GNAV

The origins of Gnav lie in the French children's card game of Mécontent (Malcontent i.e. "unhappy") whose first references date to the early 16th century. This game had migrated to Italy by the mid-16th century where it was named "Malcontento" but it was in the early 18th century that the first dedicated decks for what became known as Cuccù (Cuckoo) appeared; the pack consisting of 38 cards. As in the original game, suits were irrelevant but rank was important. The new pack consisted of two identical sequences of 19 cards each, including a Fool. The game was also known to be played with wooden pieces in Venice during the late 18th century, possibly as a way of avoiding the stamp tax.

Since the game was popular among sailors and mercenaries in the eighteenth century, it spread rapidly to other parts of Europe, changing its name and generating local variations in the number of cards or images portrayed. By the time it had reached Denmark as Gniao (Italian for miaow), it had 42 cards; the earliest packs being produced by Jacob Holmblad in the 1820s or 1830s. The game became known as Gnav when the game was taken to Norway by Danish officials in the days when the two countries were united as Denmark-Norway. At that time it was played with both cards and men (playing pieces resembling chess pawns). The latter probably originated under Christian VI (1730–1746), the Pietist king, during whose reign a ban on card games was introduced to lessen the misery of reckless gambling, but the game's popularity among commoners meant that it was given a new life as a game with pieces, the images being glued to the base so they could not be seen when stood up. The men were usually kept in a leather bag. Since it was no longer a card game, it was even allowed to be played on Sundays and over Christmas. As a result, it changed from a gambling game to a children's game during the 19th century and it is still seen as a game for the Christmas season today. In Norway, both the card game and variant using pieces are still played. Gnav was also taken to the Netherlands where it became known as Slabberjan.

The game is first mentioned in Sweden in 1741, as Cambio (Italian for "exchange"), also called Campio, Camphio, Camfio or Kamfio. In 1833 this became Kille (probably a distortion of "Harlequin", given the special rules for that card in the Swedish version of the game), which became the common form of the game around 1850.

In 1979, a new Gnav pack, designed by Astrid Pilegaard Larsen, was produced to coincide with a games exhibition, with the intention of rescuing the game from obscurity. Gnav packs are still available in Norway today.

Hypp

Hypp packs were made in Norway until the 1980s and the game is known as early as 1859 in Denmark (as Hyp). They were the same as Gnav packs but consisted of only 1 set of the 21 distinct cards. One set of rules accompanying the cards switches the order of the Owl and the Fool. The cards were formerly single-ended, but the most recent packs by Saga Kunstforlag were double-ended.

Hypp is a game of chance in which cards are dealt in 'heaps' (hence the name) and players bet on the cards at the bottom of each heap. It appears related to the French game of Petits Paquets, the game of Bankafalet described by Charles Cotton in 1674 and the old Czech game of Hromadky which is known as far back as 1609.

Slabberjan

Similar to Gnav but with a different ranking (highest to lowest): Cavalier (Kap-af) > Bird (Vogel) > Cat (Poesje) > Tavern (Herberge) > Numerals 12 to 1 > 0 (zero) > Blank (Blind, a blank card) > Pot (Pot) > Mask (Smoel) > Fool (Nar).

Kille

The deck comprises 42 cards of a single suit, comprising two copies of 21 distinct cards, in the ranking (highest to lowest):