The History of Smoking Cat

The card game came to us from abroad…

Father Establisher

Would you like to read about how the card game Smoking Cat was created, where it came from, and how it continues to evolve today? Welcome to the wave of the time machine that will take you into the history of the Smoking Cat and safely back to the present.

The 1980s

Around 1988 or 1989, Kocour, Ing. Vraanek, Plocan, Luboš and Hugo played cards in the toilets at the Arabská High School in Prague. They played Filky, a gambling version of Smoking Cat, where players bet cigarettes—something some of them are reluctant to admit today. They often played the game at cottages, but after graduation the group broke up and the game completely disappeared.

Filky at Arabská

Filky (Obers / Q) was a game played in a similar way to Smoking Cat, but the penalty cards were four Obers and probably the last trick. The red Ober was for 2 penalty points, all other Obers were for 1.

The game was played for premium cigarettes like Select (costing 10 CZK, a higher tier above Petra); cheaper brands like Start were excluded. While winning a cigarette was nice, the primary focus was the pure passion for the game itself.

The 1990’s

Fatal trip to Ukraine

Early in 1994, a group of friends went skiing to the CSKA mountain resort in Ukraine. The trip for two busloads of people was organized by Самая смраклая Marge. And it was in Ukraine that Smoking Cat began to be played, essentially according to the rules that are used today, except that back then the last trick was not counted, the game was played only on penalty cards and there was no shamefull word in the game, but if you lost, you had to drink.

It was on this fatal trip that the players who are now at the top of the Smoking Cat world rankings were born: Grupa, Kocour, Padre, Marge, Osvald, Bardotka …well, it was quite an interesting trip. Kocour recalls it in his as-yet-unpublished memoirs as legendary. He literally says, “Vodka and the Smoking Cat changed my life then…”

So “The Smoking Cat” appeared in Ukraine, but no one knows anymore who brought the game there. Maybe it was Slon. Slon was a very strange person; he could easily have been the one to bring the game. So it wasn’t a Ukrainian game. Someone must have brought it there and taught it to others. It was, quite simply, a new game.

Transfer of Rose Gesichten footballers to the Smoking Cat

The greatest legends of the Smoking Cat played this fantastic game in the first half of the 1990s as part of their training or to celebrate draws and losses by an acceptable margin for the Rose Gesichten mini-soccer superclub. Many players were recruited from this superclub; a total of 13 Rose Gesichten players actively participated in the Smoking Cats tournaments, and some of them went on to become champions of major tournaments.  

The players on that below-average Level 6 Hanspaul League team were the following card players of the Smoking Cat: (image)

  • goalkeeper and popular referee: Grupa
  • the following players were in the lineup on defense: Hugo, Kraken, Fleisch, or Fisha
  • The captain’s armband was worn by: Kooza
  • the reserve squad consisted of: Maara and Remek
  • the following players excelled on offense: Kocour, Suk, and Viktoor
  • in later years, the Rose Gesichten’s goal was defended by: Zahrada

THEY NEVER MANAGED TO ADVANCE ANYWHERE! That’s probably why these players turned to card games.

Legendary pub Krystal in Karlín

The people from the Arabská high school, from the trip to Ukraine, and from the soccer team overlapped to some extent. They would meet after Hanspaul League matches at the Krystal restaurant in Karlín—at that time near the Karlín soccer fields. There, this group of people started playing Smoking Cat quite spontaneously. There were often two decks of cards in play at the table; this happened quite frequently because there were 10 people playing.

Later, at Krystal in Karlín, the first draw for the 2009 World Series took place.

Some people played Smoking Cat with great enthusiasm for many tens or hundreds of evenings—essentially for another 15 years—mainly throughout the 1990s, until the Internet came along and people stopped gathering.

The 2000’s

The Origin of the Name of the Card Game “Smoking Cat” (2009)

The name for the card game Smoking Cat came about in May 2009, when the game had already settled on the existing rules. It was clear that the rules were completely unique, that no one else played the game this way, so Kocour and Lucas agreed to name the game. The name Smoking Cat captured the essence of the game, because it is a very relaxed game, only one person ever loses, money is never at stake, and it is simply a calm and fun game.

The First Smoking Cat World Series Tournament (SCWS 2009)

The game had a name, it was quite interesting, and it would have been a shame if all the knowledge about this game had been lost. Back then, there really wasn’t that much playing going on because as people get older, they don’t get together as much anymore. And so the idea came up to organize a public tournament in Smoking Cat, because it would be great to meet up on a professional level.

The Smoking Cat World Union (SCWU) was founded, which organizes the official Smoking Cat World Series (SCWS) tournament once a year.

The first Smoking Cat World Series (SCWS 2009) tournament took place on September 26, 2009, in Kravín, Únětice. A big THANK YOU goes to Lucas for his financial support of this event, which made it possible to organize the tournament with certain success and almost without any major investment. Ladies also played in the first edition of the SCWS.

The 2010s: More tournaments on the horizon…

In the years that followed, Smoking Cat grew significantly. The tournament venue moved to the Follow the Cat studio in Bubeneč, Prague 6, where several editions of the Smoking Cat World Series have since then taken place. How these tournaments turned out, what was at stake, etc., can be seen here: SCWS 2009, SCWS 2010, SCWS 2011, SCWS 2012, SCWS2013, SCWS2014, SCWS2015.

Smoking Cat World Series 2022

Since 2012, the World Series has been rounded off by a new Masters tournament for the top ten players of the season.

In 2013, a new type of challenger tournament was created—in May, the first ladies’ challenger Košiška Cup took place in Kladno, the challenger Kočičí ostrov (Cat Island) in Litoměřice had to be cancelled due to floods in June 2013, and the Prague challenger Fiesta del Sol, on the other hand, took place in August amid the sweltering southern heat.

The entire 2013 season is archived in the historical roster Smoking Cat Season 2013.

SCWU has set the official start and end dates for the playing season. We will now kick off the cat-playing season at Frýbestr on January 25 at 8:50 a.m. The playing season is concluded with the Masters tournament.

In 2014, a number of new official tournaments were added. The new types of tournaments were the Smoking Cat National Tour - Mongolian International Championship and AfroCat—The African Cup. In April, the historic first tournament weekend was organized, the Saturday exhibition JokeRiders Cup and the Sunday club tournament Team Championship. The first year of GreenHorn Cat was held, which is intended for newcomers of the season—such a player can enter the newcomers tournament only once, and that is in the season of the beginning of his/her career.

The entire 2014 season is archived in the historical roster Smoking Cat Season 2014.

In 2015, the National Tour was in full swing in all its glory. National Tour 2015 included a total of 5 tournaments: Mongolian Open, AfroCat, US Open, Czech Open, Cats&Elks and Dr. Alban. However, due to low participation, the popular JokeRiders Cup was not held this year, and its future is still uncertain. In the diverse 2015 season, 15 official tournaments were held in the categories nationals, challengers, majors, best of season, newcomers, event and friendlies. 

The 2016 season was marred by an unpleasant situation caused by players withdrawing at the last minute without substitutes, which finally exhausted the patience of the organizers of the mind sports games, thus this season was prematurely ended with the spring major team tournament Team Championship 2016 and the mandatory tournament at the international Czech Open 2016 at the Tipsport Arena in Pardubice, where the classic summer challenger Fiesta del Sol 2016 took place.

SCWU resumed its activities after two years with the only tournament of the season, the Galactic Series 2018 major, and then with two majors of the season, the 2019 Team Championship and the InterGalaxy Series.

The 2020’s

Pro rok 2020 byla rozepsaná již plná sezóna v novém pojetí o 10 turnajích různých úrovní: 3 dvoukolové turnaje National Tour, 3 tříkolové turnaje Classic Tour (původně challengers), 2 čtyřkolové majory Team Championship a World Series, dvoukolový GreenHorn Cat turnaj nováčků a galavečer Masters.

Hned v první sezóně se ovšem nehrály 4 kolové majory a sezóna se dohrávala až v květnu roku 2021.

Zavedl se nový systém bodování sezóny a mělo se změnit kompletní bodování i pro celou historii. To se však nestalo hned.

Zrodily se nové trofeje pro major turnaje, originální trofej pro nejlepšího hráče sezóny a také šály pro víteze Masters, které se udělovaly i zpětně pro vítěze z let 2012 až 2015 všem dosavadním vítězům Smoking Cat Masters.

2025

A year that marks a new era for the Smoking Cat community. A new website with clear game statistics has been born and a new online game for the general public is on project.