Mariage card games

The Mariage card games are a family of trick-taking card games in which players can score bonus points for holding a "marriage" consisting of King and Queen of the same suit. Games in this family are typically played by 2 to 4 players using a pack of 20–40 cards, with Tens and Aces scoring 11 and 10 points in tricks, respectively, and marriages scoring 40 points in trumps and 20 points in a plain suit.

A German card game known as 66 is one of the most typical games of this family, and it is likely that scoring for marriages was added to an early form of it. This game, in its variants known as Schnapsen, Mariáš and Ulti, is the most popular card game in the area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Jass–Belote card games form another popular subfamily, characterised by the fact that the Jack and Nine of the trump suit are the highest trumps. These games originated as the Dutch game Klawerjass and developed into Swiss Jass and French Belote. Bezique and its variants Binokel and Pinochle are further examples of popular games in the Mariage family.