Schnapsen

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a trick
5. Phase 1: while the stock is open
6. Marriages
7. Exchanging the trump Jack
8. Closing the stock
9. Claiming 66 and ending the hand
10. Scoring
11. Winning the Bummerl
12. Tips for beginners
13. Variants

Overview

Schnapsen is Austria's classic card game for two. It is a trick-taking game: each player plays one card, and the higher card wins both cards – together they form a trick. The cards in your won tricks are worth points, and so are marriages (King and Queen of the same suit) that you announce. The first player to reach 66 points in a hand says so and wins that hand. Several hands make up a Bummerl (a match), played until one player has scored 7 game points.

• Players: exactly 2.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, and paper and pencil for scoring.

The cards

Take out the Aces, Tens, Kings, Queens and Jacks of all four suits – 20 cards. The other 32 cards are not used.

In Schnapsen the Ten ranks just below the Ace, above the King. From high to low, each card has these card points:

All 20 cards together are worth 120 card points. You need more than half – 66 – to win a hand.

Setup

1. Dealer: decide the first dealer at random. After each hand, the deal alternates.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles, lets the opponent cut, and deals 3 cards to each player, face down, starting with the opponent.
3. Trump card: the dealer turns up the next card. Its suit is trump for this hand – trump cards beat all cards of the other suits. This trump card is laid face up and crosswise under the remaining cards, so it stays visible.
4. Then the dealer deals 2 more cards each. Everyone now has 5 cards.
5. Stock: the remaining face-down cards lie on top of the trump card. Together they form the stock (draw pile).

The non-dealer leads to the first trick.

Playing a trick

The player on lead plays any card face up. The other player answers with one card. Then:

• If both cards are of the same suit, the higher card wins.
• If only one card is a trump, the trump wins.
• If the second card is of a different suit and not a trump, the lead card wins.

The winner takes both cards and places them face down in front of them. You may look at your own tricks at any time to count your points, but not at your opponent's.

Phase 1: while the stock is open

As long as there are cards in the stock and it has not been closed, play is relaxed:

• You don't have to follow suit – you may answer with any card you like, including a trump, or throw away a low card.
• After each trick, the winner draws the top card of the stock first, then the other player. Both have 5 cards again.
• The winner leads to the next trick.

At the very end, the winner of the trick takes the last face-down card, and the other player takes the face-up trump card.

Marriages

A marriage is the King and Queen of the same suit in your hand. When it is your turn to lead, you may show both cards, announce the marriage and then lead one of them:

• Marriage in a normal suit (a "twenty"): 20 points.
• Marriage in the trump suit (a "forty"): 40 points.

Marriage points are added to your card points. However, they only count once you have won at least one trick in this hand. Until then, just remember them.

Example: Hearts are trump. You are on lead and hold K♠ Q♠. You show both, say "twenty" and lead the Q♠. Your opponent plays the A♠ and wins the trick (11 + 3 = 14 card points). You have no trick yet, so your 20 points are on hold. Next trick, your opponent leads J♣ and you win it with 10♣: 10 + 2 = 12 card points. Now your marriage counts too: you have 32 points.

Exchanging the trump Jack

If you hold the Jack of trumps and it is your turn to lead, you may swap it for the face-up trump card under the stock. Do this before you lead. It is only allowed while the stock is open and still holds at least one face-down card on top of the trump card.

Example: Clubs are trump and the A♣ lies under the stock. You hold J♣. When you are on lead, you put J♣ in its place and take the A♣ into your hand.

Closing the stock

When you are on lead, you may close the stock: turn the trump card face down on top of the stock. You may do this before or after exchanging the Jack or announcing a marriage, but before you lead your card. From now on, nobody draws any more cards.

The stock is also used up automatically after the last card has been drawn. In both cases, strict rules apply for the rest of the hand:

1. Follow suit: you must play a card of the suit that was led.
2. Win if you can: if you can follow suit, you must play a higher card if you have one.
3. Trump if you can't follow: if you have no card of the suit led, you must play a trump. Only if you have neither may you play any card.

Marriages may still be announced in this phase.

Risk: the player who closes the stock must reach 66. If they fail, the opponent scores 2 game points – or 3 if the opponent had not won a single trick at the moment the stock was closed.

Example: Spades are trump. Anna has two tricks and a marriage, 48 points, and is on lead with A♠ 10♠ A♦ K♦ J♥. She closes the stock. She leads A♠; Ben must follow with a spade and plays J♠: Anna gains 13 → 61. She leads 10♠; Ben has no spades left and no other trumps, so he may play any card – he plays Q♣: Anna gains 13 → 74. She says "I have enough!" and wins the hand. Had she closed too early and got stuck below 66, Ben would have scored 2 game points.

Claiming 66 and ending the hand

As soon as you believe you have 66 or more points (card points in your tricks plus counted marriages), you say so – e.g. "I have enough!". Play stops immediately and the points are counted.

• If you are right, you win the hand.
• If you are wrong, your opponent scores 2 game points – or 3 if they had not won a trick at that point.

If all cards have been played and nobody has claimed, the winner of the last trick wins the hand.

Scoring

The winner of a hand scores game points depending on how well the loser did:

(Here "card points" includes the loser's counted marriages.)

Example: Ben claims 66. His tricks hold 48 card points and he announced a twenty – 68, correct. Anna's tricks hold 35 card points: Ben scores 1 game point. With only 28, Anna would be Schneider and Ben would score 2. Without any trick, Anna would be schwarz – 3 for Ben.

Winning the Bummerl

Each player starts at 7 and counts down by the game points they win. The first to reach 0 wins the Bummerl (match). The loser "gets a Bummerl" – many players mark it with a little stroke and play the next one.

Tips for beginners

• Count your points. Keep a running total of your tricks and marriages in your head so you can claim 66 at the right moment.
• Save your big trumps. Don't waste the trump Ace or Ten early; they are worth a lot and win the important tricks later.
• Keep King and Queen together. Don't break up a pair – a twenty or forty can decide the hand.
• Close when it's safe. If your hand can surely win the tricks you still need, close the stock and take away your opponent's chances to draw good cards.
• Throw low cards in phase 1. When you can't win a trick cheaply, give away a Jack rather than a Ten.

Variants

All of these are optional – agree on them before the game.

• Sechsundsechzig (Sixty-six): the German cousin, played with 24 cards – the 9s are added (worth 0 points). Each player gets 6 cards.
• Bauernschnapsen: a popular four-player partnership version with bidding.
• Marriages without a trick: some tables let marriage points count even if the player never wins a trick.