Schafkopf

The Schafkopf group is a family of German trick-taking card games played by three or more players with a pack of 32 or 24 cards. The most typical variants are for four players in varying partnerships and have the four Jacks and sometimes some or all Queens as the highest trumps. Games based on Schafkopf include Skat and Doppelkopf. Schafkopf has been traced back into the 18th century, but variants are still played in Germany (Bavaria, Palatinate), the United States (as Sheepshead, especially in Wisconsin), and on the Faroe Islands (as Sjavs).

Common principles

Point-values of cards

Rank	A	10	K	Q	J	9	8	7
Value	11	10	4	3	2	0	0	0
	high cards		court cards			low cards

Many Schafkopf games are played with the 32 cards of a piquet pack consisting of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, 9, 8, 7 in each of the four well known French suits. In some cases a shorter pack of 24 cards is used, dropping the 8s and 7s. Some games are also, or even exclusively, played with an equivalent German-style pack. In German-style cards there are two kinds of knaves that are distinguished by the position of the suit mark: "Upper" knaves (Ober) correspond to Queens, and "Lower" knaves (Unter) correspond to Jacks. The German suits correspond to French suits as follows: acorns = clubs, leaves = spades, hearts = hearts, bells = diamonds. For simplicity, this article will describe the games in terms of French-style cards throughout – even Bavarian Schafkopf, which is exclusively played with German-style cards.

The cards carry values as shown in the table, for a total of 120 card points. It can be observed that the 12 low cards have no point value at all, while 84 of the game's 120 card points are concentrated in the 8 high cards. Only the 12 court cards have point values close to the average.

Card ranks in trump suit

Jacks highest trumps
				J♣	J♠	J♥	J♦	10	K	Q		9	8	7
Queens highest trumps
Q♣	Q♠	Q♥	Q♦					10	K		J	9	8	7
Jacks and Queens highest trumps
Q♣	Q♠	Q♥	Q♦	J♣	J♠	J♥	J♦	10	K			9	8	7
Jacks and black Queens highest trumps
Q♣	Q♠			J♣	J♠	J♥	J♦	10	K	Q		9	8	7

Depending on the game variant and sometimes the contract, a certain number of Queens or Jacks form the highest trumps and are considered full members of the trump suit. Thus, if hearts are trumps and all Jacks are among the highest trumps, the Jack of clubs is a member of the hearts suit rather than the clubs suit.

All games are played clockwise. The players typically form two parties, based on an auction and/or the ownership of certain cards. The party of the player who won the auction is known as "the players", the opposing players are known as "the opponents". To win, the players normally need to collect more than half of the card points in tricks, i.e. at least 61 points. The opponents win if they collect 60 points or more. If the opponents win less than 30 points, the players win schneider. If the players win all tricks, they win schwarz.

German Schafkopf

An early four-player Schafkopf game that is no longer popular is known as German Schafkopf. It is played by four players in fixed partnerships, using a pack of 32 cards. In this game all Jacks, but not the Queens, are the highest trumps. Once all cards have been distributed, the player who holds the Jack of clubs gets to choose the trump suit and forms a partnership with the player sitting opposite.

Like most Schafkopf games, this one has numerous variants. In one variant each player announces how many trumps they would have if they could choose trumps – provided the number is at least five. The player who announces the greatest number chooses the trump suit. If the players lose, the game is counted twice. In another variant the Jacks and black Queens are the highest trumps. In yet another variant diamonds are always trumps.

Bauernstoss

This variant is still popular in Erfweiler (Palatinate), although German Schafkopf is otherwise unknown in the area. The 32 French-style cards are dealt in batches of two or four. Bidding is restricted to those players who have at least one Jack, and a player may announce a number as low as two. (Starting from the player to the dealer's left, the first player who has a Jack must bid.) The player who bids the greatest number gets to choose the trump suit. A player can also bid a major solo or a minor solo, which rank higher than normal partner play with any number of trumps. In either case the soloist's partner does not participate in the play and the soloist must win all tricks. In the case of a minor solo the soloist and the soloist's partner each passes one card to the other – openly in case it is a Jack. As a special case, a player who holds all four Jacks can choose (only) between playing a major solo and a redeal.

In any case the four Jacks are the highest trumps. In addition to the standard trick-playing rules, a player who cannot follow suit must play trump if possible. If a trick contains a Jack, a higher Jack must be played if possible according to the other rules.

Scoring is peculiar. After each play a certain number of points are scored, and the first party to score 20 wins the game. In the first play the party that holds the Jack of clubs is privileged. In all subsequent plays the party that won the previous play is privileged. The privileged party wins a partnership play with 42 or more card points, i.e. the non-privileged party needs 79 points or more to win. In any case a party scores 1 point for winning partner play, 2 points for winning schneider or 3 points for winning schwarz. A minor or major solo scores 8 or 12 points, respectively.

Wendish Schafkopf

This four-player game is named after the Wends, a historical term that refers generally to all Slavs living in close contact with Germans. All cards are dealt in batches of four. The Jacks and Queens are the highest trumps. Clockwise starting with the player to the dealer's left, the players get the chance to play a solo against the three opposing players and choose the trump suit. If no player wishes to play a solo, diamonds are trumps and the players who hold the highest trumps (Q♣ and Q♠) play together against the two opposing players. A single player who happens to hold the two highest trumps usually announces the fact and forms a partnership with the first other player who wins a trick. Alternatively, the player may keep the fact secret and play a quiet solo against the other three. The base value of a play is 1 point if two play against two, 2 points if a soloist wins or 3 points if a soloist loses. The base value is doubled or tripled in case of schneider or schwarz.

A three-player variant is known as Dreiwendsch and seems to be closely related to Skat. Each player receives ten cards; two cards face down in the middle of the table form the skat. Starting with the player to the dealer's left, the players get the chance to take up the skat, discard two cards face down, choose the trump suit and play a solo against the two opposing players. In a variant, the player who holds the Queen of clubs must play the solo. If no soloist is found, the cards are dealt again.

Bavarian Schafkopf

Bavarian Schafkopf is the most popular card game in the German state of Bavaria. It may have started as a variant of Wendish Schafkopf which found its way from Erzgebirge or Thuringian Forest to Bavaria in the early 19th century. The official Laws of Schafkopf were adopted by the Bayerischer Schafkopf-Verein at the First Bavarian Schafkopf Congress in 1989. They are based on rules that were printed in 1895. In Bavaria the game is played with German-style cards. According to the official rules, the game is played with 32 cards, dealt in batches of four.

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. 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. Solo tout is solo with an undertaking to win all tricks. Wenz tout is wenz with an undertaking to win all tricks. The hierarchy of plays continues with 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.

Variations and extensions

In the Palatinate, which was part of Bavaria from 1816 till 1946, Bavarian Schafkopf is played with 32 French-style cards. There are numerous variations of the basic rules. In some regions the game is played with 24 cards, dealt in batches of three.

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 solo play can be combined with wenz into suit wenz, i.e. the soloist can choose a trump suit and the four Jacks are the highest trumps. 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. The value of the game is doubled or quadrupled if one or two players do not win a single trick. 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.

Sheepshead

In the United States, Schafkopf is known as Sheepshead. It appears that most popular variants are for three or five players and are most closely related to Wendish Schafskopf, with some elements of Bavarian Schafskopf.

The game is played with a pack of 32 cards. Diamonds are trumps, and the Queens and Jacks are the highest trumps. Most cards are dealt to the players in batches of two or three. A widow of two cards is dealt face down to the middle of the table in between batches. Starting to the dealer's left, players get the chance to pick up the widow, discard two cards face down, and play as a soloist (three player game) or with a single partner (five player game). The partner in the five-player game is determined either as the player who holds the Jack of diamonds or by calling a specific ace as in Bavarian Schafkopf.

Any card points in the two discarded cards are counted along with the tricks won by the party of the player who picked up the widow. This party scores 1 point for winning, 2 points for schneider or 3 points for schwarz. If the other party wins, they score 2 points for winning, 4 points for schneider or 6 points for schwarz.

If no player picks up the widow, depending on the variant played there is a redeal with double stakes or a version of ramsch is played.