Schnapsen rules

A 2-player trick taking game.

Overview

Schnapsen is a trick taking game for 2 players consisting of multiple rounds, where in each round players are racing to be the first to score 66 points. Points during a round are awarded based on the card scores (face value for number cards, 11 points for aces) and for declaring a marriage, which is a 3 and 4 of the same suit. Multiple rounds are placed until a player reached 7 points worth of rounds.

• Players: 2
• Prerequisites:
  • 1 deck of cards (20 cards, using 2, 3, 4, 10, and Aces)
• Play time: 30 minutes

Gameplay

Round setup

At the start of each round, both players are dealt 5 cards. Use the 10 remaining cards to form the draw pile, and tuck 1 of these cards face-up underneath the other 9 cards. The face-up card determines the trump suit this round.

Tricks

Tricks are played using the following rules:

• The first trick in a round is lead by the non-dealer. Later tricks are lead by the winner of the last trick.
• Highest card of the trump suit wins the trick.
• If no trump is played; the highest card of the leading suit wins the trick.
• Players do not have to follow suit.

Once the draw pile is exhausted or closed the following additional rules apply:

• Players must follow suit, and play a higher card in that suit if possible.
• If players can't follow suit they must play a trump, if able.

After a trick is played, both players draw a card from the draw pile into their hand. The winner of the trick draws first and then the loser of the trick; e.g. when there's only 2 cards left the loser draws the face-up trump card.

Won tricks are kept face-down by its winner; neither player may look at those cards later during the round.

The lead player may, before playing a card, exchange the trump, meld a marriage, and/or close the draw pile.

Exchanging trump

While the draw pile is not exhausted or closed, and the leading player has the 2 of the trump suit in hand, that player may exchange that card with the face-up card in the draw pile. This exchange must be performed before starting the trick, and this exchange may be done at the start of the first trick.

Melding a marriage

If the leading player has a 3 and 4 of the same suit in their hand, they can declare a marriage by showing both cards. If these cards are from the trump suit that player scores 40 points, and 20 points if from another suit. The player must then lead that trick using either of the 2 cards.

A marriage can be declared during any point in the round, but the points will only be given to that player if/when that player wins at least 1 trick that round. E.g. if a player ends the round without any tricks won, than that player doesn't get any points from declared marriages.

Closing the draw pile

If the leading player thinks they can reach the required 66 points using cards left in their hand, they may choose to, at the start of their turn, to close the draw pile by turning over the face-up trump card. Once this has been done, neither player draws any cards at the end of a trick, and the stricter rules apply for playing cards in a trick.

When the draw pile is closed, the non-closing player counts and records their current score.

Ending the round

The round ends when neither player has cards left to play. Scoring is dependent on if the draw pile was closed during the game.

If the game was played without closing the draw pile, then the winner of the last trick wins the round, with the round being worth 1 point.

If the draw pile was closed, and the person who closed the draw pile has 66 or more points, then that player wins the round. The round is worth points dependent on the score of the other player once the draw pile was closed.

• 3 points if the non-closing player had 0 points.
• 2 points if the non-closing player had 32 points or less.
• 1 point if the non-closing player had 33 points or more.

If the player who closed the draw pile is not able to reach 66 points, the non-closing player wins the round: If so, the round is worth:

• 3 points if the non-closing player had 0 points when the draw pile was closed.
• 2 points otherwise.

Play continues until a player scores at least 7 points worth of rounds.

#$ Closing words

Schnapsen is traditionally played with Jack, Queen, King replacing the 2, 3, 4 cards respectively. Using this convention the concept of marriages are easier to understand, since this then happens with a trick consisting of a King and Queen. However, the card score values are more difficult to grasp, especially since the point values and ranking order for the face cards differ from most conventional card games. Therefore I like to teach and play this game using 2, 3, and 4 instead.

Sixty-six is a card game almost similar to Schnapsen. The main differences are that the 9's are also included, worth 0 points, and that each player has a hand of 6 instead of 5 cards. When playing Sixty-six, it is likely easier to use the standard convention of Jack, Queen, and King cards, since with the 9 included, cards are not worth their face-value anyway. (or the face-card convention can be used, with the Jack included as the 0 card).