards, instead, are inspired by the play "Wilhelm Tell", whose characters are featured as ober and unter knaves of the four suits (but the four mounted kings do not come from the play, and are nameless). For this reason the pattern is also known as Tell. the German Wilhelm Tell (ober of Acorns) The names of the characters only appear if the seasons' names are also mentioned. They are usually omitted in Czeck decks, while in Hungarian versions their surname comes before the first name (according to the national custom). Countries where Tell cards are used refer to this pattern with different names (see table below). the Hungarian Tell Vilmos Another German-suited deck specifically used in the Czech Republic is the Jednohlavé ("single-headed") or, more popularly, Mariášové karty ("Marias' cards") after the most popular national card game. In Bavaria the same pattern is called Prager Bild after the city of Prague, but it is not really used much, because the German region already has its own Bayerishes Bild (see page 1). COUNTRY NAME Austria Doppeldeutsche ("Double German") Czech"Republic Dvouhlavé ("Double-Headed") Hungary Magyar Kártya ("Hungarian Cards") local names of the so-called Tell or 'Four Seasons' pattern Jednohlavé, edition by OTK (Czech Republic) Jednohlavé cards show clear signs of a relationship with those of nearby Germany, having sprung as a variety of the early German-suited patterns used in central Europe. A no longer existing Regensburger Bild, once typical of the city of Regensburg and its surroundings, near Germany's south-eastern border, shared unique details with this Czech pattern, such as the curious headgear worn by the seated kings. Also the aforesaid Bayerisches Bild and the Austrian Einfachbild have features in common with the Jednohlavé, but the subjects of the Czech pattern have an even more naive finish. A French-suited pattern, once very popular in Central Europe up to the late 19th century, but now restricted to Austria and to the Czech Republic, is the one known as Wien - I, also called Viennese large crown, but also Picchetto in Italy and Pikety Karty in the Czech Republic, after the game played with the deck. Its rather old-looking court personages tend to be quite large at the base, and the kings' crowns clearly exceed the upper frame, thus giving reason for the alternative name of this pattern. There are no indices, but the aces have tiny suit signs repeated in the four corners. Up to a few decades ago, the Viennese large crown used to be popular in north-eastern Italy, as well, but in recent times this pattern has been discontinued by all Italian manufacturers. More often, the deck has 32 cards; in Austria also 54-card and 24-card editions exist. Large Crown, 1950s edition by Cambissa (Italy) A further variety of cards usually referred to as Czech is the pattern once used for playing Trappola, or Bulka, or Traplier*** (in Germany), with north Italian suits. During the 15th-16th centuries Trappola used to be rather popular in most parts of Central Europe, where it had spread probably starting from Venice. replica of an original Trappola deck by Piatnik (Austria) This seems suggested by two features: the striking similarity with the Trevigiane pattern, still played with in north-eastern Italy (see the relevant gallery), and the names of the suits, called in Czech language Denáry (Coins), Kopy (Cups), Špády (Swords) and Baštony (Batons), all of which loan words borrowed from the standard Italian ones. The same name of the game is an Italian word, meaning "trap, ***". Both the game and the playing card pattern survived much longer than elsewhere in Vienna (Trapulier-Karte) and particularly in Prague (Trapliské karty); there they were also called Špády karty ("sword cards"), not to be mistaken with the German Schwerter-Karte (same meaning), another name for the single-headed Saxon pattern described in page 1, once used in north-eastern Germany. The suit signs feature a more elaborate and elegant design than their typical Italian equivalents, suggesting that Trappola was a game also played by the high society. The deck's composition is reminiscent of German-related patterns: each suit comprises an ace, three courts (king, cavalier and knave), cards with roman numerals from X to VII and a final II (i.e. the German daus); interestingly, the ace and the daus coexist, marking an interesting difference with German-related patterns. The total number of subjects is 36. (from Piatnik's replica) Most Czech editions used to have double-headed courts, but single-headed editions too were printed in Austria and Germany. To the regret of all playing card collectors, Trappola cards turned obsolete sometime during the first half of the 20th century. In recent times (1988), the Austrian manufacturer Piatnik issued a replica of an old edition, which the pictures featured in this page were taken from. page 1 Germany - I page 2 Germany - II page 3 East Germany GLOSSARY (actual translations are shown in italics) JÁTÉKKÁRTYA KARTY PLAYING CARDS CSOMAG (PAKLI) BALÍCEK DECK SZINEK BARVY SUITS MAKK ŽALUDY ACORNS ZÖLD ZELENÝ LEAVES TÖK (CENGÕ) KULE BELLS PIROS CERVENÝ HEARTS ÁSZ  (ace) ESO 2  (DAUS)  worth as an ace ALSÓ SPODEK LOW RANK KNAVE FELSÕ SVRŠEK (FILEK) HIGH RANK KNAVE KIRÁLY KRÁL KING DENÁRY COINS KOPY CUPS ŠPÁDY SWORDS BAŠTONY BATONS OTHER GALLERIES or back to INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY MULTI-LANGUAGE GLOSSARY THE FOOL & THE JOKER INDEX TABLE REGIONAL GAMES PLAYING CARD LINKS