Watten

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. The Kritische
4. Setup and deal
5. Choosing trumps: Schlag and suit
6. Signals
7. Playing a trick
8. Betting: "Gehen?"
9. Scoring
10. Winning the game
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Watten is the favourite pub game of the Tyrol, Salzburg and Bavaria. Four players play in two teams of two; partners sit opposite each other. It is a trick-taking game: everyone plays one card, and the highest card wins all four – together they form a trick. Each player has only five cards, and the team that first wins three tricks wins the hand.

What makes Watten special: the trumps are chosen fresh every hand by two players, partners may signal their cards to each other with winks and gestures, and during play either team can raise the stakes – the other team must then play on for more or give up. Bluffing is part of the game.

• Players: exactly 4, in two fixed teams.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, paper and pencil.
• Goal: the first team to reach 15 points wins the game.

The cards

Take out the 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K and A of every suit plus the 6♦ – 33 cards. The 6♦ stands in for the Weli, a special extra card in Tyrolean packs. Put the other cards away.

In Watten, only the order of the cards matters – cards have no point values. Within a suit, cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 from high to low.

The Kritische

Three cards are permanent trumps, the Kritische ("critical ones"). They beat every other card, whatever trumps are chosen:

1. Maxi – K♥, the highest card in the game
2. Weli – 6♦, second highest
3. Spitz – 7♣, third highest

A Kritischer never belongs to a suit or rank: the K♥ is not a heart and not a King, the 7♣ is not a club and not a Seven.

Setup and deal

1. For the first deal, two opponents each draw a card; the higher card deals. After each hand the deal passes to the left.
2. The dealer shuffles, the player to the dealer's right cuts.
3. The dealer deals clockwise, first 3 cards to each player, then 2 more: everyone has 5 cards. The remaining 13 cards stay face down and are not used.
4. The player to the dealer's left is forehand.

Only the dealer and forehand may look at their cards now. The other two must leave theirs face down until trumps have been announced.

Choosing trumps: Schlag and suit

1. Forehand names the Schlag ("stroke"): a rank – A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8 or 7.
2. Then the dealer names the trump suit: ♣, ♠, ♥ or ♦.

Now everyone picks up their cards. The order of all cards for this hand, from high to low:

1. The three Kritische: Maxi, Weli, Spitz.
2. The Rechter ("right one"): the card of the Schlag rank in the trump suit.
3. The Linke ("left ones", also Blinde): the other cards of the Schlag rank (not counting a Kritischer). They are all equal – if two meet in one trick, the one played first wins.
4. The other trumps: the remaining cards of the trump suit, A K Q J 10 9 8 7.
5. Everything else: in its own suit, A K Q J 10 9 8 7. These cards only win a trick if they are the highest card of the suit that was led.

Example: Schlag is 10, trump is ♠. Order: K♥, 6♦, 7♣, then 10♠ (Rechter), then 10♣ 10♥ 10♦ (Linke, equal), then A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 9♠ 8♠ 7♠.

If the Rechter would be a Kritischer (Schlag K with trump ♥, or Schlag 7 with trump ♣), there is no Rechter that hand – only Linke.

Schöneres: before naming the Schlag, forehand may ask the dealer for "schöneres" ("prettier cards"). If the dealer agrees, both put their cards aside and get five new ones from the unused cards. The dealer may refuse – and forehand may ask just to bluff.

Signals

Once the Schlag and trump suit are known, partners may talk and signal their cards to each other – the opponents are watching, of course. A common set of signals (agree yours beforehand):

• Maxi: pout your lips as for a kiss. Weli: move your lips to the right. Spitz: move your lips to the left.
• Rechter: wink with the right eye. Linker: wink with the left eye.
• Trumps: thumb = A, index finger = K, middle finger = Q, ring finger = J, little finger = a small trump.
• Nothing useful: look up at the ceiling.

You may also give false signals to fool the opponents.

Playing a trick

Forehand leads to the first trick. Then each player in turn, clockwise, plays one card. The winner of a trick leads to the next one.

• Normally you may play any card – you don't have to follow suit or beat anything.
• Exception: if a card of the trump suit is led (including the Rechter), everyone who has a card of the trump suit must play either a trump, a Linker or a Kritischer. You don't have to beat the card led.
• If a Linker or a Kritischer is led, you may play anything.

The trick is won by the highest card in the order above. Without Kritische, Schlag cards or trumps, the highest card of the suit led wins.

As soon as a team has three tricks, the hand is over; the remaining cards are not played.

Example: Schlag 10, trump ♠. Anna leads 8♠ – a trump. Ben holds J♠ and 10♥; he plays 10♥, a Linker (J♠ would also be allowed). Carla has no spade and plays A♦. Dan holds 7♣ and plays it. The Spitz beats the Linker, so Dan wins the trick.

Betting: "Gehen?"

A hand is worth 2 points. At any time after trumps have been named – even in the middle of a trick – a player may bet for their team, asking the opponents "Gehst?" ("Will you go?"). This proposes raising the value by 1 point. Play stops until the opponents answer:

• Go ("wir gehen"): they give up. The betting team scores the old value, and the cards are thrown in.
• Hold ("halten", "schauen"): play continues for the new value.

A team that has held may later bet again itself ("four?"), then the other team ("five?"), and so on – but the teams must take turns betting. The value never goes beyond what a team needs to win the game. If the opponents simply carry on playing without answering, they have held.

Last trick: if nobody has bet yet and the teams have two tricks each, a player may bet after the lead to the last trick only if their last card is of the suit led, a trump, the Rechter or a Linker.

Scoring

The winning team scores the value of the hand: 2 without a bet, 3 after one held bet, 4 after two, and so on. Write both teams' totals in two columns.

Gespannt: a team with 13 or 14 points is gespannt ("tight") – draw a line through its score. It may not bet any more. Instead, after trumps are named and before the first card is played, it decides:

• play – the hand is worth 3 points, no betting; or
• give up – the opponents score 2 points.

If both teams are gespannt, the hand is played for 2 points without betting.

Example: Anna and Carla have 10 points, Ben and Dan 11. Ben bets, Anna holds – the hand is now worth 3. Later Anna bets "four", and Ben and Dan go. Anna and Carla score the old value, 3, and now have 13 – they are gespannt.

Winning the game

The first team to reach 15 points wins the game. The losers get a Bummerl and usually pay for the next round. If the losers have no points at all, they are Schneider and lose double.

Tips for beginners

• Forehand: choose the Schlag you hold twice or with a Kritischer. Dealer: choose the suit where you have the most – or the Rechter.
• Watch your partner. Signals decide many hands; agree on clear ones.
• Bet with strength – and sometimes without. A well-timed bet with a weak hand often makes the opponents go.
• Count to three. Two sure tricks and a Linker usually win.
• Behind by a lot? Bet early: the stakes can only help you.

Variants

All optional – agree before you play.

• Bavarian Watten: 32 cards without the 6♦; the second Kritischer (Belli) is the 7♦. There is no need to play trumps when trumps are led – only when the Rechter is led to the very first trick may its player call "Trumpf oder Kritisch", and then everyone must play a trump or a Kritischer if they can. Game to 11, gespannt at 9–10.
• Unkritisch: play without Kritische; the Rechter is the highest card. Popular in tournaments. The 6♦ (Weli) counts as the lowest trump, or you can choose "six" as Schlag – then the Weli is the only Schlag.
• Der Guate: in South Tyrol, the trump one rank above the Schlag (the Seven if the Schlag is Ace) beats even the Rechter.
• Schlecken: if the bottom card of the cut is a Kritischer, the cutter may keep it and gets one card less in the deal.
• Schlagwechsel: forehand may offer to swap roles; if the dealer agrees, the dealer names the Schlag and forehand the suit.
• Target: play to 11 (gespannt at 9–10) or 18 (gespannt at 16–17).
• Blind Watten: the Schlag and suit are not announced but shown secretly between forehand and dealer; no signals allowed.