Caraway seeds
The caraway leaves , actually Gimel leaves , is a widespread cheating game.
Name of the game
The name of the game does not come from the spice caraway , but from " Gimel " (ג), the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is synonymous with the number sign for three, the name thus means something like three leaf ("three leaf" is however another name for the card game typing ).
Other names are Bauernschreck or Die Rote wins - under these names the Gimelblättchen can be found on the list of prohibited games of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Justice from 1904.
Outside of the German-speaking area, the "game" is called: Three Card Monte (USA, derived from the Monte Bank card game in Mexico ), Find the Lady (England) or Bonneteau (France).
Course of the game
Two people take part in the game, the dealer or “thrower” and the player or “setter”. The game is played with three playing cards , two of which are of the same color - mostly black, especially the two black aces - these are the "loss cards". The third card is the so-called “ trump card ” or “winning card” - often the ace of hearts or the queen of hearts, hence the game's name: Find the Lady .
The dealer holds a loss card in each hand with his thumb and forefinger and shows it to the player. Then he picks up the winning card with his middle finger and the tip of his thumb and shows it to the player. Now he throws the winning card on the table, the two losing cards next to her and quickly begins to move them so that they switch places.
The player is then asked to bet on the winning card, but for this he has to bet an amount of money that he will get back twice if he is correct.
This procedure is used for some time to make the player more daring. When betting higher, the dealer uses different techniques to influence the position of the winning card. It is said that he “throws sharply”. The player is no longer able to find the correct position on the winning card and loses. Therefore, caraway leaves are legally not considered a game of chance , but rather a fraud.
Usually the donor works with several people:
- Spy warns the giver early about the law enforcement officers,
- Decoys place bets to show the real victim how easy it is to win the game, or make a mistake on purpose when the position is obvious to motivate potential players.
- Muscle men make sure that nobody demands their money back.
Related and similar in the game system is also deceptive shell game .
The game in literature
In literary terms it was used as a motif and a. processed by Karl May in the story "The Canada Bill" in "Kapitän Kaiman" (Karl May, total works 19):
- "Did you hear about the game they call 'cumin leaves' over there, Master Hammer?" Asked Jones. "No." "Here in the country it's called 'three card monte' and it's the most beautiful game there is."
See also
- The shell game is a similar cheating game.