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1Where [[UsefulNotes/BritishPubs the Brits have their pubs]], the Germans have the ''Stammtisch'' - a table in a restaurant (or somewhere else where you can get something to drink while sitting) where a more-or-less fixed group of people (almost AlwaysMale, at least in the past) meets informally, but regularly, for drinking, discussions and some TabletopGames.
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3Originally, this was something for the ''Honoratioren'' (notable people), the most important people in a village: The mayor, the doctor, the priest, the teacher, the judge, the richest farmer, and so on. Later however, anyone could sit on a Stammtisch. (Not everyone on the same one, obviously - the point of the Stammtisch is still that it's for a given group of people, and it's considered a honor if outsiders are allowed to join the round.)
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5In small villages where there's no other entertainment (or at least, wasn't until TV became ubiquitous), the Stammtisch was the only kind of entertainment. In most cases, people would play various card games, especially TabletopGame/{{Skat}}. In Bavaria and Franconia you will more likely find the similar game Schafkopf or Cego in Baden.
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7Also, the Stammtisch is a place for discussions, which can get political. Very political. To call a discussion a Stammtisch-discussion implies that it's become pretty populist, and in most cases not of the leftist kind.
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9There were and are also meetings of artists, philosophers and similar people (in this case, more often in coffeehouses) which are also called "Stammtisch", but that's not what most Germans would think of when hearing the word.
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11!!Examples in fiction:
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13* ''Franchise/{{Pumuckl}}'' regularly features Meister Eder at his regulars' table, digesting the most recent experiences with his Pumuckl.

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