Gnav

Gnav is a traditional game that is played with either cards or wooden pieces. Related games are Cuccù, Hexenspiel, Gnaio, Vogelspiel, Cambio (also Campio, Camphio, Camfio, or Kamfio), and Kille. The game can be played by 20 or more players, and a minimum of two.

The earliest reference to the game dates to 1490 France where it was known by the name of Mécontent (Malcontent) and was played with a standard 52-card deck. Such a game is still played today in France as ("") and also in English speaking countries as Cuckoo or Ranter-Go-Round. The earliest reference of Malcontento in Italy dates from 1547 (“Capriccio in laude del Malcontento” by Luigi Tansillo of Naples).

It was in the early 18th-century that the first dedicated decks for Cuccu (or Cucco, or Cucu’, or Stu) appeared which consisted of 38 cards. The oldest known written regulation dates back to 1717 by the Al Mondo company. It was included in the deck of cards produced in Bologna by Giulio Borzaghi. In a title card of another pack, the cards were described as a new game with the Fool. As in the original card game, suits do not matter but rank is very important. The new deck reduced the cards to two identical sequences but added more ranks. The most unusual feature about the new deck was the inclusion of the Fool cards which are unranked. This may have been inspired by the Fool from tarocchi games where they are also unranked. The game was also known to be played with wooden pieces in Venice during the late 18th-century, possibly as a way of avoiding the stamp tax.

As the game migrated north through Europe in the 18th century the number of cards and the name of the game changed. In Germany, Bavaria, and Austria, for example, it became Hexenspiel ("the Witch game") and Vogelspiel ("The Bird game"). By the time that it reached Denmark as Gniao (the miaowing of a cat — "" in Italian), it had 42 cards. This then became Gnav when the game was brought to Norway during the union with Denmark. Gnav was brought to the Netherlands where it became known as Slabberjan.

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Wikipedia