![]() The complete deck required for Wendish Schafkopf. In this case a French deck with German suit colours | |
Origin | Germany |
---|---|
Type | Point-trick |
Players | 4 |
Cards | 24 or 32 |
Deck | Bavarian or French |
Play | Clockwise |
Related games | |
German Schafkopf | |
Obers, Unters and Diamonds are permanent trumps |
Wendish Schafkopf (German : Wendischer Schafkopf), Wendisch or Wendsch [1] is an old German card game for four players that is still played today. It uses a Schafkopf pack of German-suited cards [1] or a Skat pack of French playing cards.
Wendish Schafkopf is absent from the nine different versions of Schaafkopf published in 1811 in Hammer's compendium Die deutsche Kartenspiele and subsequent editions up to 1817, suggesting it is of later provenance. [2] Its rules first appear in 1853, appended by von Alvensleben to a reprint of Hammer's text, where it is described as a "combination of Solo and Schaafkopf" It is a primarily a four-handed game, but a three-player version is also described. Von Alvensleben's account is unclear on the rules of play and aspects of the scoring. [3]
In 1861, a more detailed description is given by Hirzel, who also mentions a six-hand version of the game in which two side suit 8s are removed and each player receives 5 cards. In this variant there are two teams with three players each. [4]
In the mid-19th century the game was played by Wends in Lower Lusatia. Pohlens (1882) recalls that "the civil servant, landowner, teacher and clergyman are busy all day long, everyone on their feet and in his sphere of activity, but after work, the long pipe was lit and people gathered once or twice a week, once at councillor’s, at other times at the pastor's or cantor's, in the garden in the summer, in the living room in the winter with simple beer and bread and butter with a Wendish Schafkopf and a dozen counters worth three pfennigs each. Once a week the whole company came together in the Kretscham , the game tables were already set up in the separate room - the fat landlady had put on a clean bonnet and an extra happy face - and after a few comfortable hours of very simple pleasures, everyone left happy and satisfied and headed home." [5]
In 1882 Georgens & Gagette-Georgens claim that the original form of Schafkopf (describing Hammer's Type A) is called Wendish Schafkopf, but this appears to be a misreading of von Alvensleben. [6] The error is repeated by Alban von Hahn (1905 and 1909) [7] and compounded by several modern sources claiming that Doppelkopf is derived from Wendish Schafkopf instead of German Schafkopf.
Two significant changes in the rules appears in 1899. First, any player could now announce a Solo regardless of whether the top two cards were held. Second, the Ten is high; promoted above the King and ranking immediately below the Ace. [8] Otherwise the rules of the four-hand game, which are still regularly published, have changed little since, except that French-suited cards are now described instead of German-suited ones. [lower-alpha 1] Whether it is still played is not known.
The name "Wendish" was often used in 19th century Germany to refer to Slovenes, but also to Slavs in general.
The aim of the game is for each partnership of two to score at least 61 card points by taking tricks. [9]
Each suit consists of 6 (24-card game) or 8 cards (32-card game) whose ranking in terms of trick-taking power (beginning with the highest) is: Ace (Ass) > Ten (Zehner) > King (König) > Nine (Neuner) > Eight (Achter) > Seven (Siebener). The Queens (Damen) or Obers and Jacks (Buben) or Unters do not count as part of their suits, but act as permanent trumps (see below).
Card value | Symbol | Points |
Ace | A | 11 |
Ten | 10 | 10 |
King | K | 4 |
Queen | Q/O | 3 |
Jack | J/U | 2 |
Nine | 9 | 0 |
Eight | 8 | 0 |
Seven | 7 | 0 |
The trumps are fixed from the start. If playing with a French-suited pack, the highest trumps are the Queens in the sequence Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds . Then follow the Jacks in the same ranking order. As an additional suit, Diamonds are always trumps, the hierarchy of the card values within the trump suit remaining (see above). In a German-suited pack the highest trumps are the Obers in the sequence Acorns, Leaves, Hearts and Bells , followed by the Unters in the same order and then the rest of the permanent trump suit of Bells.
As a result, there is a total of 14 trumps. The two top Queens, Q and
Q, or, in a German- suited pack, the two top Obers,
O and
O, are known as the Old Ones (Alten). The players with the Old Ones play as partners against the other two. [9]
Hierarchy of cards in a normal game | |||
Trump ranking in a normal game (highest to lowest) | |||
♣Q | ♠Q | ♥Q | ♦Q | ♣J | ♠J | ♥J | ♦J | ♦A | ♦10 | ♦K | ♦9 | ♦8 | ♦7 | |||
Ranking within the remaining card suits (highest to lowest) | |||
Clubs | Spades | Hearts | |
♣A | ♣10 | ♣K | ♣9 | ♣8 | ♣7 | ♠A | ♠10 | ♠K | ♠9 | ♠8 | ♠7 | ♥A | ♥10 | ♥K | ♥9 | ♥8 | ♥7 |
The dealer is chosen by lot; the player who draws the highest card becomes the dealer. The cards are dealt in 2 packets of 4 cards each, giving a hand of 8 cards. [9]
Wendish Schafkopf is a game of partners. The players with the two Old Ones always form a team. If one player is dealt both, he has 2 options. The first is to choose a partner by saying something like "the Ace of Leaves is with me" or "I'll have the Ace of Clubs". The player with that card becomes his partner, but must play that card as soon as possible. He can also say "the first to win a trick is with me" whereupon the first other player to take a trick becomes the partner. The second option is that the player opts to go Solo against the other 3 players. [9]
If a player has both Old Ones in his hand, he may decide whether to play a Solo or a Hochzeit ("Wedding"). If he goes for a Hochzeit, he 'calls' (ruft) his playing partner. Unlike Bavarian Schafkopf it does not have to be an ace, the player may choose any card. He can however specify that the person who takes the first trick will be his partner. He announces this by saying "the first of you to take a trick is with me!" ( "Der erste fremde Stich geht mit!").
If a player with both Old Ones thinks his hand is strong enough to contest the game alone, he doesn't say anything (like the "Quiet Wedding", stille Hochzeit in Doppelkopf) and plays a Quiet Solo (stilles Solo) against the other players. Trumps remain the same.
In the Lust Solo contract, a player announces immediately after the cards are dealt, that he will play on his own. Queens and Jacks / Obers and Unters remain the permanent trumps. The additional trump suit may be specified by the soloist. As well as Diamond Solo (Karo-Solo), he may announce Club Solo (Kreuz-Solo), Spade Solo (Pik-Solo) or Heart Solo (Herz-Solo). The soloist in Lust Solo does not have to have the two black Queens. By agreement it can be specified that each player must play a certain number of Solo rounds within a game; this is known as Muss Solo.
In Wendish Schafkopf players must follow suit ( Farbzwang ), which means that they must always play a card of the same suit as that led. There is no compulsion to win the trick ( Stichzwang ) nor does a player have to play a trump card ( Trumpfzwang ) if he isn't able to follow suit.
The side with the Old Ones (or the soloist) wins if they have scored at least 61 points. The side with fewer than 30 points is Schneider and a side with no tricks at all is Schwarz ("black"). Scoring is determined on the basis of prior agreement. It is customary to play from a kitty into which each player deposits a certain amount of coins or counters before the start of the game.
As in many card games, there are several variants of Wendish Schafkopf:
Basically the same rules apply to the three-player game Dreiwendsch as for Wendish Schafkopf except that there are no partnerships. The dealing of cards is the same as in Skat, packets of 3-4-3. However, two cards are not placed in the middle after 1st packet, but only after 2nd packet. These 2 cards are taken up by the player with the O / ♣Q (or, if pre-agreed, by forehand) and exchanged for 2 others. This player becomes the soloist; the other two players together form the opposing team. In Dreiwendsch there are only solo games. If none of the three players wants to play a solo game, everyone plays against everyone else.
This is a three-hand game with so-called 'sharp cards': all the nines, eights and sevens are removed from the deck, leaving only 20 cards in play. Each player is dealt 6 cards. In this variant, 2 cards are placed in the skat.
Also called Officers' Schafkopf, this game requires the full deck of 32 cards. Each player receives 16 cards: being dealt 2 rows of cards face down, with 4 cards face up on each row. A face-up card is then placed on each of these cards, so that each player has 8 cards face down and 8 cards face up. You are also not allowed to see your own hidden cards at the beginning. First you play with the visible cards. When a card is played, the face down card underneath it is turned over. Permanent trump cards are the Queens and Jacks as well as all cards in the suit of Diamonds. Otherwise the rules of the Wendish Schafkopf already described apply. The game bears a resemblance to Officers' Skat in terms of the distribution of cards, the game situation (cards revealed) and the game principle, but differs culturally, in the number of trumps and the pattern of cards used.
Schafkopf, also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German trick-taking card game of the Ace-Ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. It is still very popular in Bavaria, where it is their national card game played by around two million people, but it also played elsewhere in Germany and in Austria. It is an official cultural asset and important part of the Old Bavarian and Franconian way of life. Schafkopf is a mentally demanding pastime that is considered "the supreme discipline of Bavarian card games" and "the mother of all trump games."
Doppelkopf, sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking card game for four players.
Cego is a Tarot card game for three or four players played mainly in and around the Black Forest region of Germany. It was probably derived from the three-player Badenese game of Dreierles when soldiers deployed from the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars and, based on a Spanish game they had encountered, introduced Cego's distinctive feature: a concealed hand, or blind. Cego has experienced a revival in recent years, being seen as part of the culture of the Black Forest and surrounding region. It has been called the national game of Baden and described as a "family classic".
Elfern or Elfmandeln, is a very old, German and Austrian 6-card, no-trump, trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card, French-suited Piquet pack or German-suited Skat pack. The object is to win the majority of the 20 honours: the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten in a Piquet pack or the Ace, King, Ober, Unter and Ten in a Skat pack. Elfern is at least 250 years old and a possible ancestor to the Marriage family of card games, yet it is still played by German children.
Réunion, Reunion or Vereinigungsspiel is an historical German point-trick game for three players which, despite its French name, appears to have originated in the central Rhineland and lowland areas to the east. It is a 10-card game of the Ace-Ten family and uses a 32-card French-suited piquet pack or 32-card Skat pack. Players who cannot follow suit must trump. Otherwise the game can be described as a simplified version of Skat, but is also reminiscent of Euchre with its two permanent top trumps, the Right and Left Bowers.
German Solo or just Solo is a German 8-card plain-trick game for 4 individual players using a 32-card, German- or French-suited Skat pack. It is essentially a simplification of Quadrille, itself a 4-player adaptation of Ombre. As in Quadrille, players bid for the privilege of declaring trumps and deciding whether to play alone or with a partner. Along with Ombre, Tarock and Schafkopf, German Solo influenced the development of Skat. Parlett calls it a "neat little descendant of Quadrille" and "a pleasant introduction" to the Ombre family of games.
Tippen, also known as Dreiblatt, Dreikart, Drei Karten, Dreekort, Kleinpréférence or Labet, is an historical German 3-card, plain-trick game which was popular as a gambling game for three or more players. The Danish version of the game was known as Trekort and more elaborate Swedish variants include Knack and Köpknack. It appears to be related to the English game of 3-Card Loo. It was banned as a gambling game in some places.
Ramsch, formerly also called Mike in East Germany, is a card game based on the contract of the same name in the popular German card games, Skat and Schafkopf. However, thanks to its interesting mode of play it has since developed into an independent game in its own right which is only loosely based on Skat or Schafkopf. It should not be confused with the games of the Rams family – Ramsen and Ramscheln – that also go by the name Ramsch.
Officers' Skat (Offiziersskat), is a trick-taking card game for two players which is based on the rules of Skat. It may be played with a German or French pack of 32 cards which, from the outset of the game, are laid out in rows both face down and face up. As in Skat, tricks are taken and card points counted to determine the winner of a round; game points are then awarded to decide the winner of a game. There are several local variations of the game, which differ mainly in the number of cards revealed or hidden and the calculation of points.
German Schafkopf is an old German, Ace-Ten card game that is still played regionally in variant form today. It is the forerunner of the popular modern games of Skat, Doppelkopf and Bavarian Schafkopf. It originated in Leipzig in the Electorate of Saxony. Today it is hardly ever played in its original form, but there are a number of important national and regional derivations.
Acorns is a suit in a deck of German playing cards or Swiss playing cards. This suit was invented in 15th-century German-speaking lands and is a survivor from a large pool of experimental suit signs created to replace the Latin suits. Around 1480, French card makers adapted this sign into clubs in a French deck.
Gaigel is a card game from the Württemberg region of Germany and is traditionally played with Württemberg suited cards. It is a Swabian variant of Sechsundsechzig and may be played with 2, 3, 4 or 6 players. However, a significant difference from Sechsundsechzig and other related games like Bauernschnapsen is the use of a double card deck. The four-player game is usually called Kreuzgaigel. The game emerged in the early 19th century.
Bavarian Tarock or, often, just Tarock, is a card game that was once popular in Bavaria and also played in parts of Austria as well as Berlin. The name is a clue to its origin in the historical German game of [Gross-]Tarock, a game using traditional Tarot cards. At some point in the mid- to late-18th century, attempts were made to emulate Taroc using a standard 36-card German-suited pack, resulting in the formerly popular, south German game of German Tarok. During the last century, the variant played with a pot (Haferl) and often known as Bavarian Tarock or Haferltarock, evolved into "quite a fine game" that, however, has less in common with its Tarock progenitor. German Tarok also generated the very similar game of Tapp, played in Württemberg, and both are related to Bauerntarock, Dobbm and the American games of Frog and Six-Bid Solo. Bavarian Tarock should not be confused with Königrufen, also known as Austrian Tarock or just Tarock.
Tapp is a trick-taking, card game for 3 or 4 players using 36 French-suited cards that is played in the south German region of Swabia, especially in the former Kingdom of Württemberg. It is the French-suited offshoot of German Tarok; its German-suited form being called Württemberg Tarock in that region. Tapp is one of a family of similar games that include Bavarian Tarock, the Austrian games of Bauerntarock and Dobbm, and the American games of Frog and Six-Bid Solo. Although probably first played in the early nineteenth century, the game of Tapp is still a local pastime in its native Württemberg, albeit in a greatly elaborated form.
A blank is a playing card in card-point games that is a non-counter, or is worth nothing. In Poker, the term refers to a community card which is extremely unlikely to help any remaining player.
Binokel is a card game for two to eight players that originated in Switzerland as Binocle, but spread to the German state of Württemberg, where it is typically played with a Württemberg pattern pack. It is still popular in Württemberg, where it is usually played in groups of three or four as a family game rather than in the pubs. In three-hand games, each player competes for himself, while in four-hand games, known as Cross Binokel (Kreuzbinokel), two teams are formed with partners sitting opposite one another. The game was introduced to America by German immigrants in the first half of the 20th century, where it developed into the similar game of pinochle. Binocle was still played in Switzerland in 1994. In south Germany, the game is sometimes called by its Swabian name, Benoggl.
Blattla is a Bavarian card game for four players, who usually form two teams of two for each deal. It is a simplified version of Schafkopf and Bierkopf and is thus a point-trick game. Unlike those two games, in Blattla the Obers and Unters are not permanent trumps. In order to learn the rules of Schafkopf, it can be an advantage to first become familiar with Blattla. The game is traditionally played with Bavarian pattern cards.
Matzlfangen is a traditional point-trick, card game for 4 players that originated in the Bavarian province of Upper Palatinate over 200 years ago and spread to Austria. It is still played in a few places today. The game is named after the Ten or Matzl, which plays a key role.
Officers' Schafkopf is a German point-trick, card game for two players which is based on the rules of Schafkopf. The game is a good way to learn the trumps and suits for normal Schafkopf and to understand what cards one is allowed to play. It is similar in concept to Officers' Skat.
Zwanzig ab, 20 ab or simply Zwanzig is card game for four players. It is a member of the Rams family in which the key feature is that players may choose to drop out of the game if they believe their hand is not strong enough to take a minimum number of tricks. It appears to be a recent, internet-propagated variant of Schnalzen or Bohemian Watten. However, the latter has a natural card ranking, is played with double German cards and a Weli, has no exchanging and has a different scoring system. It is suitable for children from 8 upwards. It may be related from Fünf dazu! which is a simpler game described by Gööck in 1967 that has neither trumps nor the option to drop out.