A 10 K 9 8 7 (Rufer/Solo Side) U U U U (Wenz Trump)
140-589: Schafkopf ( German: [ˈʃaːfkɔpf] , lit. 'sheep's head'), 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
280-584: A Solo without possessing a single matador . A few days later in Freyung , a player was dealt all eight matadors, a feat now known as a Sie . In 1929, it was reported that, in Türkenfeld a player won a Bell Solo by 4 points with the Ace and Nine of Leaves, but not a single Unter . And in 1931, master signwriter M. Schleicher "had the good fortune to be able to play a Solo-Tout with the 8 highest cards [ 8 Buben ]"; clearly it
420-442: A Wedding ( Hochzeit ). Forehand , the player to the left of the dealer, leads to the first trick and the others follow in clockwise order. Each player must follow suit , that is, play a card of the led suit . A player unable to follow, may trump or discard . The player playing the highest trump, or the highest card in the led suit if no trumps are played, wins the trick and leads to the next. Since each card exists twice, there
560-413: A Wenz or Solo – will become the declarer . To choose a playing partner, the declarer 'calls' for a non-trump Ace ( [REDACTED] A, [REDACTED] A, [REDACTED] A). The declarer must not have the Ace in question and must have at least one card of the same suit as the called Ace. The declarer and the owner of the called Ace then play together as a team and will combine their points won in tricks at
700-418: A packet. The cards apportioned to each player are collectively known as that player's hand and are only known to the player. Some games involve a set of cards that are not dealt to a player's hand. These cards form the stock. (see below) It is generally good manners to leave one's cards on the table until the deal is complete. The player sitting one seat after the declarer (one with the highest bid and not
840-452: A tarot deck. The trionfi/tarots formed essentially a fifth suit without the ordinary ranks but consisting of trumps in a fixed hierarchy. One can get a similar effect by declaring all cards of a fixed or randomly determined suit to be trumps. This method, originating with triomphe , is still followed by a number of modern trick-taking games that do not involve an auction. Trumps were retroactively added to some games, such as trappola . It
980-456: A "Wedding" ( Hochzeit ). The 'suitor' will then form a partnership, the Re team, with the first other player to win a trick. Otherwise, the game is played like a normal game. If, however, the suitor makes the first three tricks, that player must play a diamond solo against the other players. A player may choose not to announce a Wedding and instead play a silent Solo ( stilles Solo ). This is played like
1120-408: A 'special' game such as a Solo. If one or more players have said "Hold", each, in turn, names the contract they wish to play. Whoever has the highest-ranking "Hold" wins the auction and plays the game bid. In the event of two players bidding the same contract, the first player in bidding order wins. The special contracts, from lowest-ranking to highest-ranking, are: The 10 of hearts (often called
1260-404: A 32-card, German-suited deck in which the suit ranking is A (high) 10 K O U 9 8 7. However, the game is dominated by trumps because the trump suit is usually augmented by Obers and Unters. There is a simple auction in which players get one chance to pass or play a contract. If two offer to play, there is a priority based on the rank of the contract and the order of bidding. The winning bidder becomes
1400-461: A blind". Two packs of cards were used, the 7s and 8s being removed to leave 2 x 24, and there were 22 permanent trumps in the game: the Obers of Acorns and Leaves, the four Unters and the suit of Bells. This is the same format as Hammer's Type G (see above). If played by three, the dealer was designated the 'king' and played with a 'straw man' ( Strohmann ), an extra hand of cards laid on the table opposite
1540-490: A card of the suit led), in the first phase of trick-play (before the stock is empty) players generally need not follow suit. A widespread game of this type is the Marriage group . In a contract game the winning and scoring conditions are not fixed but are chosen by one of the players after seeing their hand. In such games, players make bids depending on the number of tricks or card points they believe they can win during play of
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#17328553611111680-435: A card played early to a trick will win or lose. When all cards have been played, the number or contents of the tricks won by each player is tallied and used to update the score. Scoring based on the play of tricks varies widely between games. In most games either the number of tricks a player or partnership has won ( plain-trick games), or the value of certain cards that the player has won by taking tricks ( point-trick games)
1820-454: A collective value of 30 points; thus there are 120 points to be played for in the pack. The values in card points are: Ace 11, Ten 10, King 4, Ober 3, Unter 2, remainder 0. The Obers and Unters were collectively known historically as matadors , but nowadays as lords ( Herren ) or bowers ( Bauern ). For historical reasons the Ace is known in Bavaria as a Sau ("Sow") and, despite having "A" as
1960-577: A corner index, displays two suit symbols at each end. This is because the Ace was dropped from German packs very early on and later replaced by the Deuce . The Deuces used to bear illustrations of a wild boar, hence the nickname "sow". Today, only the Ace of Bells retains a wild boar image. The King, normally König in German, is often nicknamed the Kini and many of the cards, individually or collectively have nicknames. Among
2100-404: A double pack that appear to be an early form of Doppelkopf. These were all ace–ten games with the tens ranking low and were played by teams of two, in fixed partnerships, with bells as the trump suit. They differed as follows: Several post-war sources claim that Doppelkopf has its origins in a game called Wendish Schafkopf which, however, is first mentioned in the 1850s. This may stem from
2240-651: A game that originated in Leipzig , Saxony and spread to Franconia in northern Bavaria through what is now Thuringia . The special feature of Bavarian Schafkopf, the selection of a playing partner by 'calling' a Sow (= Deuce, but often called an Ace), was also usual in German Solo; the determination of the winning team by counting card points ( Augen ), instead of tricks, however, has another origin, perhaps in Bavarian Tarock or related games. A possible ancestor of Schafkopf
2380-430: A game, probably referring to Types G and H above, that appeared under the alternative name of Marino (sic) as well as Schafkopf. "Despite its common name" (Schafkopf) it was said to be very popular in many areas, especially in northern Germany." This game for four "or even six" players was often played with two German packs. Bells were permanent trumps along with the twelve matadors , known as Wenzels , namely two each of
2520-442: A minimum number of cards in their hands. In the official rules: A player that has, for example, announced "Re", but not "no 90", may not announce "no 60" with 9 cards left, because the implied "no 90" would not be legal. A Contra/Re in response to a bid from the opposing team may be made until one-trick later, e.g. a player can say "Contra" in response to "Re/no 90" as long as they hold nine cards, regardless of when "Re" and "no 90"
2660-400: A misreading of von Alvensleben by Georgens & Gagette-Georgens (1882) who stated that the original form of Schafkopf was Wendish, but then describes another different game: Hammer's type A. The error is repeated by Alban von Hahn (1905 and 1909) and may have led to others deriving Doppelkopf from Wendish Schafkopf instead of German Schafkopf . In 1861, a short description was published of
2800-526: A new group of players, it is advisable to agree on a specific set of rules before the first game. Games of the Schafkopf group date to the 18th century or earlier, the oldest member of the family being known as Schafkopf or, nowadays, German Schafkopf to avoid confusion with its modern Bavarian descendant. A 1783 novel describes the scene after a wedding dinner as the dining tables were cleared away and replaced by games tables: "here stood an Ombre table, there
2940-454: A noble Schafkopf was played, over there a game of forfeits, soon everybody was busy playing when suddenly the sound of the strings announced the arrival of the dance band..." In 1796, we learn that students at Leipzig University liked to repair to disreputable bars to play Solo or Schafkopf for a couple of Dreiers . In 1803, it is described as "a cute little game [played] with chalk and collection bag pennies". and its rules are recorded for
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#17328553611113080-455: A normal diamond solo, except that the defenders do not know at the start they are playing against a Solo. Apart from this, the game is scored like a normal Solo (times three for soloist, normal for all others). A player can announce a solo game if they wish. These games change the status of trump cards; the player also must play against the other three players. They will get thrice game value-added (or subtracted) from their scoreboard in case of
3220-555: A player commits to a playing a soloist contract ( Wenz or Solo ). When a second bid is made, the first bidder must either pass or say "I'll play myself", to play a Wenz or Solo . If the first bidder says "I'll play myself", the second must pass unless intending to play a Solo , which is announced by saying "I have a Solo " or "but not a Wenz ". The first bidder may hold again by saying "myself". The second bidder would now have to announce an intention to take all eight tricks ( Tout ) by saying " Wenz Tout ", " Solo Tout " or, in
3360-422: A player unable to satisfy any other instruction is at liberty to play any card. Usually a low-ranking card or one from a short suit is sacrificed. The former is used to protect a higher ranking card while the latter is to help void a suit so as to allow trumping a future trick. For example, consider the following Whist hand, in a game where diamonds ♦ are the trump: North leads the deal with K♠ . Now, all
3500-523: A set of 1890 rules, three players played with a 'blind' as before, but four played without the requirement for anyone to sit out. Other descriptions of Doppelschafkopf appear in the early 20th century, for example, in the 1911 Brockhaus. In the 19th century the name Doppelkopf was sometimes used to refer to a French-suited double-ended playing card and sometimes to refer to winning a double game (a Doppel-Kopf or double head) in Doppelschafkopf. By
3640-449: A silent Solo , played a Suit Solo against the other three or called for a partner by going with the taker of the 1st or 5th tricks as desired. In a 1931 account by Karl Thoenen, further elaborations appear. "In many areas", a further two trumps were added: the two red 10s, each known as the Tolle ("mad one"). These are now the commanding cards , but partnerships were still decided based on
3780-520: A soloist game of which there are two in standard Schafkopf: the Wenz , in which only Unters are trumps, and the Solo in which any suit may be named as trumps alongside the usual Obers and Unters. The declarer, this time as a soloist, plays alones against the three defenders who band together to try to prevent the declarer from winning. In most games, the target is for the declaring team or soloist to score at least 61 of
3920-466: A spade card, and plays 2♠ . South's trump card, gives him an opportunity to escape following suit, and he wins the trick. Doppelkopf Doppelkopf ( German pronunciation: [ˈdɔpl̩kɔpf] , lit. double-head ), sometimes abbreviated to Doko , is a trick-taking card game for four players. In Germany , Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat , especially in Northern Germany and
4060-461: A trick in the first phase of the game, but must follow suit as soon as the stock is depleted. Trick-avoidance games like reversis or polignac are those in which the aim is to avoid taking some or all tricks. The domino game Texas 42 is an example of a trick-taking game that is not a card game. The earliest card games were trick-taking games, as evidenced by the rank-and- suit structure, originating from China and spreading westwards during
4200-424: A trick, because the player who leads controls the suit that is led and which others must follow. The leading player playing a suit of which he has many, decreases the chance that anyone else would be able to follow suit. Playing a suit of which he has few, allows him to rid his hand of that suit, known as voiding the suit, freeing him from the restriction to follow suit when that suit is led by another player. On
4340-406: A trump suit is credited to ombre , the most popular card game of the 17th century. Rather than having a randomly selected trump suit, players can now hold an auction for it. The most popular game of the 18th-century was tarot which experienced a great revival. During this time, many tarot games were borrowed bidding over the stock ( taroc l'hombre ). In the 20th century, whist , now with bidding and
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4480-438: A wager of game points to be won or lost. In others, the bid is a number of tricks or card points the bidder is confident that they or their partnership will take. Either of these can also include the suit to be used as trumps during the hand. Common bids include slam (winning all the tricks), misère (losing all the tricks), ouvert (the contractor's hand is exposed), playing without using the stock or only part of it, and winning
4620-399: A win (or a loss). The kinds of solo games are, according to the official rules: During play, a player may make announcements claiming that their team will succeed in achieving a specific goal. These announcements increase the game value regardless of whether they are fulfilled. If a team fails to accomplish the self-given goal, they automatically lose. Apart from increasing the game value,
4760-472: Is Karnöffel, where specific ranks of one suit were named Karnöffel, Devil, Pope etc. and subject to an elaborate system of variable powers. However, these were not trumps in the sense of a suit whose cards uniformly beat all other suit cards. Around 1440 in Italy, special cards called trionfi were introduced with such a function. These special cards are now known as tarots , and a deck augmented by tarots as
4900-878: Is added to the game and makes it more difficult to cheat if the trump suit is only chosen after dealing. In some games, in addition to or separately from a trump suit, certain fixed cards are always the highest trumps, e.g. the Jacks in Skat , the Jacks or Jokers in Euchre , and the Rook Bird card in Rook . They are called matadors after the high trumps in Ombre . Matadors either have high point values or special abilities as in Spoil Five where they can revoke legally. Some games have more than one trump suit, such as
5040-565: 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." Its closest relatives are Doppelkopf and Skat . These three and the North American game of Sheepshead descend from an earlier game, also called Schafkopf , with influences from Solo which, in turn,
5180-426: Is assumed that a 'normal game' will be played and any player desiring a different game simply says so. In tournament games, a stricter procedure is used to prevent players from gaining information about their opponents' hands. The types of contract that can be played only differ in which cards are considered trumps. When a player declares a game other than the normal game, that player alone is Re and must play against
5320-424: Is assumed. The rules for the 40-card variant are the same except that that the nines are removed. If French-suited cards are used, the suits are diamonds ♦ , hearts ♥ , spades ♠ and clubs ♣ . If German-suited cards are used, the suits are bells [REDACTED] , hearts [REDACTED] , leaves [REDACTED] and acorns [REDACTED] . The ace is replaced by the deuce or Daus (A),
5460-428: Is featured. More often, a dynamic trump suit is determined by some means, either randomly by selection of a card as in oh hell and the original form of Whist , or decided by the winner or winning bid of an auction as in contract bridge and some forms of Pinochle . In certain games, such as Rowboat and Rage, the trump suit may change during the course of the hand, even from trick to trick. Some psychological variety
5600-455: Is important. In many games such as hearts and oh hell , all players play individually against each other. In many four-player games such as bridge , euchre and spades , the players sitting opposite to each other form a fixed partnership. Some games such as pinochle are commonly played with or without partnerships, depending on the number of players. In some contract/auction games for three or more players, e.g. most tarot variants,
5740-467: Is much rarer for trumps to be removed. The invention of trumps became so popular that very few European trick-taking games exist without them. This did not stop the two-handed piquet from becoming the most popular card game in Europe during the 16th century. Parlett suggests the invention of trumps let players in games involving more than two a greater chance of heading a trick. The invention of bidding for
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5880-405: Is no trump suit for that hand. Making such a contract is regarded as harder to accomplish. In most cases for "no trump" deals, any card other than the leading suit played has no value. In some games such as Oh, hell , where the player may need to not get more tricks to win, playing cards other than the leading suit can be useful. In some games such as Piquet , Tarocchini , and Belote , before
6020-399: Is not primarily to win tricks but to capture cards with a point value – especially Aces and Tens – whereby the values are A = 11, Ten = 10, King = 4, Ober = 3, Unter = 2 and the rest are 'nixers', worth nothing. Thus the overall aim is to score as many points as possible by skilful and tactical play both in partnership and or individual games. A player with high trumps and a long suit may risk
6160-484: Is played in tournaments. The name is sometimes spelt Schaffkopf ,( German: [ˈʃafkɔpf] ) Schafkopfen or, historically, Schaafkopf , and in north Germany in the Low German dialect: Schaapskopp or Kopp . To play Schafkopf is Schafkopfen and players may be called Schafkopfer . There are various theories about the origin of the name Schafkopf , most of which come from traditional folklore. One suggestion
6300-417: Is played with double the number of cards, the 7s and 8s being removed from two Skat packs to leave 2 x 24 cards. The game was also referred to here and there in north Germany as Juristenspiel ("Lawyer") probably because it was played in legal circles. French-suited packs are described and there were now eight matadors: ♣ Q ♠ Q ♥ Q ♦ Q ♣ J ♠ J ♥ J ♦ J along with the default trump suit of diamonds. It
6440-409: Is predominantly a team game with two players per team. As with Schafkopf , the pairing is not known from the start. The card pack consists of either 48 or 40 cards: Each set of eight cards consists of two cards from each suit. Thus, each card exists twice in the pack (hence the name Doppelkopf ), resulting in a total number of 240 points. In the ensuing description, the more common 48-card version
6580-450: Is that Schafkopf acquired its name at a time when it was played for up to nine or twelve points which were marked with a piece of chalk as lines on a board, gradually forming the stylized appearance of a sheep's head (German: Schaf = sheep, Kopf = head). However, evidence of such notation is not found in the Bavarian context where it was invariably played for money. Until the late 1960s,
6720-498: Is the German version of Quadrille . The earliest written reference to the earlier form of Schafkopf – now known as German Schafkopf – dates to 1780, although it only came to notice through the polite society of Altenburg in 1811. Some kind of Schafkopf was current in Franconia (northern Bavaria) in the first half of the 19th century, but the distinct Bavarian form of the game is only positively recorded from 1879, since when it has become
6860-476: Is the game of Scharwenzel, first recorded in Leipzig in 1715, but this is known in two forms. In northern Germany, Scharwenzel is a plain-trick game resembling German Solo but with the 4 Unters as permanent trumps below the ♣ Q, trump 7 and ♠ Q. In Bavaria there was a different game that was related to Färbeln and Grobhäusern in which the 4 Unters and possibly 4 Nines were wild. The origin and development of
7000-421: Is the possibility of a tie; in that case, the first-played card wins the trick. For example, when the trick consists of ♠10 ♠A ♠9 ♠A, the player who played the first ace of spades wins the trick. During the first trick, each player may make announcements , which increases the value of the game. After all the cards have been played, the card points taken in the tricks are counted and each player in
7140-519: Is unanimously rejected by experts and there is no evidence for it in older sources, it is widespread on the Internet. Another theory, which dates to the mid-19th century, is that it comes from "Schaffen" and "Kopf", "to work one's brain". The indirect precursors of the various games of the Schafkopf family (which includes Doppelkopf and Skat ), were the Spanish national game of L'Hombre (which had reached
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#17328553611117280-446: The [REDACTED] O [REDACTED] O [REDACTED] U [REDACTED] U [REDACTED] U and [REDACTED] U. The usual ace–ten scoring scheme was used. No rules of play are given. The name Merino appears occasionally other contemporary sources, for example, an 1870 newspaper remarks: "It is strikingly clear how the common man recently viewed the world from the acquiescence of several playing card manufacturers who have designed
7420-580: The Cultural Revolution . Certain actions in trick-taking games with three or more players always proceed in the same direction. In games originating in North and West Europe, including England, Russia, and the United States and Canada, the rotation is typically clockwise, i.e., play proceeds to the left. In South and East Europe, South America, and Asia it is typically anticlockwise, so that play proceeds to
7560-463: The Dulle or Tolle ) is the highest trump in every normal game as well as any suit solo. Except for hearts solo, there are actually more trumps than non-trump cards. One noteworthy result of this rule is that there are only six non-trump cards left in hearts, making this suit more likely to be trumped in the first trick it is played. A player who has both queens of clubs or Obers of acorns, usually declares
7700-501: The Holy Roman Empire through the courtly circles of France in the late 17th century), its four-hand variant, Quadrille , and its simplified German derivative, German Solo . The distinction between variable and permanent trump cards as well as the selection of a contract by announcing and bidding, probably originate from these games. However, it is likely that the distinctive Bavarian game was derived from German Schafkopf , itself
7840-461: The Qing dynasty , these multi-trick games evolved into the earliest draw-and-discard games where the players' objective was to form melds and "go out" rather than capture the opponents' cards. Khanhoo is an example of a multi-trick game that became a draw-and-discard game. Multi-trick games are also probably the source for climbing games like Zheng Shangyou and dou dizhu , which first appeared during
7980-574: The Regensburger Conversations-Blatt in 1876 which not only lists all 14 trumps, but also the contracts of Rufer and Solo as well as features such as the called Ace and losing Schneider. However, the oldest actual rule set for Bavarian Schafkopf is found in Der gewandte Kartenspieler: 2. Der Schaffkopf: ein geistreiches Kartenspiel printed in Würzburg in 1884. This was followed a decade later by
8120-589: The Rhein-Main Region . Schafkopf , however, is still the preferred point-trick game in Bavaria . As with Skat and Bavarian Schafkopf there is a set of official rules, but numerous unofficial variants. Although the German Doppelkopf Association ( Deutscher Doppelkopf-Verband ) has developed standard rules for tournaments, informal sessions are often played in many different variants, and players adopt their own house rules. Before playing with
8260-605: The Schafkopf-Büchlein - Detailliche Anleitung zum Lernen und Verbessern des Schafkopfspiel mit deutschen Karten , published in Amberg in 1895, in which the author explicitly explains the differences from Schafkopf variants played in northern Germany, i.e. Skat and Doppelkopf. The 1876 poem is reprinted although the author clearly did not know its origin. Schafkopf was a penny ante game , typically played for low stakes. An 1876 table of "card game tariffs" gives 3 levels of payment. In
8400-565: The Tarot card games have this rule. Some games, notably French tarot and a variation of Rook , use a special card (in French Tarot's case, the Excuse ) that can be played at any time. If not, he has the choice of playing a trump to possibly win the trick, or rough (waste) a different suit. If unable to follow suit or trump, any card can be played. Each trick must contain one card per player, and hence
8540-491: The "player" plays alone against the rest. In Doppelkopf , the two players holding the black queens are partners for that hand. Special rules are provided for the case where a single player holds both black queens. In some games not all cards are distributed to the players, and a stock remains. This stock can be referred to by different names, depending on the game; supply , talon , nest , skat , kitty , and dog are common game-specific and/or regional names. In some games
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#17328553611118680-495: The 120 card points available. There are bonuses for scoring over 3/4 of the points or taking all eight tricks. An exception are the slam ( Tout ) contracts, in which the soloist must take all eight tricks to win. Schafkopf is not classed by the German authorities as a gambling game in the legal sense by the relevant section of the act, § 284 StGB, and may therefore be played in Germany for money. The tariff must be settled before
8820-433: The Obers and Unters remain the highest trumps, but the soloist is free to choose any suit as trumps, its cards then ranking in the usual ace–ten order (see table). A player intending to make a slam , by taking every trick, may announce a Tout as part of the contract e.g. Wenz Tout or Acorn Solo Tout . A Tout outranks all other contracts and a Solo Tout overcalls a Wenz Tout . In a Tout , card points are irrelevant;
8960-620: The Palatinate and in the USA (especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota , c.f. Sheepshead ) should be understood as further developments of this German Schafkopf . The assumption often heard in Bavaria that Skat and Doppelkopf developed from the Bavarian Schafkopf is unlikely; a development of all three games from German Schafkopf is more likely. The game of Schafkopf is first recorded in the 1780s in
9100-569: The Re team before being able to do so. Each announcement implies any previous announcements, for example, "no 60" implies "no 90" and "Re"/"Kontra", increasing the game-value by 4 (for the standard rules) points. Every bid may be countered by "Contra" or "Re" if the opponents think the goal will not be met. For example, if the Re Team announces "Re, no 60", a reply of "Contra" simply claims Contra will score 60 points. Players must bid in time i.e. they must hold
9240-554: The School of Schafkopf ( Schafkopfschule ) and form guidelines for the detail of the game and the conduct of the players. However, unlike Skat , Schafkopf is not really seen as a sport, but purely as a leisure activity. As a result, a large number of traditional rules and variants are used in private games, which can vary considerably from region to region. These common forms of the game are referred to as 'impure' Schafkopf ( unreiner Schafkopf ) in contrast with 'pure' or standard Schafkopf which
9380-428: The School of Schafkopf ( Schafkopfschule e. V. ) in 2007 which has published a revised version on its website. The School of Schafkopf has established itself as an authority on questions of rule interpretation. Schafkopf is a four-player game in which players bid either to play with the aid of a partner or, if their hand is strong enough, to play alone against the other three players. Players receive eight cards from
9520-416: The alternative spelling Scha ff kopf was not uncommon in Bavaria as an alternative spelling for Schafkopf; the ensuing discussion about the supposedly only correct form and its origin was the subject of extensive debate at that time - among other things in the columns of the Bavarian press - before the common variant Scha f kopf became widely accepted from about 1970. However, it was not a new argument. In 1862,
9660-410: The astonishment of the other players with 14 trumps between them. In Ebermannstadt in 1881 at a private shooting club party, a gentlemen, Johann Weigel, played and won a Schafkopf without any of the 8 "matadors", which the defenders had to pay on scoring only 59, resulting in long faces and complaining. In Pasing in 1888, a similar feat was reported: in a game of "the noble Schaffkopf" a player had won
9800-452: The bids fulfill the role of clarifying which side the player who makes them belongs to. The bids that are possible are: Each of the following announcements can only be made after Re or Contra . If, for example, Re was said and a Contra player wants to make an announcement, they must announce Contra . If Re was announced by one player and their partner wants to make an additional announcement, they have to identify themself as being on
9940-413: The cheapest, a single game was 3 pfennigs , winning Schneider was worth 5 pfennigs and a march ( Durchmarsch ) earned 7 pfennigs. These rates were paid by each loser to a different winner. The tariff for matadors was 3 pfennigs for 3 matadors, 5 pfennigs for 4, 7 pfennigs for 5 and so on. At the second level the rates were 5/8/10 and at the third level 10/15/20. The tariff for a Solo is not mentioned but
10080-401: The contractor ( declarer or taker ) plays alone against all opponents, who form an ad hoc partnership (the defenders ). In some games the partnerships are decided by chance – the contractor forms a partnership with the winner of the first trick, or with the player who holds a certain card. This practice originated from cinquillo and quadrille . In Königrufen and five-player French tarot
10220-399: The contractor, so that the contractor plays last to that trick. In precision or exact-prediction games, all players choose their winning condition independently: to win precisely a predicted number of tricks ( oh hell ) or card points ( Differenzler ). Each player's bid stands. In partnership games the partners' bids are often combined. Each player or partnership then tries to take exactly
10360-432: The contracts in ascending order is: Rufer, Wenz, Solo, Wenz Tout, Solo Tout, Sie . Forehand opens by saying "pass" if not wishing to bid, or "I'll play" to bid any contract. If forehand passes, the next player in turn has the same options, and so on round the table. As soon as someone offers to 'play', a subsequent player must either pass , by saying "play on" or "good", or overcall with "I'll play too". By overcalling,
10500-415: The dealer and which was played open after the first trick . The other two players were the 'folk'. Whist rules of play were followed. There were 240 points in cards and 121 were required to win. A team needed at least 61 points to avoid losing Schneider i.e. double. Each game or 'head' ( Kopf ) consisted of 4 lines (game points) and was worth typically 10, 20, 25 or more pfennigs . If teams tied on 120,
10640-420: The dealer) in normal rotation is known as the eldest hand , also called the forehand in Skat and other games of German origin. The eldest hand leads to the first trick, i.e. places the first card of the trick face up in the middle of all players. The other players each follow with a single card, in the direction of play. When every player has played a card to the trick, the trick is evaluated to determine
10780-444: The dealer. In many games, the following players must follow suit if they can, i.e., they must play a card of the same suit if possible. A player who cannot follow suit may slough a card, i.e., play a card of a different suit. A trick is won by the player who has played the highest-ranked card of the suit led, i.e., of the suit of the first card in the trick, unless the game uses a trump suit . It can be an advantage to lead to
10920-446: The deck (some games use "soft shuffling," where the dealer does not explicitly shuffle the deck), and after giving the player one seat from the dealer opposite the normal direction of play an opportunity to cut , hands out the same prescribed number of cards to each player, usually in an order following the normal direction of play. Most games deal cards one at a time in rotation. A few games require dealing multiple cards at one time in
11060-459: The declarer and clarifies the contract. The lowest contract and by far the most commonly played is a Rufer ("Caller") in which the declarer names a side suit Ace (not held) and the player with the called Ace becomes the silent partner, whose identity is only revealed by the play of the cards. There is a long trump suit comprising all four Obers, four Unters and all the Hearts: 14 trumps in all. The aim
11200-439: The declarer, may be won by the player of the first trick, or may go to an opposing player or partnership. In some games, especially two-player games, after each trick every player draws a new card. This continues while the stock lasts. Since this drawing mechanism would normally make it difficult or impossible to detect a revoke (for instance, the player may not be able to follow suit, so they play off-suit and then immediately draw
11340-608: The development of ever more sophisticated card games: the invention of trumps, and the requirement of following suit to constrain their power, in the 15th century; and bidding in the 17th century. According to card game researcher David Parlett , the oldest known European trick-taking game, Karnöffel , was mentioned in 1426 in the Bavarian town Nördlingen – roughly half a century after the introduction of playing cards to Europe, which were first mentioned in Spain in 1371. The oldest known game in which certain cards have additional privileges
11480-526: The dominant form, whereas German Schafkopf is only played in a number of local variants, for example, in the Palatinate as Alte Schoofkopp or Bauernstoss . Bierkopf and Mucken are simple variants which make a useful introduction to the more complex Schafkopf. The first official rules were established by the Bavarian Schafkopf Club ( Bayerischer Schafkopf-Verein ) in 1989. These were revised by
11620-422: The dummy hand, developed into contract bridge , the last global trick-taking game. The practice of counting tricks, in plain-trick games, may have originated in the counting of cards won in tricks. It was therefore a logical development to accord some cards a higher counting-value, and some cards no value at all, leading to point-trick games. Point-trick games are at least as old as tarot decks and may even predate
11760-499: The early part of the second millennium. Michael Dummett noted that these games share various features. They were played without trumps , following suit was not required but only the highest card of the suit led wins, rotation was counter-clockwise, they were plain-trick games, and the pip cards of one or more suits were in reverse order so that the lower cards beat the higher ones. Two revolutions in European trick-taking games led to
11900-428: The end. The other two become the defenders and will also combine their points. The player with the called Ace, may not reveal this and is only discovered during play. Strict rules apply to the playing of the called Ace: A Wenz overcalls a Rufer and is only outbid by a Solo . If two players bid a Wenz , the one who bid first wins . In a Wenz the declarer plays against the other three players. The only trumps are
12040-405: The family monthly, Deutsches Magazin , claimed that Schaffkopf "did not bear the unaesthetic name Schafkopf ["sheep's head"], which it is frequently called today as if to imply that playing it only required the level of mental ability which wise nature bestows on a dumb animal in our pastures; on the contrary it is the game that "creates intelligence" by giving all those who have had little education
12180-416: The first time by Paul Hammer. In 1853, they were reprinted by Von Alvensleben who describes 'Schaafkopf' as being very common, especially with the lower classes perhaps due to its ordinary name ("sheep's head"), but that it also went under the "more noble" names of Society ( Societätsspiel ), Conversation ( Conversationsspiel ) or Denunciation ( Denunciationsspiel ). He hypothesises that the name comes from
12320-522: The four Unters , also known as Wenzen , hence the name of the contract. They rank from highest to lowest: [REDACTED] U, [REDACTED] U, [REDACTED] U and [REDACTED] U. The Obers rank in their natural suits between the King and Nine. Hearts are no longer trumps and there is no option to name another suit as trumps as in the Suit Wenz . In a solo – strictly speaking, a suit solo ( Farbsolo ) –
12460-415: The game of Schafkopf - in comparison with Skat - are rather poorly documented. This may be due, on the one hand, to its relatively low social reputation - in the first half of the 19th century Schafkopf was regarded as a comparatively unfashionable and simple "farmer's game" when seen against the backdrop of ever more popular card games (such as German Solo or Skat), especially at the universities - and, on
12600-686: The game starts. Especially in Bavaria it is normally played for small stakes to make it more interesting and the players more focused. Schafkopf is a four-handed game played with a 32-card, German-suited , Bavarian or Franconian pattern pack . This is for the standard Schafkopf with 'long cards' or with a 'long pack' in which eight cards are dealt to each player. There is also a variant played with 'short cards' called Short Schafkopf . German packs have four suits : Acorns ( Eichel ), Leaves ( Gras ), Hearts ( Herz ) and Bells ( Schellen ). There are eight cards in each suit: Ace, King , Ober , Unter , 10, 9, 8 and 7 . The cards in any one suit have
12740-470: The hand is simply placed on the table. It normally scores four times the basic game value. In many Bavarian pubs, a Sie is honoured by the custom of no longer using the cards, but framing the Sie hand on the wall together with the date and name of the player. A defender who might have a stronger hand than the declarer may double the game value by announcing " Stoss! " or " Spritzn! " This must be done before
12880-414: The hand, or may disallow leading a card of a particular suit until that suit has been played "off-suit" in a prior trick, called "breaking" the suit, usually seen in cases of a trump or penalty suit. Other games have special restrictions on the card that must be led to the first trick. Usually this is a specific card, e.g., 2 ♣ . The holder of that card is the eldest hand instead of the person one seat after
13020-417: The hand. One or more of these bids stands as the contract , and the player who made that bid is rewarded for meeting it or penalized for not meeting it. In auction games, bidding players are competing against each other for the right to attempt to make the contract. In a few games, the contract is fixed, normally a simple majority, less often based on certain cards captured during play, and players' bids are
13160-417: The hand. The contractor can declare a recontra which will double the points again. Popular examples of games with auctions include Contract bridge , Pinochle , tarot games , Skat , Belote and Twenty-Eight . In many auction games the eldest hand leads to the first trick, regardless of who won the auction, but in some, such as Contract Bridge , the first lead is made by the player next in rotation after
13300-556: The highest trump in German Solo , Obsern and Merino – the Ober of Acorns – with a face resembling that of Napoleon III." In 1873 the name Doppelschaf(s)kopf appears for the first time in an Aichach newspaper which mentions a Doppelschafskopf Society ( Doppelschafskopf-Gesellschaft ). In 1879 Anton records that the "usual Doppelschafkopf" is a four-hand partnership game "although more commonly played by three players, one of whom plays with
13440-421: The huge family of ace–ten card games beginning with brusquembille . Pinochle is a representative of this family that is popular in the United States. Other examples include belote and skat . In contrast to Europe, Chinese trick-taking games did not develop trumps or bidding. They diverged into multi-trick games where melds can only be beaten by other melds provided they have the same number of cards. During
13580-524: The invention of trumps. Elfern and Fünfzehnern are possible candidates, although the earliest references date to the 18th century. Nearly all point-trick games are played with tarot decks or stripped decks , which in many countries became standard before 1600. Neither point-trick games nor stripped decks have a tradition in England. While there are a number of games with unusual card-point values, such as trappola and all fours , most point-trick games are in
13720-408: The last trick or other specific tricks. The highest bid becomes the contract and the highest bidder is the contractor , known in some games as the declarer or taker , who then plays either with or without a partner. The other players become opponents or defenders , whose main goal is to prevent the contract being met. They may announce a contra against the contractor which doubles the points for
13860-486: The late 19th century it had become firmly attached to variants of Schafkopf played with two packs e.g. Brockhaus says in 1896 that "[German] Schafkopf may be played with one or two packs of 32 cards; in the latter case it is called Doppelkopf." In 1927, an early version of modern Doppelkopf is described by Robert Hülsemann who calls it an elaboration of the old German 3-4 player game of Schafkopf that, itself, has almost died out. He says that Doppelkopf got its name because it
14000-424: The leading suit in his hands. There is a large variation of strictness in following suit among games. In most modern games with trump suits, the rules for following suit do not distinguish between the trump suit and the plain suits . If a trick begins with a plain suit card and a later player cannot follow suit, the player may choose freely to either slough (discard a card of another plain suit), or ruff ( trump
14140-401: The left. Each player receives 8 cards in two rounds: being given 4 cards in the first round and 4 in the second. The role of dealer rotates clockwise; four deals or hands make a round . Before play, there is an auction to determine the declarer and which contract will be played. Players have one opportunity to bid and do so in clockwise order, beginning with forehand . The ranking of
14280-428: The literature. In Hartmann's comedy, The Thankful Daughter ( Die Dankbare Tochter ) published in 1780, Platz tells his brother that " I thought we'd play a Schaafkopf " and they go to look for a pack of cards. It also appears in a 1782 Saxon schedule of penalties, Drinking and Gaming on Workdays and Sundays ( Zechen und Spielen an Werktagen und Sonntagen ), typically with the remark that, unlike Hazard for example, it
14420-503: The more important are the Unters which are called Wenzels , hence the name of the Wenz contract. The Nines, Eights and Sevens, which have no point value and are only of use as guard cards , are variously known as "sparrows" ( Spatzen ), "nothings" or "nixers" ( Nichtser(le) ) or "blanks" ( Leere or Luschen ). Standard or pure ( reiner ) Schafkopf comprises three basic contracts – Rufer, Wenz and Solo – which are universally known and
14560-413: The number of tricks or points they bid, and are rewarded or penalized for doing so independently of anyone else's success or failure in meeting their bid. This type of game began to mature in the 20th century. Other games generally falling into the exact-prediction category are Spades and Ninety-Nine . Trump cards are a set of one or more cards in the deck that, when played, are of higher value than
14700-445: The number of tricks taken, as in plain-trick games such as contract bridge , whist , and spades , or to the value of the cards contained in taken tricks, as in point-trick games such as pinochle , the tarot family, briscola , and most evasion games like hearts . Trick-and-draw games are trick-taking games in which the players can fill up their hands after each trick. In most variants, players are free to play any card into
14840-638: The only ones permitted at most tournaments. The following description takes account of the official rules published by the Schafkopf School in Munich. Four players sit crosswise at the table. The first dealer is usually decided by drawing from the pack ; the player with the highest card wins. The dealer shuffles and then has the pack cut by the player to the right. When cutting, at least three cards must be lifted or left. The pack may be cut up to 3 times. The dealer deals clockwise beginning with forehand , to
14980-487: The opportunity to learn about combination theory and probability." The issue was largely forgotten when author Wolfgang Peschel argued in the early 1990s for the double 'f' spelling based on the popular traditional view that, in earlier times, the game was supposed to have been played ( geklopft ) on the lids ( Köpfen ) of barrels (Upper German: Schaff , c.f. Schäffler/Scheffel ). To this day, such casks are used as tables at beer stands and beer halls. Although this hypothesis
15120-473: The order (highest to lowest) Acorns, Leaves, Hearts and Bells – followed by the four Unters in the same order; and then the remaining Hearts cards - in the order Ace, Ten, King, Nine, Eight, Seven, making a total of 14 trumps (see table). All the rest are side suit cards and rank in the same order as the Hearts. A player who wishes to play with the help of a partner may announce a Rufer and - unless someone bids
15260-441: The other hand, it can be advantageous to be the final player who plays to the trick, because at that point one has full information about the other cards played to the trick. The last player to a trick can play a card just slightly higher or lower than the current winning card, guaranteeing they will win or lose it by the minimum amount necessary, saving more valuable high or low value cards for situations where they must guarantee that
15400-617: The other hand, to changes in concept: originally the name referred to its forerunner, located more or less in the Saxon-Thuringian area and now called German Schafkopf to distinguish it. In this older game, which had several variants, the declarer's team was generally determined by a combination of the two highest trump cards, in a not dissimilar manner to the way the Queens of Clubs are used in Doppelkopf today, for example. The variants played in
15540-540: The other players must follow suit, i.e. play a spade card. East has a spade card, and thus must follow suit by playing 7♠ . South, however, does not have any spade card, and thus is allowed to play any card he wants. If he desires to win the trick, he can override North's K♠ by playing a diamond card (diamond being the trump), for example J♦ . If he does not want to win the trick, he can slough any other suit, such as 3♥ . Let us assume that he plays J♦ , overriding North's card. Now, West still has to follow suit, since he has
15680-428: The other three players who form Contra . These non-standard games are, therefore, called 'solo games'. In the normal game, the players who hold the queens of clubs ( Die Alten = "the old women" or "the elders") or Obers of acorns constitute Re , while the other two are Kontra . In these games, the actual teams are not known from the start. When a player has both queens of clubs or Obers of acorns, that player declares
15820-416: The player with the most points loses, appears in 1933 and is joined by Bettel and Schieber-Solo in 1956. In 1974, Wenz , now standard, was still being described as a variation. The rules of the game were officially established by the Bavarian Schafkopf Club ( Bayerischer Schafkopf-Verein e. V. ) at the 1st Bavarian Schafkopf Congress on 17 December 1989 in Munich's Hofbräuhaus These were updated by
15960-409: The point was carried forward to the next hand . If the two Acorn Obers came together in the same trick, there was often a bonus for the first one played since it won. The first team to 4 chalk up lines won. If four or five wanted to play in the same way as the three-hand game, the additional players sat out each time leaving three active players; however they won or lost along with the folk. As well as
16100-471: The practice of drawing the lines denoting points scored in the form of a stylised sheep's head. He goes on to describe in detail no less than nine variants of 'Schaafkopf', but states clearly that the original one was a four-hand, point-trick , team game with 4 Unters as top trumps , known as Wenzels (pronounced "Ventsels") and a trump suit nominated by the bid winner. The game was normally played for beer. Among Hammer's 9 variants were three played with
16240-419: The quasi-trick game Stortok , in which there are two trumps, with one superseding the other. Other games have no trumps. Hearts for instance has no provision for a trump suit of any kind. The Hearts suit for which the game is named has a different significance. Though trump is part of contract bridge , teams can make bids that do not specify a trump suit, called notrump . If that is the winning bid, then there
16380-549: The queen by the Ober (O), and the jack by the Unter (U). In every game, there are two teams, the Re team and the Contra team. To win, Re normally has to achieve 121 points or more; Contra wins when Re fails to do so. Each player is dealt 12 cards (or 10 in the 'sharp' 40-card version). After the cards are dealt, the type of game or contract is determined. In non-tournament play, it
16520-416: The rare event of being dealt all 8 lords, " Sie ". If two players have equal bids, the earlier bidder has the priority. Once either passes, the next player in turn must overcall or pass. If all pass, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals. A Rufer is the normal contract and the one played about 80% of the time. It is a partnership game in which the four Obers are the highest trumps – in
16660-421: The right. When games move from one region to another, they tend to initially preserve their original sense of rotation. A region with a dominant sense of rotation may adapt a migrated game to its own sensibilities. For two-player games the order of play is moot. In each hand or deal, one player is the dealer . This function moves from deal to deal in the normal direction of play. The dealer usually shuffles
16800-474: The second card is played to the first trick. The declarer may redouble with " Retour! " before the second card is played. The role of declarer does not switch. Trick-taking game A trick-taking game is a card- or tile-based game in which play of a hand centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called tricks , which are each evaluated to determine a winner or taker of that trick. The object of such games then may be closely tied to
16940-418: The soloist must take every trick to win. If the defenders take a single trick – even one with no card points – the soloist loses. A Tout usually doubles the normal game value. The highest possible contract in Schafkopf is a Sie, when a player is dealt all 4 Obers and all 4 Unters The probability of this is 1 in 10,518,300 (in short cards 1 in 134,596). It is the only game that does not have to be played out;
17080-470: The stock remains untouched throughout play of the hand. It is simply a pile of "extra" cards that will never be played and whose values are unknown, which will reduce the effectiveness of " counting cards ", a common strategy of keeping track of the cards that have been played or are yet to be played. In games without bidding, trumps may be decided by exposing a card in the stock as in Triomphe . In other games,
17220-454: The suit led. If a trick contains any trump cards, it is won by the highest-value trump card played, not the highest-value card of the suit led. In most games with trumps, one of the four suits is identified as the trump suit . In the simplest case, there is a static trump suit such as the Spade suit in the game Spades , or a dedicated trump suit in the Tarot family, in addition to the other four,
17360-518: The taker can call out a suit of which he does not possess the king, and is partnered with whomever does have it against the other three. Standard Schafkopf is similar: A "player" can "call" a suit, and the person holding the ace of that suit becomes his partner for the hand. As this is not openly declared, it can be a challenge for the remaining players, to find out who is partnered with whom through cunning playing for several tricks. Aside from that, standard Schafkopf also has several solo options, where
17500-467: The taking of tricks commences, players can expose certain cards or melds (combinations) that they possess for bonus points. While this phase may seem to award players for pure chance, those who do declare risk letting their opponents develop strategies to counter the cards that they have revealed. In many games, following suit is the action of playing a card of the same suit as that of the leading suit. A player must follow suit if that player has cards of
17640-431: The three-hand game, variants for six and eight players were described; in the latter case, all the Obers and Unters were matadors as in the modern game. In 1884 Doppelschafkopf was mentioned in a chess primer. During a chess trip to Ratzebüttel, the president of a ladies chess club declares that "our husbands play chess too badly; they are too prosaic and much prefer to sit at a beer table playing Doppelschafkopf." In
17780-407: The trick by playing a trump card). Subsequent players to the trick must still follow the original suit, and may only discard or trump if they do not hold a card of the suit led. Certain games are "play to beat" or "must-trump". If a player cannot follow suit but can play trump, they must play trump. If they are able, they must beat any trump card already played to the trick. Pinochle and several of
17920-468: The two ♣ Qs. Players may opt to play with "strict" ( Zwang ) or "wild" ( wild ) rules. In the former a player with the ♣ Q had to lead trumps; in the latter there was no such compulsion. Suit Solos, were not common. Players anted e.g. a Mark to a common pot and the winners drew 5 pfennigs; 10 in the event of Schneider and 15 in the event of a Schwarz . If the team with the two Old Ones lost, their opponents won double. A trump Solo cost 20 pfennigs and
18060-449: The win i.e. "Re" or "Contra". The negative announcements (an Absage is a rejection) are those claiming that the opposition are not going to achieve certain scores e.g. "No 90" ( keine 90 ) or "Schwarz" i.e. "no tricks". After all cards are played, each team counts the points of their tricks (since the total sum of points always is 240, in theory only one team has to count; letting both parties count serves as verification). The game value
18200-459: The winner of an auction-bidding process, the taker or declarer, may get to exchange cards from his hand with the stock, either by integrating the stock into his hand and then discarding equal cards as in Skat , Rook and French tarot , or in a "blind" fashion by discarding and drawing as in Ombre . The stock, either in its original or discarded form, may additionally form part of one or more players' "scoring piles" of tricks taken; it may be kept by
18340-422: The winner, who takes the cards, places them face down on a pile, and leads to the next trick. The winner or taker of a trick is usually the player who played the highest-value card of the suit that was led, unless the game uses one or more trump cards (see below). The player who leads to a trick is usually allowed to play an arbitrary card from their hand. Some games have restrictions on the first card played in
18480-442: The winning team gets the game points added to his or her score, while the losing players have that value deducted. There is then an auction during which players bid for a contract by making announcements . In Doppelkopf there is a single round of bidding starting with forehand. Each player says either "Fine" ( Gesund ), if content to play a normal game, or "Hold" ( Vorbehalt = "reservation", formerly Halt ) if wishing to play
18620-560: Was already widespread in the 1840s, in the Bavarian Forest , Tarock (the Bavarian game, not the true Tarock game played in Austria ) was more popular. The question about the origin of the Bavarian Schafkopf cannot be answered conclusively, but available sources suggest a migration from north to south. The earliest clear description of the game appears in a poem, Das edle Schafkopf-Spiel in
18760-417: Was announced. In a Wedding, if the partner is found with the second (third) trick, all players need to hold one card (two cards) fewer than in a normal game in order to make their announcements. A player may not make an announcement before a partner has been found. The official rules distinguish between Ansagen and Absagen , positive and negative announcements. The positive announcements are those claiming
18900-455: Was not called a "Sie" at that time, nor was it won without play. In the early rule sets, there were only two contracts: a Frage (now Rufer ) in which the declarer called for a non-trump Ace and its holder became the declarer's partner and Hearts were always trumps; and a Solo in which the declarer entrumped any suit and played alone against three defenders. During the 20th century, however, other contracts began to emerge. Ramsch , in which
19040-536: Was not to be considered a game of chance in the legal sense and was thus permitted. The specifically Bavarian variant of the game originated with the introduction of the Rufer or 'Call Ace' contract in the first half of the 19th century - apparently in Franconia. The first clear mention of a game of Schafkopf played according to Bavarian rules (in Gräfenberg ) dates to the year 1849; and while Schapfkopf playing in Franconia
19180-491: Was played much as in Doppelschafkopf above, but there was now an extra penalty for losing the "Fox" – the trump Ace. Instead of lines ( Striche ) being used to keep score, winnings were paid in small stakes such as 5 or 10 pfennigs instead of one line. For the first time there were secret partnerships, the two players dealt the "Old Ones" (2 x ♣ Q) joining forces against the other two, but were not allowed to announce their possession of these cards. A player with both either played
19320-424: Was played with German-suited cards , today, Doppelkopf has become very much a north German and west German game played with French-suited cards. It bears traces of its origins, however, including the retention of Diamonds (the equivalent of Bells) as the trump suit. The major development has been the addition of contracts and bidding. Note: In the following section, the most common rules are described. Doppelkopf
19460-535: Was usually double and paid by each loser to the winner or vice versa. Schafkopf competitions were frequently reported in the newspapers along with unusual feats. In 1880, the Lichtenfelser Tagblatt reported that a Schafkopf player in Staffelstein had played and won a Heart Solo with no trumps. He had 2 Aces twice guarded and an Ace guarded singly, but no Tens; he led to the first trick and made 65 points to
19600-614: Was usually paid directly from player to player. The bonus for taking the last trick with the ♣ J, Charlie Miller ( Karlchen Müller ), appears in Meister (1933) alongside another new feature, the sheep race ( Hammelrennen ), a contract in which everyone played for himself. In 1951, it was referred to as a "central German card game" and in 1958, as "one of the most popular card games in Germany." Although early 19th century Schafkopf played with double packs appears to have originated in Saxony and
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