German Patterns 6-Suit Pack

Here is a pack of playing cards like no other, the six player Germanic bridge pack, based on our two International-style Germanic pattern cards:

The six suited germanic Bridge back, for six player bridge

We have already described our full Whist decks for the German and Swiss patterns here. We have made a full Ace-10, J Q K version of the patterns, enabling international games such as Bridge, Poker, and Klondike to be played with a familiar national pattern.

Stepping back a pace, we can see that there are six symbols altogether: Acorn, Bell, Rose, Leaf, Shield and Heart (there are differences between the bell and acorn styles). So it is possible to build a 6-pattern deck with the symbol set.

Coincidentally, there is also another, distinctly US tradition, of adding two suits to a standard French pattern to enable 6 players at bridge. Such patterns as the international deck (adding Bullets and Crosses to the Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds) have enjoyed periods of popularity since the 1890s. We sell some of these six-pattern sets.

But it seemed that these two approaches to pattern design could be usefully combined, and that led us to design our 6 pattern Germanic Pack.

We have taken the four core suits common to both regions—Acorns and Bells. From the Austrian-German tradition, we incorporate Hearts and Leaves; and from the unique Swiss-German heritage, we add Shields and Roses.

So, if you want to seat 6 at a bridge table, you can buy yourself a copy of the Six suited Germanic pack printed on demand at Make Playing Cards here.

You can even set aside a suit and play 5 player bridge, though you might be interested in our Leichtensten pattern available here.