Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The: It's all in the cards; Sheepshead is sensation at annual Glendale

Las Vegas has plenty of poker. Atlantic City deals round after round of blackjack. But in Glendale, there's only one card game the crowds come from all over to play each April.

Southeastern Wisconsin loves its Sheepshead.

The old German card game lives on as fans play regularly at taverns and around local kitchen tables.

It recently inspired 275 people to compete in the Annual Glendale Open Sheepshead Tournament at Nicolet High School said to be the largest competition in the country. And the game has taken on a youthful new look as second- and third-generation players play Sheepshead on the Internet and exchange strategies in Web site chat rooms.

"Wisconsin is sort of looked at as the Sheepshead Mecca of the world," said Ken Kurtz, a Racine resident who has watched local Sheepshead popularity thrive for decades. Kurtz organizes local tournaments where hundreds of players from a Yahoo! group meet in person and play live instead of on a computer.

"It's just a great card game, you never get tired of it. I'm glad to see that there are many young people getting involved in it."

To an outsider, the game may at first look brooding and serious. At the recent tournament held at Nicolet High School, competitors with last names like Offenbecklher, Schimmelpfennig and Milbauer used skills handed down to them from grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles. Cards were dealt three at a time before players went around the circle quietly discarding one card at a time. But the intensity of the game also had lighter moments.

At one point at the Glendale tournament, a player screamed "YES!" and stood up from his chair.

"People get excited about it, and they say why did you play that, that was a stupid play,' " said Dennis Staral, Sheepshead coordinator for the Glendale gathering. "But they're all friends."

Camaraderie is built into the card game's history. Most accounts date Sheepshead back to Middle Europe in the late 1700s. Back then, peasants allegedly invented the game "Schafskopf" to vent their frustration over the government. The king card was given a lower rank.

The name had nothing to do with sheep, either. It referred to where the game was usually played on the head of barrels or kegs known as Schaffen.

By the 1800s, German immigrants brought the game to the U.S., particularly Milwaukee, where many settled. Families continued passing the game on from generation to generation, playing Sheepshead at home, in favorite watering holes and, more recently, at annual festivals including German Fest.

Many bars in the area have ongoing Sheepshead leagues with strong membership. This year, PrideFest is expected to add a Sheepshead tent for the first time, Kurtz said.

"You give me any chance to play Sheepshead, especially in a tournament, and I'll go," said Robert Kline, 57, who drove from Whitewater to compete in the recent competition at Nicolet High School.

One round into the meet, Kline was sure his bad luck had already taken him out of the prize-winning standing. But it wasn't enough to wipe the smile off his face.

Most longtime players say nostalgia is another primary motive for continuing with the game. Staral, a Glendale resident, learned how to play Sheepshead when he was 5 years old by watching his mother play with her brothers and sisters during visits to an old farmhouse in Kewaunee County. He went on to compete in numerous Sheepshead tournaments including being named State Sheepshead Champion in 1990. The state tournament died out in the early 1990s, Staral said.

A few years later, officials from the Nicolet Recreation Department asked Staral if he would help resurrect a large tournament. Interest in the tournament grew steadily each year from 20 entries in the 1994 tournament to 275 this year, with a waiting list. This year, there were 55 tables playing three rounds of 15 hands.

Going strong

"It is really remarkable . . . it's bursting at the seams," said Staral, who has helped to turn the annual gathering into a combined effort with the Glendale Senior Citizens Club. The tournament has become so involved, each competitor now receives a goodie bag stuffed with gifts from sponsors. There is a concession stand, serving hot dogs and, of course, bratwurst. Sprecher Brewing Co. donates root beer, which is sold for $1 a piece. Dozens of other local businesses also donate raffle prizes.

The tournament is so big these days, organizers have come to count on its proceeds to help run senior programs including expert lectures and elderly driving refresher courses, which could never be offered otherwise. Last year, the $10 entry fees and raffle tickets brought in $3,000, making it one of the biggest fund-raisers for the organizations.

"When I first got involved in this, I was thinking to myself, it's going to be five or six people playing cards," said Kirk Krychowiak, director of recreation for the Nicolet High School District. "Then I realized that this is a huge event. It's more than just a tournament. People talk about this."

Kathleen Kuhlenbeck, who enters the Nicolet Sheepshead Tournament each year, also plays year round through the league she runs at Trysting Place and Pub in Menomonee Falls and two other tournaments she organizes. She said her uncles taught her the game when she was 8 years old, and she can't imagine what her life would have been like without playing.

"I've gotten to meet a lot of people," Kuhlenbeck said.

Carol Laur, a volunteer for the Glendale Senior Citizens Club, imagines the game's popularity will stay strong in years to come. When her in-laws moved to Florida, they taught friends there to play Sheepshead so they wouldn't have to lose their heritage.

"It's such a Wisconsin game. It's such a family thing," she said.

Sheepshead ahead

Looking for a place to play Sheepshead? Here are some options:

-- Play on the computer. Yahoo! has Sheepshead available it its Games category. Go to www.yahoo.com and type in "sheepshead." Or visit one of numerous other Sheepshead Web sites offering free sheepshead software.

-- Several taverns across the state will be hosting sheepshead tournaments. Shooters, at 101 N. Main St., Fond du Lac, will host a sheepshead tournament on Saturday. Call (920) 924-9949 for more information. On May 7, Bowl A Vard Lanes in Madison will host another tournament. Call (608) 244-7246 for more information. Or visit www.sheepsheadcentral.com for a complete list of Yahoo offline games.

-- Mark your calendar: Next year's Glendale Open Sheepshead Tournament will be held April 1, 2006, at Nicolet High School. Call (414) 351-7566 for more information.

Vikki Ortiz

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