Schafkopf Tricks

Dem Beginner ist jederzeit die Möglichkeit geboten, kostenlos zu schafkopfen. Wichtig ist, dass er viel spielt und aus seinen Fehlern lernt. Denn nur, indem die blutigen Anfänger viel Schafkopf spielen, können sie auch Schafkopf lernen.

Es gibt eine ganze Palette an guten Schafkopf-Tipps und —Tricks. Alle werden hier allerdings nicht aufgezählt werden, sondern nur die allerwichtigsten.

The players facing one another across the table automatically form teams. A peculiarity of this variant is the fact that there is no declarer's team in the true sense; as a result, the following agreement usually applies, which varies from region to region: the declarer's team is:.

A mandatory game, the Muss i. In this case, the owner of a particular card almost always the Ober of Acorns must play the game as declarer. Muss has some special features: the game is won if the declarer's team score 60 card points and is schneider free with 30 points correspondingly won as schneider with 90 points.

In addition, no Contra may be given. If the Muss player is 'blocked' gesperrt i. If the Muss player holds all three suit Sows himself, he may also call a Suit Ten if necessary even a Suit King of his choice.

These games, too, are generally only of regional significance, as a result only the most common are described here.

Geier is a derivative of Wenz, in which only the Obers act as trumps. Similarly there are variants in which another card is given the function of the Unters in Wenz.

Suit Wenz Farbwenz is a cross between Wenz and Suit Solo in which, in addition to the Unters as the highest trumps, a trump suit is also chosen.

The Obers are part of their suits which gives eleven trumps. Here too, there are variations in which another card takes on the function of the Unters in Suit Wenz; in Suit Geier Farbgeier , for example, it is the Obers.

Bettel is a classic negative contract, i. In many regions it can be played 'ouvert' Bettel Ouvert or Bettel Brett. Related to Bettel is Ramsch Tout or Pfd; where the soloist aims to take no tricks again, but this time there are trumps Obers, Unters and Hearts.

Sometimes hybrids are also played, where the Obers and Unters are trumps, but there is no trump suit. Ramsch is a variation of the game played if no-one has bid often the 'last man' has the option of announcing Ramsch if the players bidding before him have all passed.

In contrast with the other contracts, everyone plays against everyone else, i. The same trump cards apply as for Rufspiel , but the aim is to score as few card points as possible.

The player with the most points loses and pays all the other players. If two or more players score the same number of points, the one with the most tricks loses.

If the number of tricks is also equal, the player with the most trumps in the tricks loses; if that number is also equal, the player with the higher trump loses.

Special rules adapted from Skat are the Durchmarsch or Mord , which correspond to a "sweep" or "slam", i. A variation of Ramsch is Schieberamsch , a special local variant, where the tricks are passed on clockwise at the end of the game, and where the player who has the fewest points at the end also wins.

Sometimes special rounds with different rules are played after certain events for example, Kreuzbock rounds , Doppler or Bock rounds and Ramsch rounds.

The Ober of Acorns and Ober of Leaves are removed from play before dealing; the dealer deals as usual, but receives only 6 cards himself.

Forehand picks up the 2 cards but may only allowed play a Suit Solo. He passes on pushes or schiebt any two cards face down to middlehand. Middlehand, in turn, picks up the cards and passes any two cards to rearhand; finally rearhand passes two cards of his choice to the dealer, who now has 8 cards; the game is then announced in the event that the player does not want to play a Solo, there are different rules; for example, the waiters can be pushed back to the dealer.

Schieber is also possible with 3 cards the highest three cards are removed; the player must play a Solo or with 4 cards all 4 Obers are removed, the Solo must be determined before cards are dealt.

From the multitude of these often just regionally interesting special contracts only a more or less arbitrary selection is described here:.

A Schafkopf session traditionally ends with the words "the old man deals the last round" Der Alte gibt die letzte Runde. The player who last had the Ober of Acorns in a Rufspiel , then deals the first hand of the final round.

For the last round, special rules sometimes apply double game values, only Solo games or the like. A popular variant in some parts of Bavaria is the "short" Schafkopf which is played with only 24 cards where the '7' and '8' cards of all suits are removed.

Every player only receives six cards 2x3. In the case of Tout, where the offensive players pre-declare a Schwarz win, neither Schneider nor Schwarz is paid but the whole game counts double.

In non-tournament play for money, the winnings for the hand are commonly exchanged between the winners and losers at the end of the hand before the next shuffle.

Finally all cards are shuffled again, this time by the player to the left of the last shuffling player. Following this rule all players have the opportunity to shuffle, cut and announce first.

All financial demands from the last game are final and binding when the card deck is cut. If no player announces their intent to play all say 'Weiter' , there are several possibilities, which should be agreed upon before the start of play:.

After the players receive the first hand of cards four cards and before they take the second hand they can double the value of the game either by knocking on the table or calling "doppeln" to double.

Normally a specific token e. Depending on the exact local rules only the first, only one or all players can double the game.

If more than one player doubles the game the factors get multiplied, i. These factors take effect after all other bonuses are added.

In the case of Tout the game cost again double but no Schneider or Schwarz bonus is paid. The value of the game can be doubled further by Contra.

Schafkopf uses a highly unorthodox card ranking. First off, 10s are ranked above the king, just below the ace. Secondly, all queens and jacks are not considered to be part of their own suit, but are considered trumps!

Queens and jacks rank in the following order: high clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds low. Taken altogether, that means that the rank of cards in spades, hearts, and clubs is high A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7 low.

Got all that? The first order of business is determining who will take the widow. If the first player passes, the next player to the left can choose to pick it up.

If they, too, refuse, the dealer gets the last chance at picking up the widow. If a player does decide to take the widow, they become the declarer , and their two opponents become the defenders.

There are three basic modes of play. In partner play , hearts are trumps and the eight Jacks and Queens form the highest trumps.

A player who won the auction can recruit a partner by calling a specific Ace. The owner of that Ace is subject to certain restrictions when playing cards of that suit.

Wenz is a solo game in which only the four Jacks are trumps, similar to grand in Skat. Suit solo is a solo play in which the soloist chooses the trump suit and the Jacks and Queens from the highest trumps.

In the auction, the highest contract is Sie — a rare play that can only be played by a player whose hand consists of the eight Jacks and Queens, and which is automatically won.

Wenz tout is wenz with an undertaking to win all tricks. The hierarchy of plays continues with suit solo, wenz and partner play.

In case of a tie the player to the left of the dealer takes precedence over the following player etc. The right to choose the contract is auctioned in a way that attempts to minimize the flow of information.

If no player bids, then according to the official rules the cards are thrown together and the deal passes to the next player.

Before the second card has been played, an opposing player may double the value of a game by calling contra. The playing party may immediately double once more by calling re.

There are numerous variations of the basic rules. In some regions the game is played with 24 cards, dealt in batches of three.

In the Palatinate, which was part of Bavaria from till , Bavarian Schafkopf is played with 32 French-style cards.

Geier and geier tout are like wenz and wenz tout, except that the Queens rather than the Jacks are the only trumps.

Occasionally one also permits variants in which the Kings or the Tens are the only trumps. Sometimes the basic suit solo play can be combined with wenz into suit wenz , i.

Suit geier is formed similarly. As in Skat , if no player bids it is customary to play ramsch , a negative game in which all players are on their own.

Trumps are as in partner play: All Queens, all Jacks, and diamonds. The player who accumulates the greatest number of card points in tricks loses.

But as a special exception, a player who wins all tricks wins the play. In other variants, instead of a ramsch the player who holds the Queen of clubs may have to announce a play, or a partner play is played in which players sitting opposite form a partnership.

Also as in Skat, players may have the option to announce a nullo. In this play there are no trumps and the Tens rank between Jacks and Nines.

The soloist must not win a single trick. In the case of five players the dealer pauses. In the case of three players one always plays with 24 cards and there are no partnership plays.

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Rules of the game will eventually be included here. Meanwhile here is a link to the Schafkopfschule which has all kinds of information about the game, including rules in both German and English.

Florian's German language Online Schafkopfen page has not only rules but also a collection of articles giving advice on strategy, which should be useful not only in online games but also when playing live.