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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Germany: games and pastimes | Germany: games and pastimes |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Skat | Skat |
| While snap, poker and bridge are the card games favoured in the UK, Germans prefer the trick-taking "brain game" skat. Played for more than 200 years, this 32-card game got its first official mention in 1813 and is now a national institution. | While snap, poker and bridge are the card games favoured in the UK, Germans prefer the trick-taking "brain game" skat. Played for more than 200 years, this 32-card game got its first official mention in 1813 and is now a national institution. |
| "It is a game that everyone can play," said the president of the German Skat Association, Peter Tripmaker. "There is a real cross-section of society, from those collecting Hartz IV [jobseekers' allowance] to the professor." | "It is a game that everyone can play," said the president of the German Skat Association, Peter Tripmaker. "There is a real cross-section of society, from those collecting Hartz IV [jobseekers' allowance] to the professor." |
| Skat is a game for three players, using cards from a traditional 52-card pack with cards below seven removed. | Skat is a game for three players, using cards from a traditional 52-card pack with cards below seven removed. |
| A dealer and two opposing players are each dealt 10 cards, with two skat cards left to the side, from which dealers can exchange their two worst as well as having the choice of trump suit. Each card is given a value and to win the dealer must make 61 points or the opposing players 60. | A dealer and two opposing players are each dealt 10 cards, with two skat cards left to the side, from which dealers can exchange their two worst as well as having the choice of trump suit. Each card is given a value and to win the dealer must make 61 points or the opposing players 60. |
| The history of this popular pastime dates to the early 1800s when Napoleonic soldiers and Saxony students created it as a common-ground game between them in the German town of Altenburg. | The history of this popular pastime dates to the early 1800s when Napoleonic soldiers and Saxony students created it as a common-ground game between them in the German town of Altenburg. |
| While there are about 26,000 members of the national skat association, about a quarter of Germany's population plays with friends and family. | While there are about 26,000 members of the national skat association, about a quarter of Germany's population plays with friends and family. |
| But in recent years skat has faced an existential crisis, with clubs struggling to attract the young. | But in recent years skat has faced an existential crisis, with clubs struggling to attract the young. |
| "We are fighting to get young people playing skat and come into clubs," said Tripmaker. "It is the young people who are mostly playing on computers, but we are starting in the early years. We have children of eight playing cards already and if you see this, you get tears in your eyes seeing how excited they are about playing the game." | "We are fighting to get young people playing skat and come into clubs," said Tripmaker. "It is the young people who are mostly playing on computers, but we are starting in the early years. We have children of eight playing cards already and if you see this, you get tears in your eyes seeing how excited they are about playing the game." |
| Still, over the years, the game has been exported by travelling Germans to the United States, Canada and Thailand, and players hope it will keep going strong. | Still, over the years, the game has been exported by travelling Germans to the United States, Canada and Thailand, and players hope it will keep going strong. |
| Slacklining | Slacklining |
| Much like tightrope-walking, slacklining involves balancing along a line between two fixed points. The difference, however, is that instead of a tight steel rope to walk along, there is a loosely hung strip of nylon webbing – creating a further challenge as the webbing swings underfoot. | Much like tightrope-walking, slacklining involves balancing along a line between two fixed points. The difference, however, is that instead of a tight steel rope to walk along, there is a loosely hung strip of nylon webbing – creating a further challenge as the webbing swings underfoot. |
| "It's completely different from other sports," said Jonas Weidemann, who runs SlacklinerBerlin.de, a project started in 2009 with the idea of bringing the sport to Germany. | "It's completely different from other sports," said Jonas Weidemann, who runs SlacklinerBerlin.de, a project started in 2009 with the idea of bringing the sport to Germany. |
| "You are always with other people in a community and there is the really important mixture of being calm with inner focus while exhausting your muscles." | "You are always with other people in a community and there is the really important mixture of being calm with inner focus while exhausting your muscles." |
| Slacklining is thought to have originated during the 1970s in Yosemite national park, California, when climbers spent free days balancing across ropes and lines, according to the Slackliner Berlin website. | Slacklining is thought to have originated during the 1970s in Yosemite national park, California, when climbers spent free days balancing across ropes and lines, according to the Slackliner Berlin website. |
| However, the sport has only become popular in Germany in the past few years, with fans taking to parks to hang lines between trees, or – more daringly – walking between high towers and ledges on some of Berlin's abandoned buildings. | However, the sport has only become popular in Germany in the past few years, with fans taking to parks to hang lines between trees, or – more daringly – walking between high towers and ledges on some of Berlin's abandoned buildings. |
| While there has been controversy over damage the sport could do to trees, some groups have been trying to curb the harm by creating dedicated slackline areas with material used to protect tree trunks. | While there has been controversy over damage the sport could do to trees, some groups have been trying to curb the harm by creating dedicated slackline areas with material used to protect tree trunks. |
| "It's becoming more popular and more common, and the more people try it the more they want to do it again," said Weidemann. | "It's becoming more popular and more common, and the more people try it the more they want to do it again," said Weidemann. |
| Allotments | Allotments |
| This is another old tradition that has acquired fresh popularity, with more than 4 million people now "digging for Germany". The plots of lands with neat little cabins perched on the lawn, known as Schrebergärten, are impossible to miss if you travel around Germany by train. | This is another old tradition that has acquired fresh popularity, with more than 4 million people now "digging for Germany". The plots of lands with neat little cabins perched on the lawn, known as Schrebergärten, are impossible to miss if you travel around Germany by train. |
| "There are people who search for a piece of greenery outside their house's front door, which is within walking distance and which they can go to after work or in the summer," said Norbert Franke, president of the German Association of Garden Friends. | "There are people who search for a piece of greenery outside their house's front door, which is within walking distance and which they can go to after work or in the summer," said Norbert Franke, president of the German Association of Garden Friends. |
| The first German garden allotments can be traced back to 1814, when a pastor leased out 24 garden plots. In the 1860s the gardens came to be named after Daniel Gottlob Moritz Schreber, a doctor from Leipzig, who encouraged children's play outside. Today more than 1m allotments are leased out by various societies across Germany. "We have a tiny, postage-stamp-size terrace and it's nice to have a few plants, but myself and my wife really wanted somewhere we could really do some gardening," said Thomas Marzahl, a translator living in Berlin. | The first German garden allotments can be traced back to 1814, when a pastor leased out 24 garden plots. In the 1860s the gardens came to be named after Daniel Gottlob Moritz Schreber, a doctor from Leipzig, who encouraged children's play outside. Today more than 1m allotments are leased out by various societies across Germany. "We have a tiny, postage-stamp-size terrace and it's nice to have a few plants, but myself and my wife really wanted somewhere we could really do some gardening," said Thomas Marzahl, a translator living in Berlin. |
| "We now have a Schrebergarten and it's somewhere we can hang out with friends, grow some nice flowers and some fruit trees." | "We now have a Schrebergarten and it's somewhere we can hang out with friends, grow some nice flowers and some fruit trees." |
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