German sheep head
The Deutsche Schafkopf is an old German card game and is considered to be one of the forerunners of the popular games Skat , Doppelkopf and Bayerischer Schafkopf . Today it is rarely played in its original form, but there are a number of regional developments.
Cards and trumps
Game material
The German sheep head was played with 4 players and 32 cards, depending on the region with the German or French hand .
| French leaf colors | |||
| Diamonds | heart | Spades | cross |
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| Colors of the German paper | |||
| Ring | heart | leaf | Acorn |
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Number
| French sheet | German sheet | |||
| map | symbol | map | symbol | eyes |
| Ass | A. | Daus | A / (without) | 11 |
| ten | 10 | ten | 10 | 10 |
| king | K | king | K | 4th |
| lady | D. | Upper | O | 3 |
| Jack | B. | Under | U | 2 |
| nine | 9 | nine | 9 | 0 |
| eight | 8th | eight | 8th | 0 |
| seven | 7th | seven | 7th | 0 |
Stabbing power
The order of the card values is in the individual colors (starting with the highest card value): Ace ( Daus )> King > Queen ( upper )> 10> 9> 8> 7
The hierarchy of the card values and the ranking within the trump cards are similar to those of the Bavarian Schafkopf and Skat. However, in the German Schafkopf, the tens in the trump suit as well as in the other suits rank between queen or upper and nine, although the tens count 10 eyes.
Trumps
| German picture | |||
| Permanent trump cards | |||
 U  U  U  U
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| Additional variable trump suits | |||
| Acorn | leaf | heart | Ring |
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A K O 10 9 8 7
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A K O 10 9 8 7
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A K O 10 9 8 7
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A K O 10 9 8 7
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| French picture | |||
| Permanent trump cards | |||
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B B B B
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| Additional variable trump suits | |||
| cross | Spades | heart | Diamonds |
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A K D 10 9 8 7
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A K D 10 9 8 7
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A K D 10 9 8 7
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A K D 10 9 8 7
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As in Skat, the 4 jacks or under in the order of clubs , spades , hearts and diamonds or acorns , leaves , hearts and bells act as the highest trumps . The other trumps are determined by the player when the game is announced by naming the trump suit. The cards of the trump suit then follow in the order described (see above ).
Play partner
The German Schafkopf is a partner game; In contrast to the Bavarian Schafkopf or Doppelkopf, however, the partners are not determined during the course of the game, but, as in bridge , are determined from the start: the players who are crossed play automatically together. The seating arrangement is determined by drawing cards before the game begins: Those players who have drawn the two highest cards sit opposite each other. In another variant, the two owners of the black women (acorn upper and green upper) play together (see below ).
Style of play
Card distribution
After shuffling and cutting, each player is dealt a total of eight playing cards (in two throws of four cards each) in a clockwise direction .
Game announcement in partner game
The game announcement is then also clockwise . Each player reports the maximum possible number of trumps that he can achieve by adding the jacks and the longest suit of his hand ( "I report x trumps" ). A maximum of four possible trumps must be passed.
The player with the highest number of possible trumps takes over the game and may determine the trump suit.
If two players report the same number of possible trumps, the higher number of trumps in the addition decides ( “I report x trumps with y points” ); if this number is also the same, the higher trump decides (usually the higher jack).
Addition rules
An alluded color must always be used. Only if a player does not have a suitable color in hand can he either play a trump card or discard a playing card of any other color. Also played trumps must always be served with trumps. There is no compulsion to sting with the German sheep head.
Forced play
If none of the players can report at least five trumps, the player with the jack of clubs (acorn under) must take over the game; in the event of a loss, this compulsory game is only rated once.
Solo games
As with the Bavarian Schafkopf and Doppelkopf, solo games are also possible with the German Schafkopf. Here a solo player plays against the other three players.
Billing
The game is settled by lines, with nine lines together forming a sheep's head: four lines arranged in a rectangle form the head outline, two the eyes, two more the horns and a single line in the middle symbolizes the sheep's head.
There are three winning levels:
- Single win (61 to 89 points achieved): Trump determining party receives one line, non-playing party receives two lines
- Won with Schneider (achieved more than 90 points): Trump determining party receives two lines, non-playing party receives four lines
- Black won (opponents have no trick): The trump-determining party receives nine dashes, the non-playing party also nine dashes (nine dashes correspond to a whole sheep's head).
In a forced game, however, the non-playing party is settled in the same way as the gambling party.
variants
The game described is only one form of the German sheep head; As with the Bavarian Schafkopf, there is or was a large number of variants, about which, however, hardly any written documents can be found.
A further development of the German sheep head is, for example, the pawn kick played in Erfweiler in the Palatinate .
The following variants of the German sheep head can be found in a rule book from the GDR:
- Classic Schafkopf: as described, Jacks / Wenzel are always trumps, the owner of the so-called Old (Jack of Clubs or Acorns-Under) must determine the trump suit if everyone passes or cannot bid if there are fewer than 5 trumps.
- Sheep's head with six (eight) Wenzeln and changing trumps: Queen of clubs (acorn upper) and queen of spades (green upper) (and queen of hearts (red upper) and queen of diamonds (bell upper)) become Trumps declared and outstripped the old man. The holder of the old man determines the trump suit if it could not be determined beforehand by bidding.
- Schafkopf with four (six, eight) Wenzels and a permanent trump: Jacks / Wenzels (plus the 2 highest queens / upper or all 4) and diamonds / bells are always trumps.
Individual evidence
literature
- Rita Danyliuk: 1 × 1 of the card games - bridge, skat and sheep's head. Games of chance and family games. Patiencen, card tricks and much more Humboldt, Baden-Baden 2008, ISBN 978-3-89994-188-3
- Claus D. Grupp: Doppelkopf - Schafkopf - Tarock. Original edition. Falken, Niedernhausen / Ts. 1997, ISBN 3-635-60223-X
- Rulebook with Skat rules . P. 177, 5th edition, Altenburg playing cards factory.