Klaberjass site comes up trumps

COVID-19 brought a halt to face-to-face interaction in many fields, but not the game of klaberjass, which participants are playing more frequently than ever and challenging people across the globe.

Many in the community are so passionate about the game, that not playing it during lockdown seemed absurd. Darren Levy came to the rescue, creating a private klaberjass site, which he runs from his computer. It features the Jewish version of the game.

Instead of playing once a week in person, the approximately 50 users of the site can now play the trick-taking card game every day. People from South Africa, Israel, Australia and England have played on the site.

Klaberjass, pronounced “Clubbius” by those who spoke to the SA Jewish Report, means “the jack of clubs”. It probably originated in the Dutch and Belgian “low countries” before spreading through central and Eastern Europe, where it became a particular favourite among Jewish communities. The game includes Yiddish-like terms for cards and plays.

Jewish klaberjass possibly arrived in South Africa at the turn of the previous century by Ashkenazi immigrants. One expression probably unique to Jewish circles is “on the bimah”, which refers to having the final opportunity to call a suit for trumps.

The main version of the game is played four-handed, either in teams of two or with individual players competing. Usually, players score points by winning tricks with high-value cards.

“It’s poor man’s bridge, with 70% luck and 30% skill,” says Lesley Cowan, who has loved klaberjass since learning to play it as an eight-year-old.

This game has been a constant in Levy’s family, with his dad and late uncle being klaberjass players. Levy has played it since he was 10. He has won a tournament and a series, in which he amassed 1 000 points and the opponent got zero. “I just love the game,” he says.

For many years, this software developer wanted to create a klaberjass site. Knowing the available online versions didn’t include the rules South Africans followed, Levy eventually knuckled down and created a site customised to how he and his compatriots play the game.

“I finished it during the lockdown,” he says. “My friend was nagging me for it.” He and the other 15 or so regulars play klaberjass on his site almost every night.

As a thank you for creating it, they gave Levy a gift of a framed, signed picture of Manchester United legend Eric Cantona. He even expedited the iPad klaberjass version so that Cape Town-based octogenarian Selwyn Furman could play it while in hospital last year.

“My dad’s been ill,” says Furman’s son, Mark. “The pandemic isolated him. Suddenly, there was no klaberjass, no interaction. It’s remarkable how the online game has brought him into contact with other people regularly, having fun. It saved him.”

Mark, a consultant paediatric gastroenterologist, says, “We’ve met so many friends online. There’s a great klaberjass community now. They’re reaching out to wish my dad better. I can’t even explain how close the connection is with everyone online from across the generations. They love ‘zeida’. That’s the nickname they gave my dad.”

Having played klaberjass during his youth in Lithuania, Selwyn’s dad immigrated to South Africa in 1903. “I learnt the game from my father and brothers,” he says. “I started playing 70 years ago, long before varsity.”

In the 1970s, Selwyn competed in a fours tournament to raise money for Maccabi. “Unfortunately, we were only runners-up,” says the retired accountant who was the first person to have a second Barmitzvah at Wynberg Shul. “In the last hand, I drew too many trumps. They got an extra point.”

For 30 years before the pandemic hit, Selwyn played klaberjass with a group every Tuesday night. “We used to have tea and a spread,” he says. “We would go from house to house, except when it was yom tov.”

His son, who lives in London, says, “Whenever we got together, we spent until the early hours in the morning having a whisky and playing klaberjass.”

Mark learnt klaberjass intensely during the months leading up to Habonim camp in 1983 after being told, “You have to learn the game to come on machaneh.”

David Zeidel, on the other hand, learnt klaberjass at Betar machaneh. He’s been playing it with friends since his university days about 30 years ago.

“For about 10 years, four of us used to meet on a Sunday morning at a restaurant, have breakfast and play there,” says Zeidel, who lectures at different business schools in South Africa. “Now, we meet to play it once a week online. Even people in their 70s and 80s are enjoying it online. Some of them used to meet at clubs to play bridge.”

Zeidel has not entered any competition, calling himself “a complete social player who plays just for fun”.

Similarly, Cowan’s desire to play only for fun meant she did not  play the game at university, where it was the gamblers who played klaberjass.

She learnt the game when she was about eight years old. “My late dad taught me klaberjass,” she says. “We used to play singles every night for about 10 or so years. That was my social life.”

After university, she was introduced to a klaberjass school. “There, I started playing with a guy called David Rogers,” says Cowan. “He introduced me to his friends. We have been playing together in the same school since my son was born 27 years ago.”

The first time she played following the passing of her dad 17 years ago, she got her best cards. “It was like he was actually there giving me these brilliant cards.”

For the past eight years, she has been playing in a new school. “Then Darren Levy produced this online site, which is absolutely phenomenal.”

Being able to talk to fellow players on the site is something that Cowan and Mark enjoy. “You can discuss the hands,” says Mark. “There’s the banter, the inevitable criticism questioning why you did something. If it wasn’t for the audio capability, it wouldn’t be that much fun. If you want, you can create a video and you can see one another playing.”

Mark’s dad relishes the brainstorming, tactical and social elements of klaberjass. “I thought I was a fantastic player,” he says. “As you meet more players, you learn more and realise you’re not so fantastic.”

He describes Levy’s site as “a real godsend”. “You can play more than you would play in person. Every day I play.”

Says Cowan, “In contrast to bridge, you can play klaberjass without studying. If you haven’t played it for 20 years, you can pick it up immediately. It’s simple to learn.”

“It’s just a way of spending time with friends,” Zeidel says.

Says Levy, “I’m a person who loves strategy and thinking games. You can play with a partner and discuss tactics. You can come up with new ideas.”

• The site hasn’t been launched publicly yet. Anyone who wants to play can contact Levy, ticklevy@gmail.com, who will add them to the Klaberjass WhatsApp group.