Knektpass
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 The four Knights | |
| Type | Trick-taking |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 or more |
| Cards | 36 (2-3 players) or 52 (4 or more) |
| Deck | French-suited, Modern Swedish |
| Rank (high→low) | Trumps: A K Q 10 9 8 7 6 Plain suits: A K Q 10 9 8 7 6 |
| Play | clockwise |
| Related games | |
| Rams, Ramsen, Rödskägg | |
| Features: pot, 5 cards, dropping out, exchanging, points count down | |
Knektpass or Knekt-Pass, also called Rams, is an old Swedish card game of the Rams group, mentioned as early as 1834. It is a trick-taking game for two or more players and features the four Jacks as top trumps.
The name Knektpass literally means "Knight Pass" and clearly refers to the four 'Knights' which have been promoted to top trumps, a feature that does not appear in any other variants of Rams. The word pass can mean pass in the sense of a permit or a mountain pass and probably refers to the privilege of the Knights in being able to pass unscathed through a trick, unable to be beaten by the other lesser cards.
Cards
A 36-card pack of the French-suited, 'Modern Swedish' pattern is used. The honours or permanent trumps are the four 'knights' ranked in order: . They are followed by the cards of the trump suit from Ace down to Six, with the exception of the Jack. The plain suits rank in their natural order: A > K > Q > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6. If more than three play, a 52-card pack is used.[1]