Mauscheln

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card ranking
3. Setup
4. Deciding who plays
5. Exchanging cards
6. Playing the tricks
7. Settling up
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Mauscheln (also called Maus, Vierblatt or Frische Vier) is a fast trick-taking game for chips, popular in Austria and Germany. Every player gets four cards, and a trump suit is turned up. Beginning to the dealer's left, a player may say "I'll play" – which means promising to win at least two of the four tricks. Anyone else may join in or drop out. The pot is split among the tricks: every trick you win gets you a quarter of the pot. If you are in the game and win no trick, you pay a bête (a penalty) into the pot – so the pot grows, and the next deal becomes more tempting.

• Players: 3–5 with 32 cards; 6–7 players with all 52 cards.
• You need: a 32-card pack (7–A), chips (or counters) and a bowl for the pot. Play for chips, not for money.

Card ranking

Ace (highest), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7 (lowest). With 52 cards, the 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 follow below the 7.

Setup

1. Choose the first dealer at random. After each deal the deal passes clockwise.
2. Every player gets the same number of chips (e.g. 40) to start with. The bowl in the middle is the pot.
3. The dealer puts 4 chips in the pot. This is the stake (it must be divisible by four).
4. The dealer deals two cards to each player, one at a time, face down. Then the dealer turns the next card face up: its suit is trumps for this deal. Then the dealer deals two more cards to each player (four in total).
5. The remaining cards form a face-down draw pile. The turned-up trump card stays next to it.

Deciding who plays

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player must either say "I'll play!" (mauscheln) or "pass".

• The first player who says "I'll play" becomes the sneaker (Mauschler) and undertakes to win at least two tricks. Players after them are not asked any more.
• All the other players – also those who passed before – then decide in turn, starting on the sneaker's left: pass (put your cards aside and sit this deal out) or join in ("I'm with you"). Only the sneaker and those who joined play the four tricks.
• If nobody says "I'll play", the cards are thrown in. The next player deals, adds another 4 chips to the pot and everything begins again. The pot is kept.
• If everybody else passes, the sneaker takes the whole pot and the deal is over – without playing. The next player deals and adds 4 chips.

Exchanging cards

If at least one player joined, the sneaker and the players who joined may exchange cards, once each. Starting with the sneaker and continuing clockwise, you put any number of your cards (0 to 4) face down on a discard pile and get the same number from the top of the draw pile. If the draw pile does not have enough cards, you get what is left, and later players may only take fewer or no cards.

Playing the tricks

The sneaker leads to the first trick; after that, the winner of a trick leads to the next. There are four tricks. You have to:

1. follow suit if you can;
2. otherwise play a trump, if you have one;
3. and if you can, you must beat the current highest card (with a higher card of the same suit, or with a higher trump).

If you can do none of these, you play any card. The trick goes to the highest trump in it – or, without a trump, the highest card of the suit led.

Example: Spades are trumps. Ben leads the K♥. Carla has the 7♥ and the A♥: she has to follow suit and to beat the King, so she must play the A♥. Dan has no hearts but holds the 9♠: he has to play a trump.

Settling up

Count the tricks. Let the pot be P chips before you pay anything.

• Each trick you win gets you a quarter of P from the pot.
• If you joined in and won no trick, you pay a bête into the pot: as many chips as P contained.
• If you are the sneaker and won only one trick, you also pay a bête of P.
• If you are the sneaker and won no trick, you pay a double bête: 2 × P.

Everything you pay in stays in the pot for the next deal. The next dealer adds a new stake of 4 chips.

Example: The pot holds 8 chips (a 4-chip stake plus 4 chips from a previous bête), so each trick is worth 2. Ben is the sneaker, Carla joins. Ben wins 3 tricks and takes 6 chips, Carla wins 1 and takes 2. The pot is empty; the next dealer starts with 4 new chips.

Another deal with the same pot of 8: Ben wins only 1 trick and takes 2 chips – but he must pay a bête of 8 chips into the pot. Carla wins 3 tricks and takes 6 chips. The pot was emptied, but Ben's bête refills it: it holds 8, and the next dealer adds 4.

Winning the game

Play as long as you wish. The player who has the most chips at the end wins. A player who is out of chips is out of the game; if you can't pay a bête in full, pay what you have.

Tips for beginners

• Say "I'll play" only with a trump Ace, a trump King or two high trumps, or with several high cards of one suit.
• If a bête is in the pot, joining is riskier – but the reward is bigger, too.
• Drop out if you have no trump and no Ace.
• When you exchange, keep your trumps and Aces and swap the rest.

Variants

• Knocking: if the turned-up trump is a high one (e.g. an Ace), the dealer may knock before looking at their cards. The dealer then becomes the sneaker and takes the trump card into the hand, discarding as many cards as they like.
• Quartets: a player who is dealt four cards of one rank must discard them, pay a 4-chip stake and get a new hand.
• Belli: the 7♦ (or the 7 of trumps) is the permanent second-highest trump and may cost a penalty if it is lost to the Ace. The details differ from table to table.
• Weli: the 6 is added to the pack as the 33rd card and is the permanent second-highest trump.