Polish card game: does anyone know the name of this particular game?

[Stupidface]

In the course of rereading The Colditz* Story, I came across the following description of a certain Polish card game:

There was also a card game for two players which we learnt from the
Poles, called ‘Gapin’, which means, in Polish, ‘a person who looks but does
not see’! The term applied well to the game, for it was one in which many
cards lay face upwards on the table. These cards could be made use of,
provided a player held certain corresponding cards in his hand. The open
cards were continually changing, so that concentration and quick thinking
were necessary.

The game was aggravating, for after finishing a turn an opponent could
promptly make good use of a card overlooked. It was so exasperating a game
that I have known friends not to be on speaking terms for days because of
humiliation and wounded pride involved in the showing up of an opponent’s
obtuseness. Rupert Barry and I had a running ‘Gapin Contest’ with high
stakes in Lagergeld which ended with the payment, after the war, of a fat
cheque—to Rupert!

The author of the book appears to have gotten the name of the game muddled, as a search for a card game called "Gapin" doesn't yield a thing.  Would someone be kind enough to solve the mystery based on the above description?








*Castle Colditz was the site of one of the most notorious WWII prison camps, being the camp where would-be escapees from other camps were sent upon their recapture.  As the author of the book puts it:

For this reason, it was always growing in population; a centre of gravity, towards which escapers moved from all over Germany when not moving in the opposite direction under their own steam!

[phinix]

In the course of rereading The Colditz* Story, I came across the following description of a certain Polish card game:

There was also a card game for two players which we learnt from the
Poles, called ‘Gapin’, which means, in Polish, ‘a person who looks but does
not see’! The term applied well to the game, for it was one in which many
cards lay face upwards on the table. These cards could be made use of,
provided a player held certain corresponding cards in his hand. The open
cards were continually changing, so that concentration and quick thinking
were necessary.

The game was aggravating, for after finishing a turn an opponent could
promptly make good use of a card overlooked. It was so exasperating a game
that I have known friends not to be on speaking terms for days because of
humiliation and wounded pride involved in the showing up of an opponent’s
obtuseness. Rupert Barry and I had a running ‘Gapin Contest’ with high
stakes in Lagergeld which ended with the payment, after the war, of a fat
cheque—to Rupert!

The author of the book appears to have gotten the name of the game muddled, as a search for a card game called "Gapin" doesn't yield a thing.  Would someone be kind enough to solve the mystery based on the above description?

Haha, OK, first of all, there is no such word in Polish language like Gapin
Correct word is gapa - someone who looked at something but missed it/didn't see it, overlooked it.

So card game you are looking for is Gapa, or "game of gapa". Its a kids card game, but of course adults can play it too

[phinix]

Yes, there is not