Schnapsen card game

Schnapsen rules

How to play

The game begins when the dealer begins distributing the cards. Each of the two players first receives three and then again two cards. The next card is turned over and placed in the middle of the table. Then the remaining cards come face down as a talon.

The player who is not the dealer is called forehand. He announces the trump suit and plays the first card. The dealer now has to place a card of his own. He is not obliged to sting, to trump or to keep the color. If both players have dealt a card, the player with the higher card wins the trick. The winner may now get the first card from Talon and the other player the second. This goes on until the talon is empty.

From then on color and trump duty applies. This means that the same card color must be used. If available a higher card. If you are not the same color you have to put a trump and if you do not have a trump then you can choose what you want.

The player who has reached 66 points in his opinion must announce this and the game is over. It does not matter how many cards are still in Talon or on the hand. If his announcement is correct, then he wins two points, he has miscalculated and less than 66 eyes, then he loses two points. Additional points are awarded if the opponent has less than 33 eyes in his stitches or has not made any stitches.

If none of the two players announce the 66 eyes until the end, and play to the last card. Then it is not the player with the most eyes who wins, but the player who made the last trick.

During the game if the player has King and Horse of the same suit he can declare Marriage – 20 points. If the player has the King and the Horse of the trump suit he declares 40 points.

Scoring

The ranks and values of the cards are as follows:

• Ace – 11 points
• Ten – 10 points
• King – 4 points
• Queen – 3 points
• Jack – 2 points
• 9 – 0 points

The cards that are used in the game are the German: Acorns, Leaves, Bells and Hearts.