It’s a frigid, snowy day in Alpena. The perfect day to hunker down and play cards with good company.
Marilyn Klingshirn looks down at the pile of cards in the center of the table — all hearts.
Then, she looks down at her hand.
“I got no hearts," she says. "I guess I’m heartless!” Her table of friends erupts with laughter.
Klingshirn runs Spitzer games for the Association of Lifelong Learners, a social club of mostly seniors who meet up for events and lectures.
Spitzer is a card game that’s been played in the Thunder Bay area for more than a century. Every Thursday at 10 a.m., Klingshirn’s group of about 10 people gather in a classroom at Alpena Community College.
To Klingshirn’s left is Kathy Muszynski. Across from her is Cyndi Hutchinson, and Cindy Kwasp is to her right.
Cards quickly hit the table and get dragged to the winning player. As the game goes on, sneaky alliances are formed and points are scribbled down on a piece of grid paper.
The game moves fast but the ladies are able to sneak in bits of smack-talk between rounds.
“I have something to say to you once we’re done,” Kwasp says to Klingshirn.
“You think you’ll even remember it?” Klingshirn says back.
“Oh trust me, I will!”
The tip of the pointer finger on Michigan's mitten is one of the few places in the country where you can find this game being played. But not much is actually known about its origins in the area.
Klingshirn said she grew up with Spitzer being played in her house by her parents and relatives. She grew up in the near Posen, a town just further up the Lake Huron coast.
“My mom did some Polish cooking, so she had some pierogi or some golumpki … especially when my aunt and uncle came visiting, they always played Spitzer,” she said. “Of course, as a kid, I'd watch them a little bit, but it wasn't something that interested.”
Klingshirn assumes that based on the name, Spitzer was likely brought over by German immigrants in the late 1800s. It took hold in communities like Alpena, Posen, Rogers City and Long Rapids.
Want to play?
A detailed Spitzer rule book can be downloaded and printed here.
Klingshirn’s grandfather was a German man who moved up to northern Michigan from Ohio. He passed the game to her father. But Klingshirn herself didn’t get serious about the game until later in life, when her late husband reintroduced it to her.
“That's when I learned how to play Spitzer, after I was married,” Klingshirn said. “It got to the point where I got comfortable enough where my father-in-law, my husband and I used to play at a bar in Posen. We were in the league there.”
Spitzer is sometimes called the most complicated card game of all time. But many of its basic rules align with other “trick” games like Euchre.
Players try to win rounds by playing the highest scoring card on the table. However, Spitzer is known for its nuances like not knowing who your teammate is until sometimes halfway through a round.
Then there’s the sneaky Spitzer card — the seven of diamonds — which will almost guarantee a trick if played, but is not actually worth any points.
The 14 “trump” cards all carry their own score and are usually written on cheat sheets for new players. Klingshirn said expert players will memorize what each winning card is worth.
“It's just a fun, challenging game. Good exercise for the brain is what I keep going back to, and it's a good thing to do with friends,” she said.
Klingshirn said playing Spitzer with her family and her group of friends are some of her greatest memories.
And she hopes she can pass Spitzer on to some younger card players so this fast-paced card game lives on as a piece of northeast Michigan culture.
