Schwimmen (31)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card values
3. What your hand is worth
4. Setup
5. Playing a turn
6. End of a round
7. Losing lives
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Schwimmen ("swimming"), also called 31, is a quick, lively game for a group. Everyone holds three cards and tries to improve them by swapping with three face-up cards in the middle of the table. The aim is to collect as many points as possible in one suit – 31 is the best you can get. At the end of each round the player with the worst hand loses a life. Lose all your lives and you are "swimming"; lose once more and you're out. The last player left wins.

• Players: 2–8 (best with 4–6). With 7 or 8 players, it is better to use all 52 cards (see Variants) – with 32 cards there is hardly any draw pile left.
• You need: a standard 52-card deck with all 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s removed – 32 cards remain (7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in each suit). No jokers.
• Lives: three small tokens per player (matches, coins or chips).

Card values

What your hand is worth

Only cards of the same suit count together. Your hand is worth the total of your best suit.

• Three cards of one suit: add all three.
• Two cards of one suit: add those two; the third card doesn't count.
• Three different suits: only your single highest card counts.

Two special hands:

• Three of a kind (three cards of the same rank, e.g. three 8s) is worth 30½.
• Feuer ("fire"): three Aces. This is the best hand of all – it beats even 31 (some count it as 32 or 33 points).

A hand of exactly 31 (an Ace plus two 10-point cards in one suit) is called Schnauz.

Example: You hold K♥ 9♥ A♠. Hearts give 10 + 9 = 19, spades give 11. Your hand is worth 19. If you swap the A♠ for a 10♥ from the middle, you have 29.

Setup

1. Everyone takes three lives. Pick a dealer at random; after each round the deal passes to the left.
2. The dealer shuffles and deals three cards face down to each player, one at a time, and deals one extra hand of three cards face down in front of themselves.
3. The dealer looks at their own first hand and decides – without seeing the extra hand: - Keep it: the extra hand is turned face up in the middle of the table. - Swap it: the dealer's first hand goes face up into the middle, and the dealer takes the extra hand (and must keep it, however bad it is).
4. The rest of the cards stay face down to one side as the draw pile.

The three face-up cards are called the middle ("die Mitte").

Playing a turn

The player to the dealer's left starts; play goes clockwise. On your turn you do exactly one of these:

• Swap one card: take one card from the middle and put one of your cards in its place.
• Swap all three: exchange your whole hand with the three cards in the middle.
• Pass ("schieben"): do nothing.
• Knock ("klopfen", tap the table or say "I'm closing"): you think your hand is good enough and want to end the round.

You may never swap exactly two cards.

Example: The middle shows 10♣ 7♦ K♣. You hold A♣ 8♥ 9♠. You take the K♣ and put down the 8♥. Now you have A♣ K♣ 9♠ – 21 in clubs. Next turn you could take the 10♣ for the 9♠ and have 31.

Everyone passes: if all players pass one after another, the three middle cards are put aside and three new cards from the draw pile are laid face up in their place. If fewer than three cards are left in the draw pile, shuffle them together with the cards put aside earlier to make a new draw pile.

End of a round

A round ends in one of three ways:

1. Someone knocks. Every other player gets one more turn (swap or pass, but nobody can knock again). Then everyone shows their cards.
2. Someone has 31 (Schnauz). As soon as you hold 31 – even straight from the deal – you must show it at once. The round ends immediately and everyone shows their cards.
3. Someone has Feuer. Three Aces are shown at once, too, and the round ends immediately.

Losing lives

• After a knock or a 31, the player with the lowest hand gives up one life (puts one token in the middle). If several players tie for lowest, all of them lose a life.
• After Feuer, everyone else loses a life.

Example: Anna knocks with 29. Ben swaps and reaches 30½ (three Queens), Carla passes with 17, Dan has 24. Carla has the lowest hand and loses a life.

Swimming: when you give up your last life, you are not out yet – you are swimming. You keep playing, but if you lose another round, you go under and leave the game.

Winning the game

Players drop out one by one. The last player left in the game wins. If a round would put out every remaining player at once (a tie for lowest), nobody goes out and you play another round.

Tips for beginners

• Pick one suit early and collect it – mixing suits wastes points.
• Watch what others take from the middle: it tells you which suits they are collecting.
• Knock when your hand is solid (around 25 or more) – waiting too long gives others time to catch up.
• Swapping all three is great when the middle has two or three cards of one suit.
• When you're swimming, play safe: one more loss and you're gone.

Variants

These are optional house rules – agree before you play.

• Tie-break: instead of all tied players losing, a higher three of a kind beats a lower one, and for equal suit totals the suit decides: ♣ (high), ♠, ♥, ♦ (low). This is pagat.com's main rule.
• Dealt 31: if someone is dealt 31, everyone without 31 loses a life.
• No swapping all three: some groups only allow swapping one card or passing.
• Knock after swapping: you may swap first and then knock in the same turn.
• Big groups: with many players, use all 52 cards (2 to 6 count their face value).