Mulatschak is a trick-taking game for two to five players from Austria's Salzburg region. It is also known as Murln, Murlen and Fuchzenawa — “fifteen down”. The name describes the goal: everyone starts with 15 points and counts down; the first player to reach zero wins.
The name comes from Hungarian: mulatság means entertainment or merriment. It also gave Austrian German the word “Mulatschag” for a lively celebration — a fitting name for a long evening of cards.
Mulatschak belongs to the Rams family. A player who considers their hand too weak may sit the round out. That costs one point and can be cheaper than playing without taking a single trick. This choice is an important part of the tactics.
It is played with the double-German pack (the Tell pattern): Acorns, Leaves, Hearts and Bells, with Sow, King, Ober and Unter instead of Ace, King, Queen and Jack. The figures are not decoration — they are characters from Schiller's William Tell. The first such cards were made by József Schneider in Pest around 1837, and the Tell imagery was a way of smuggling Hungarian liberty symbolism past the censors: a Swiss freedom fighter on a playing card raised no suspicion.
Bells — in the French pack: Diamonds
Ober: Stüssi d. Flurschütz · Unter: Itell Reding
Acorns — in the French pack: Clubs
Ober: Wilhelm Tell · Unter: Rudolf d. Harras
Hearts — in the French pack: Hearts
Ober: Hermann Geszler · Unter: Kuoni d. Hirt
Leaves — in the French pack: Spades
Ober: Ulrich v. Rudenz · Unter: Walter Fürst
Tap a sign: the four suits, what they are called in the French pack, and who is on the card.
The Weli is the six of bells and is trump in every round, ranked directly below the trump Sow (in the French pack: the trump Ace). It is first recorded in the early 1850s, when a card maker in Bozen inscribed “WELLI” on the six of bells; from 1855 it belongs to the Salzburg pattern. The 36-card pack played here therefore holds only eight bells: the six is not missing, it is called the Weli. The version with the other sixes taken out — 33 cards — is common too, and the settings offer it.
With 36 cards every suit runs from the six up to the Sow — only bells has none, because its six is the Weli.
With 33 cards the other sixes come out. The Weli stays — it was never an ordinary six.
Mulatschak has many regional variants. The app uses a common version: bidding, choosing trump, exchanging cards and then playing five tricks while following suit, playing trump and beating the current trick whenever possible. House rules such as doubling, sitting out, the home stretch and pack size can be adjusted in Settings. With five players, the dealer sits out. The full rules are available under “Rules”.
The card faces are original drawings. The signs and figures of the double-German pack are centuries-old common heritage; the artwork of today's manufacturers is not. Nothing here was scanned or traced from a modern pack. If you prefer international cards, choose the French pack in Settings.
Where sources disagree, this page follows the better-documented account. Corrections with a source are welcome at mulatschak (at) metzner.uk.