Bauernschnapsen♠

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Aim and equipment

Four play in opposite partnerships. Keep 20 cards: A, 10, K, Q, J in every suit. This is their ordinary ranking and their values are 11, 10, 4, 3, 2 card points, totalling 120. Contract game points are a separate scale; teams start at 0 and play to 24. Play clockwise; F means forehand, dealer’s left.

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Setup and deal

First dealer is random, then rotates left. Shuffle; dealer’s right cuts or knocks. After a cut deal packets of 3 then 2. F names a trump held among the first 3, or commits to a randomly designated one of the last 2 being exposed for trump (Aufschlagen). Never choose after inspecting both. After a knock, packets of 5 are allowed, but F’s first 3 must still be separated for this decision. Auction follows after all 5 are received. No stock.

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Bidding and contracts

Contracts below are ascending with their values. F starts and cannot initially pass: choose Normal or an available higher contract. Each later player passes or bids higher. Equal-bid priority is F, dealer’s partner, F’s partner, dealer. A higher-priority player may equal the current bid; others must exceed it. A passer leaves the auction permanently. After 3 passes the survivor plays their last bid. Equal values of 12 do not erase the listed contract order.

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Legal actions

F leads in trump contracts, declarer at no-trump. Play 1 card, following suit and beating the highest card in the trick whenever possible, even a partner’s. When void, trump and overtrump if able; otherwise still undertrump. Only without suit or trump may you discard freely. If an opponent trumped while you hold the led suit, still follow: inability to win does not remove suit duty. Highest trump, otherwise highest led-suit card, wins and leads. No draw. A normal deal has 5 tricks; in Bettler declarer’s partner sits out with cards unused. Zehner-Gang uses the table’s special ranking.

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Declarations

Only Normal, Schnapser and Kontra-Schnapser allow marriages. Holding K and Q of a suit, show both when leading either: 20 card points, or 40 in trump. Still hold the companion; captured or previously played cards do not qualify. Winning that trick is unnecessary. In Schnapser and Kontra-Schnapser only declarer may count marriages. Other contracts have no marriage awards. After bidding, declarer’s opponents may announce Kontra to double game points; declarer’s side may Rekontra to double again; opponents may Subkontra to double again. Multipliers 2, 4, 8 apply to contract value, not the target of 66.

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Scoring

In Normal claim “enough” after your trick win or immediately after a marriage when your side has at least 66. Any unfinished trick stops and contributes nothing. A correct claim scores 1 game point if opponents have 33 or more; 2 if they have a trick but fewer than 33; 3 if they have no tricks. A false claim gives opponents the value the claiming side would have scored. Your side’s tricks may be counted. If nobody claims before the last trick’s lead, its winners score 1 regardless of card totals. There is no last-trick bonus of 10. In Schnapser declarer personally wins the first 3 and reaches 66; any other winner, even partner, immediately defeats it. Other conditions are in the table. Success awards contract game points to declarer’s side, failure to opponents, with the announced multiplier.

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Ending the game

Add game points after each deal. First side at 24 or more wins; mark a Bummerl against the losers. If losers have 0 game points mark 2 Bummerl for Schneider, otherwise 1. Do not mix counting down from 24 with this upward scoreboard. Only one side scores a deal, so no simultaneous finish tie occurs.

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Context and variants

This is an Austrian partnership development in the Schnapsen/Sixty-Six family. The checked code is built from player contributions, not proof of a sole inventor. Regional agreements alter Bettler, Zehner-Gang and doubling. This guide selects Pagat’s complete main contract list; three-player Talon-Schnapsen changes hands and objectives and is not mixed in.

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Worked example

Hearts are trump. K♥–A♥–10♥–Q♥ belongs to the second player: ace outranks ten. Holding A♥ and J♥, that player had to beat the king with the ace. Cards total 4+11+10+3=28. In a separate Normal hand a side has 28 in tricks and declares trump marriage 40 for 68: it may stop before completing the marriage-led trick. Opponents with a trick worth 21 make the win worth 2 game points before doubling.

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Common questions