Many of our users have been asking us the same question… ‘Why the name Shnarped?’. I decided that a blog response would be the best approach. This blog will be posted on our new company blog sometime very soon.
What is a Shnarp?
Everyone’s asking, so it’s time to explain. Shnarps (aka shnarples) is a rummy-like card game played by the vast majority of major and minor professional hockey teams. The term is being further popularized by the recent release of Shnarped, a hockey app created by myself (@DustinSproat) and my two cofounders (@kylehagel and @kamilsikorski)
On road trips players get meal per-diems. While not a huge amount of coin, this per diem is handed out at the start of a road trip as cash in denominations that are very convenient for playing cards. Most buses have big card tables at the back, and quickly shnarps games of 6 – 8 guys fires up around them, often with rookies being left either seated on the floor or out of the game completely. The stakes aren’t really that high; it’s sort of like fantasy hockey in the sense that the pride of winning outweighs the value of the cash received.
As a Princeton graduate and an engineer, I was pre-labeled one of the smart guys on most teams. For this reason I would sometimes stay removed from Shnarps games (and crossword puzzles) to ensure at least a mild preservation of said reputation. Shnarps is a game where experience, shiftiness, and sobriety outweigh educational qualifications (implying I was shitty at it).
As for the term ‘Shnarped’ itself, we don’t really know what it means. You don’t actually say the words ‘I shnarped you!’ in the card game. The word has
neither positive nor negative connotations. We like it as a name because it is kind of a cool word, can be used as a verb, and is distinctly pro hockey, much like our app.
Jason Jozsa, a hockey player with over 400 pro games under his belt, and triple that number of Shnarps games, had this to say of his favorite pastime:
Shnarps is more than just a game, it has a life of its own. No other game can create more alliances that last less than a minute, or more enemies that last a lifetime. How else can you put a positive spin on a 10 hour bus ride through the night after being shut out by the worst team in the league. Shnarps was always there.
If anyone has ideas how we could use the word better to represent something on our app (ie. pounds or public messages could be called shnarps?) please feel free to share.
Sincerely,
Dustin Sproat