Mus is a Spanish game for four players playing in partnerships. It is played using the traditional Spanish 40-card pack. The game involves drawing cards and betting on who has the best hand, so in some ways it resembles Poker. One interesting feature is that you are allowed to use certain signals to tell your partner about your hand - for example, showing the tip of your tongue means that you have two aces. You try to make these signals when your opponents are not looking! Spanish suited cards. Picture by A.S.S and is reproduced by kind permission of Andy Pollett

This German site and this Spanish site have information about rules, tournaments, results and so on. The 2000 German championships took place on 8 January, with 44 competitors - the winning pair were Christian Frank and Helge Landmasser.

The national card game of Sweden is Vira. It is a three-player trick-taking game with bidding, played with the standard deck of 52 cards. The table of possible bids and their values and meanings is very complex. There is a lot of information about the game on this Swedish site.

The national card game of Ecuador is Cuarenta, which is played with the 40-card Spanish deck. This is not a trick-taking game, the purpose being to capture cards from the table according to set rules. On this Cuarenta site you can find information in Spanish about the game, including details of the world championships which have been running since 1969. Spanish suited cards. Picture by A.S.S and is reproduced by kind permission of Andy Pollett

Schafkopf, the game which developed into Skat, is still popular and is considered to be the national card game of Bavaria. It is played with the same card deck as for Skat, but it is a four-player game. This site has lots of information in German about the game.

Botifarra is a Catalan game for four players. It uses the extended Spanish deck of 48 cards. Points are won for taking tricks, and also for taking tricks containing particular cards. There is a regular Catalan championship, which is carried out with duplicate play. This Botifarra site in Catalan has more information.

Podrida is a Spanish trick-taking game played with the standard 52-card deck. Each player bids the exact number of tricks they will take in the game, but the last player is not allowed to bid exactly the number of unclaimed tricks. The result is that at least one player will not make their contract. The name of the game means putrid! This site in Spanish has rules, information and links - including a link to the Federación Internacional de Podrida (FIDEPO). FIDEPO maintains an ELO rating list of Podrida players. Spanish suited cards. Picture by A.S.S and is reproduced by kind permission of Andy Pollett

The very attractive site of the Accademia del Tarocchino Bolognese is about the game of Ottocento or Tarocco Bolognese. This is a traditional Italian Tarot game, thought to be one of the oldest Tarot games still played today. It uses a 62-card pack which dates back to the 16th century. More information in Italian about the game is here.

It would be possible to produce a much longer list of card games. Every country and region has their own. For example, in the south east of Iceland there is a game called Hornafjarðarmanni, and every year there is a world championship with around 300 participants, held during the summer lobster festival. There must be games to meet all possible tastes. A card game book I have, in a section on skilful play in Snap, advises "If you're a slow speaker, this is no game for you." But fortunately with the huge variety of card games available, there is bound to be another one which suits you better!