The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (105 page)

Under, Banner, 9-8-7-6. If international cards are used, the

fol owing suit correspondences apply:

Swiss suits acorns flowers shields bells

international clubs spades hearts diamonds

Terminology In Switzerland the trump Jack is rarely cal ed Jass. It

sometimes has other names, such as ‘Puur’, but often is merely

referred to as the trump Jack, e.g. Trumpfbauer or its dialectal

equivalent. The Nine is Nel or Nail. A meld or combination is Wys

(in a variety of spel ings), and the trump marriage either der Stock

or die Stöcke.

Format Two to five players, each playing alone. If five play, each in

turn deals and sits that hand out. Al play goes to the right.

Cards The 36-card pack ranks and counts as fol ows.

Jass cards

†U †9 D K O (U) B (9) 8 7 6

card-points 20 14 11 4 3 2 10 0 0 0 0

International †J †9 A K Q (J) T (9) 8 7 6

The trick-points total 157 (62 in trumps, 30x3 in plain suits, 5 for

winning the last trick).

Jass. Flowers are trumps, and the top

trumps are Jack, Nine, Ace. The suitmark is doubled because the

Ace was original y a Deuce.

Deal Deal nine each, in batches of three.

Deal Deal nine each, in batches of three.

If two play, deal two extra hands of nine: one is ‘spare’ and may

be taken as described below; the other is ‘dead’, and its top card is

turned for trump.

If three play, lay the remaining cards face down as a spare hand

but turn the top card for trump.

If four play, show the dealer’s last card for trump.

Object To score for melds in hand and counters taken in tricks, and

particularly to score at least 21.

Exchange Each in turn, starting with eldest, has the right to turn his

hand down if it is unsatisfactory and replace it with the spare, sight

unseen and without right of re-exchange. Only one player can do

this, thereby forcing the others to play as dealt.

Melds The fol owing count:

Four Jacks 200, Nines 150, anything else 100. As between

fours worth 100, a higher rank beats a lower.

Sequence of three 20, four 50, five 100, six 150, seven 200,

eight 250, nine 300. Sequence order is AKQJT9876 in every

suit including trumps. A longer sequence beats a shorter, or, if

equal, a higher beats a lower.

Marriage of †K-Q (Stöck) 20

Only the player with the best meld in hand may score for melds,

but then may score for every meld he declares. Any single card may

count once as part of a quartet and once as part of a sequence. The

trump King-Queen may count both as a marriage and also as part of

a sequence or (individual y) in quartets as wel .

If two or three play, whoever has the †6 may exchange it for the

turn-up before declaring melds.

Each player in turn upon playing to the first trick announces the

best meld he has, giving no more information than needed to

best meld he has, giving no more information than needed to

establish its superiority over someone else’s. (For example, eldest

may merely say ‘100’ and need not say any more about it unless

and until other players whose best melds are also worth 100 rise to

the chal enge.)

As between apparently equal hands, the ‘best’ is the one which,

reading from the top down if equal:

1. scores most, or

2. contains most cards, or

3. contains the highest-ranking card, or

4. is in the trump suit, if applicable, or

5. was declared first (Forehand having priority).

Tricks Forehand leads first. To the lead of a trump you must fol ow

suit if you can, unless the only trump you have is the top Jack, in

which case you may renege. To a plain-suit lead you may either

fol ow suit or play a winning trump, as you please; and if unable to

fol ow suit you may either discard or play a winning trump, as you

please; but in neither case may you play a lower trump than any

already played to the trick – unless you hold nothing but trumps, in

which case you may play any of them. A trick is taken by the

highest card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any are

played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

Score The two players making the most in melds and tricks each

score one game point, or ‘stick’. Anyone who fails to make at least

21 scores minus one point, or a ‘potato’ (because it is marked as a

circle), and is said to be ‘in the sack’. Any opponent who is not

himself in the sack marks a stick for each player who is. In

subsequent deals, a game point can be indicated by either marking

a stick or cancel ing a potato. A player drops out of play upon

accumulating five sticks. Whoever remains when everyone else has

dropped out is the loser, and pays for the drinks (or potatoes).

Variation Only the player taking most in melds and tricks scores a

Variation Only the player taking most in melds and tricks scores a

game point, and a player taking less than 21 loses a point. Players

drop out on reaching seven points. A player with a bad hand may

throw it in and decline to play, rather than risk losing a point. The

21-point threshold is often increased to 26, making it impossible

for a player to stay safe by holding the Puur back til the last trick.

Schieber (Kreuzjass)

4 players (2 × 2), 36 cards

Probably the most popular member of the Swiss family Jass is the

partnership game known as Schieber, so cal ed because the player

entitled to name trumps may ‘shove’ (schieben) this duty over to his

partner. This distinguishes Schieber from its predecessor Kreuzjass,

in which the last card was turned for trump, only suit contracts

were played, and they al counted single. The terminology, cards,

scores and method of trick-play are as at Handjass, with these

additions: Obenabe (literal y ‘top down’) is a no trump contract

with cards ranking in their normal order, Undenufe (pronounced

un’enu’e, literal y ‘bot om up’) is a no trump contract with cards

ranking upside down. I wil refer to these contracts respectively as

‘no trump’ and ‘reverse’. Players of Bid Whist may prefer ‘Uptown’

and ‘Downtown’.

Preliminaries Four players sit crosswise in partnerships (whence the

name ‘Kreuz’jass) and play to the right. Deal nine cards each in

threes.

Choosing the contract Forehand – the player at dealer’s right – starts

by either naming the contract or ‘shoving’. The possible contracts

by either naming the contract or ‘shoving’. The possible contracts

are:

acorns or flowers (or black suit) scores single

shields or bells (or red suit)

scores double

Obenabe, Undenufe (no trumps) scores treble

The factors single, double, etc., apply to al scores made for tricks

and melds in the contract played.

In some circles, Undenufe (reverse no trump), scores quadruple.

Rank and value of cards In a suit contract, cards rank and count as

at Handjass. In the no trump contracts there is no top Jack or Nel ,

and their additional point-values are compensated by counting 8

card-points for each Eight. In the reverse contract, cards rank

‘upside down’, with Six highest and Ace lowest.

suit contract †J †9 A K Q (J) T (9) 8 7 6

20 14 11 4 3 2 10 0 0 0 0

Obenabe

A K Q J T 9 8 7 6

(no trumps)

11 4 3 2 10 0 8 0 0

Undenufe

6 7 8 9 T J Q K A

(reverse)

11 0 8 0 10 2 3 4 0

The total of trick-points is always 157, consisting of 152 card-

points and 5 for the last trick.

Play Forehand leads to the first trick, even if his partner named the

contract. If he leads without either naming a contract or shoving,