Schnapsen and Bauernschnapsen rules: Learn to play

A game of tricks

Everyone plays one card, and the best card takes them all. Those cards are a trick.

The cards you take are worth points, and you win by collecting enough of them. It is not about getting rid of your cards, as in Uno, or being quick, as in Snap. If you know 500 or Euchre, you already know tricks; here it is the points in them that count.

The 20 cards

Four suits, each with its own sign:

The cards are double-headed, so there is no wrong way up.

Five cards in each suit

From highest to lowest, with what each one is worth:

Watch the Zehn: it beats the König. All 20 cards together are worth 120 card points.

A trick

One player leads: they play the first card. The others play one card each, in turn.

The highest card of the suit led wins. A card of another suit cannot win, however high it is, unless it is trump (see below). The winner takes the cards and leads the next trick.

Whether you must play the suit that was led (follow suit) depends on the game. Each part explains.

Leave trump aside for a moment. Hansi is your partner:

Herz was led, and Hansi’s Zehn is the highest Herz. Mitzi’s Ass is a Schelle, so it cannot win. Hansi takes the trick for your side: 4 + 10 + 11 + 2 = 27 card points.

Trump

In most hands one suit is trump. A trump beats every card of the other suits: even the Unter of trump beats the Ass of another suit. Between two trump cards, the higher one wins.

The same trick, with Eichel as trump:

Mitzi’s Eichel Unter is trump, so she takes the trick: 18 card points to them. In the game, trump cards glow at the edge.

66 wins

Add up the card points in the tricks you take. There are 120 in the deck, so the first to 66 wins the hand (one round, from dealing to the last trick; Schnapsen calls it a deal). In Bauernschnapsen your team counts together, and the bigger games set other aims.

Marriages: 20 and 40

König and Ober of the same suit are a marriage:

Hold both and you can announce the marriage as you lead one of them. It adds 20 or 40 to your card points, but only once you (or your team) have won a trick.

In the game, the pair shows a red 20 or 40 badge when you lead. Play either card and choose Announce.

Card points and game points

There are two kinds of points, and they never mix:

• Card points decide who wins the hand: the first to 66.
• Game points are what the hand is worth to the winner. They add up until one side wins the Bummerl.

A won hand is usually worth:

• 1 game point,
• 2 if the losers stay under 33 card points (Schneider),
• 3 if the losers take no trick at all (Schwarz).

Bauernschnapsen’s bigger games, and closing the talon in Schnapsen, score their own way. Each part explains.

The Bummerl and the match

Game points add up until one side reaches 7 in Schnapsen, or 24 in Bauernschnapsen. The first side there wins, and the losers get the Bummerl: the mark against their name on the score sheet.

A match is the best of three Bummerl: the first to win two wins the match. Then both start again at 0. Play with anyone, the online tables with players from anywhere, plays a single Bummerl.

The game helps you

• You cannot make a wrong move: cards you may not play are dimmed.
• The line above your cards says what to do, for example “Your turn · follow Herz”.
• Tap a card to play it, or drag it onto the table. On a computer, keys 1 to 5 play your cards from left to right.
• Tap the table to clear a finished trick straight away.
• In Settings, choose Easy under Difficulty and Relaxed under Speed for a gentle start. On Easy, your computer opponents slip now and then.
• The full Rules are in the bar at the bottom of the start screen.

The table

Two teams of two, partners sitting opposite. You and Hansi are Us. Franz, on your left, and Mitzi, on your right, are Them. The computer plays every seat but yours, and you can rename them under Players.

Three cards, then two

Each player gets three cards, then two more. All 20 cards are dealt, five each: no talon, no drawing.

The deal moves on one seat each hand. The player after the dealer is the forehand (Vorhand). In the first hand of a match, that is you.

The forehand calls trump

Before the last two cards come, the forehand looks at their first three and calls trump. In the game, tap one of your three cards: its suit is trump.

Or tap Auf: your fourth card is turned up for everyone, and its suit is trump. The card stays yours.

This normal game is called the Rufer.

Bigger games, or pass

Once all five cards are dealt, each player in turn, starting with the forehand, may announce a bigger game (see “The bigger games”) or pass. The called suit never changes, though some bigger games are played with no trump at all.

The bidding goes round until it comes back to whoever holds the highest game. They play it and lead the first trick. If nobody bids, the forehand plays the Rufer.

In your first games, tap Pass, or Keep my call when the highest call is yours. Pass is the main button, so a stray tap never calls a big game.

Spritzer and Retour

Before the first card, a defender (a player on the side not playing the game) may call Spritzer: the game now counts double. The side playing it may answer Retour: now it counts four times.

Not sure? Tap No.

Playing a trick

In Bauernschnapsen the rules are strict from the first card:

1. Follow suit if you can.
2. Beat the best card so far if you can (head the trick).
3. None of that suit? You must trump, and beat any trump already played if you can.
4. No trump either? Play any card.

If someone has already trumped, any card of the suit led will do.

Herz is trump:

Your Zehn takes the trick: 3 + 11 + 2 + 10 = 26 card points to us.

Winning the Rufer

Your team’s card points count together. The first team to 66 wins the hand at once:

• 1 game point,
• 2 if the other team stays under 33 (Schneider),
• 3 if they take no trick (Schwarz).

If nobody reaches 66 after all five tricks, the team that takes the last trick wins 1 game point. The top of the screen shows both teams’ card points.

Marriages in Bauernschnapsen

As in the basics: König and Ober of one suit make 20, or 40 in trump. Announce it as you lead one of them. It counts once your team has a trick, and can win the hand at 66 on the spot.

Marriages are announced only in the Rufer, and in a Schnapser (see “The bigger games”) only by the player who called it.

A hand, worked through

You are the forehand. Your first three cards: Eichel Ass Eichel Unter Schelle König. You hold the Eichel Ass, so you call Eichel. Then come Schelle Ober and Herz Zehn. You keep your call, everyone passes, and nobody calls Spritzer. You lead.

1. You lead Eichel Ass. Everyone must follow suit: Franz Eichel Ober, Hansi Eichel Zehn, Mitzi Eichel König. Your Ass wins 28 card points. Four of the five trump cards are out, and the last one is your Unter.

   1. You, wins the trick
   2. Franz
   3. Hansi
   4. Mitzi

2. You announce 20 and lead Schelle Ober. You have a trick, so the 20 counts at once: 48. Franz must beat the Ober, and his only Schelle is Schelle Ass. Hansi plays Schelle Unter, Mitzi Schelle Zehn. Franz takes 26.

   1. 20
      You
   2. Franz, wins the trick
   3. Hansi
   4. Mitzi

3. Franz leads Herz König and announces 20 too: they now have 46. Hansi must beat it: Herz Ass. Mitzi follows with Herz Unter, you with Herz Zehn. Hansi takes 27, so we have 75.

   1. 20
      Franz
   2. Hansi, wins the trick
   3. Mitzi
   4. You

We are past 66, so the hand ends at once. They have 46, over 33, so no Schneider: 1 game point to us.

The bigger games

Each one asks more of whoever calls it, and is worth more. “Alone” means you must take the tricks yourself. Your partner still plays and tries to help, except in a Bettler, where they sit out. A bigger game ends the moment it is lost.

A Spritzer doubles any of them, and a Retour doubles it again.

Farbringerl

Rare, and unbeatable: one player holds all five cards of a suit. The game shows it for you as soon as the last two cards are dealt, before anyone bids. The hand ends at once, and that team scores 24 game points, which wins the Bummerl at once. It is never doubled.

First to 24

Every hand gives game points to one team. The first team to 24 wins; the other team gets the Bummerl. The first team to win two Bummerl wins the match.

Playing with a partner

• Your partner is winning the trick? Give them points, an Ass or a Zehn, when you are free to choose. At the table this is called schmieren.
• Lead your Ass cards early, while the others still hold that suit and must follow.
• Count the trump cards. There are five; once they are all out, nobody can trump your Ass cards.
• Pass in the bidding until you know the bigger games. The Rufer is where you learn.

With friends

On the start screen tap Play online, then Start a table for friends. You get a code of five letters: share it. Your friends tap Play online, then Join with a code, and type the code. When you are ready, tap Start.

The computer takes any empty seat, and plays for anyone who drops out until they are back. Or tap Play with anyone to sit down with other players from anywhere. Playing online needs an account (it is free). Playing the computer never does.