Schnapsen rules

What is Schnapsen

Schnapsen is a card game mainly played by two players heads up (there are variations for 3 players and 4 players as well), which follows certain rules like every other card game too. The historical origin of the game is Austria, there it is considered a skill-based game and not gambling.

the goal of the game

The main goal of the game is to get as fast as possible to 66 points, therefore a player must stitch the opponents played cards or get points through calling a marriage. Has a player reached the 66 points he is earning 1 - 3 victory points depending on how many points the opponent made. The player first reaching 7 victory points won the game and the loser gets the so called "Bummerl". A good equivalent for the scoring system is tennis. A hand is a game, a "Bummerl" is a set and the match win could be a single "Bummerl" or like in tennis "best of three" or even more.

deck and cards

Schnapsen is played by a deck of 20 cards (T, J, Q, K, A). Trough dealing the cards at the beginning of every hand a certain colour is choosen as the "Atout", which is very powerful because it stitches all the other colours. The cards have all set values:

• Ace: 11
• Ten: 10
• King: 4
• Queen: 3
• Jack: 2

Schnapsen - the game

Every new hand the players are changing the dealer "position". The cards are dealed downface. Every player gets 5 cards. First the dealer gives his opponent 3 cards, then himself 3 cards, then the next card is faced up and decides the "Atout" colour. Then 2 cards to the opponent, 2 to himself and the rest, the so called "Talon" is put on the Atout, so that the Atout is half visible. The Atout is the last card of the "Talon". ​ The player who wasn´t the dealer starts the hand. The player who is acting first always has 4 options.

1. Play a card: the card played is put face up on the table. The second player now can play a card, he has to decide if he wants to stitch it or not, sometimes he is not able to stitch it. The player who made the stitch gets the two cards and ads it to his count, also he must to draw the first card from the talon und the other player the second card. So that both players have again 5 cards in their hand. The winner of the last cards has to play a card first. This continues till you get to a point where the talon is gone. From there on the rules change. Now the players must always play the same colour as well the are not able to decide if they want to stitch, they must if they are able to do so.
2. Close it out: If the player thinks he can get to 66 or more without drawing other cards, he can close it out by turning the Atout-card at the bottom of the talon. If this happens no other cards are drawn from the talon. From this point the players again must stitch and play the same colour as played by the player acting first.
3. Change the atout card: Has a player the Jack in the same colour as the Atout, he can change his Jack, which is the lowest worth Atout, with the on the bottom of the talon lying Atout. The atout Jack is now at the bottom of the talon and the player ads the bottom card to his hand. After changing the Atout card the game continues normal.
4. Marriage: Has a player the King and Queen from the same colour in his hand he can call a marriage. There are two types:
   • King and Queen in Atout are called big marriage and counts 40 points
   • King and Queen in every other colour are called small marriage and count 20 points
5. The player gets the through marriage called points if he has at least one stitch. The player who calls the marriage has the option if he wants to leave the King or Queen in the middle of the table. After this the game continues normal.

Stiching cards

In the beginning of the game there is no must which card a player is playing. As mentioned, this changes when a player closes the game out or the talon is gone. For the beginning it means that a player can play every card he has in his hand, but he only stitches if his card is higher and in the same colour than the card of his opponent or with an Atout card. If there are played two cards from different colours und none of them is Atout, then the card which was played first is winning the stitch. For example: Diamond is Atout

• the first player plays Queen of hearts, the second Ace of hearts > the second player stitches with the higher card from the same colour
• the first player plays Jack of hearts, the second Kind of clubs > the first player wins the stitch because player two played a different colour
• the first player plays Ace of clubs, the second Queen of diamonds > the second player stitches with an Atout card

Forced rule: colour and stitching

In Schnapsen as mentioned, the normal game changes when someone closes the game out or the talon is gone. In this case the rules change and players are not allowed anymore to play every card they have in their hands. When it is a players turn, he must:

• stitch the played card with a higher card from the same colour. If that is not possible for him, because he has no higher card in his hands he must,
• play a lower card from the same colour as played. If this is also not possible for him, because he has not same colour as played, he must
• stitch with an Atout card, and if this is also not possible, he can
• throw any of his cards.

Closing it out

If a player thinks he can get to 66 without drawing another card he can close the game out by turning the Atout card under the talon around. The game is as mentioned above now played with the forced rule. The player who closed the game out is starting with the first card

• no more drawing is allowed
• the forced rule is active

When the game gets closed out by a player, the points at the end of the hand differ from the normal game. The idea is to award the player who is risking closing the game out, so that the opponent´s points get freezed to the status just before closing it out. That means that all stitches the opponent makes after closing out doesn´t count.

• Did the opponent have no stitch at all before closing it out, the player gets 3 gamepoints
• Did the opponent have 32 or less points before closing it out, the player gets 2 gamepoints
• Did the opponent have 33 or more points before closing it out, the player gets 1 gamepoint

points, gamepoints, "Bummerl"

When a player gets after a stitch or a marriage to 66 or more the hand is over and the points get compared.

• Has the opponent no stitches/points, the player gets 3 gamepoints
• Has the opponent 32 points or less, the player gets 2 gamepoints
• Has the opponent 33 points or more, the player gets 1 gamepoint

If there is no player getting 66 to the last card of a hand, the player who makes the last stitch gets 1 gamepoint. The player who wins at first 7 gamepoints wins the "Bummerl".