In 1871, the infamous Polaris expedition set sail in search of the North Pole. From the beginning, there was conflict between the American Captain Charles Francis Hall and the German Chief Scientist Emil Bessels. In October of 1871, Hall died under mysterious circumstances. An exhumation of his body in 1968 revealed he’d ingested a large quantity of arsenic in the weeks preceding his death.

In the fall of 1872, the remaining nineteen travelers were marooned on a five mile-sheet of ice for close to six months. The survivors built huts out of ice and snow, and hunted seals for food. During the ordeal, a German immigrant taught the survivors how to play a game with homemade cards that he called euchre.

One survivor reportedly shared that playing euchre allowed him to focus on the basics – to accept his dire situation and even begin enjoying life aboard the ice sheet.

Euchre began as a variation of an older card game called Juckerspiel  carried over by German immigrants as they traveled across the United States in the nineteenth century. Based upon an abbreviated deck of cards, euchre grew to become one of the most popular games in the United States. The two games share striking similarities, and experts believe the word “euchre” is an Americanization of the name “jucker” in juckerspiel. The jacks — called “bowers” in euchre — are the most powerful cards in the game.  And the symbolism of the bowers continues in pop culture. The lead character, Jack Bauer, from the hit TV series 24 Hours is undoubtedly linked to euchre.