Schnapps
Schnapsen is a card game from the Bézique family, similar to Sixty-Six , for two people. A variant for three players is called Dreierschnapsen , for four players it is called Bauernschnapsen . The game is particularly widespread in Bavaria and the countries of the former Austria-Hungary .
Etymology and Origin
The name Schnapsen ( Hungarian Snapszer ) is derived from schnappen , which means to sting with trump . In terms of folk etymology , however, the name is often attributed to the fact that drinks and schnapps were often played around - comparable to the origin of the name Gin Rummy .
Schnitzel is also mentioned in the following traditional catheter flower from Prof. Galletti , who let his students at Gotha grammar school know:
- You think history is as easy as Schnarps? Oh, history can be learned in an hour, but one has to study Schnarps for several years.
An early description of the game can be found in the Leipziger Frauenzimmer-Lexicon from 1715 under the name Mariage ( French wedding ), the name is still in use today; a related game widespread in the Czech Republic is called Mariáš .
The rules
The goal
The aim of the game is to collect 66 points or more as quickly as possible through tricks and announcements.
Note : The cards contained in stitches count on their eyes , for winning or losing game there are points .
The cards
Depending on the region, either French or double-German cards are played. There are special German-French cards for tournaments where players from different regions meet.
Schnapsen is played with a pack of 20 cards - the similar sixty-six with 24 cards. In contrast to the sixty-six, the nines are not used in schnapps.
| Colors of playing cards | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French colors |
 |
 |
 |
 |
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| Designation of the colors | heart | Diamonds | Spades | Meet, cross | |||||
| Double German colors |
 |
 |
 |
 |
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| Designation of the colors | Heart, red | clamp | Foliage, green | Acorn | |||||
There are five values in each color:
| Values of the playing cards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | eyes | |||
| Ace, dous | 11 | |||
| Tens | 10 | |||
| king | 4th | |||
| Lady, waiter | 3 | |||
| Jack, sub | 2 | |||
The Ober is regionally also called Manderl , the Unter Bauer .
The sharing
The divider ( dealer ) is determined by drawing cards, the player who draws the higher card divides the first game, the other player is the forehand .
The divider mixed, can stand out and tells how the cards follows: First, get the forehand and then the divider three cards. The seventh card is served, whereupon the forehand and finally the divider receives two cards.
The remaining nine cards form the talon and are placed face down on the open card as a face-down pile so that half of this card is visible. The color of the open card counts as a trump suit ( atout ) in this game .
In the other games, the players alternate in the roles of divider and forehand.
The game
The forehand leads to the first trick. At the beginning of the game there is neither suit nor compulsion to take a trick: the divisor can either take a trump with a higher card of the same suit or a trump - in this case he wins the trick. But he can also discard any card and leave the trick to the forehand.
The player who won the trick takes the top card of the talon, his opponent the next one. After both players have added five cards to their hand, the winner of the trick leads to the next trick.
In this way, the game continues until the talon is used up - unless a player reports 66 points beforehand or turns off (that is, he blocks the talon [see below]). If the talon has been used up or if it has been turned off, from this point onwards color and stitch compulsory apply; that means a player must, when it is his turn:
- Trick with a higher card of the suit led. If he can't, he has to
- to admit a lower card of the suit led. If that is not possible, he has to
- to triumph with a trump card, and if that cannot happen either,
- discard any other card.
Color forced always goes before engraving forced: it is not allowed with a trump card to sting when the color is played operate can.
A violation of this rule is called Renonce and is punished with the immediate loss of the game, in which case the opponent wins three points.
Signing out
If a player has 66 or more points after winning a trick or an announcement (see below), he may sign out (usually by saying: “I've had enough”). The game is over and each player counts the points they have collected.
- If the opponent has not scored a trick, the player wins three points.
- if the opponent has received 32 or fewer eyes, the player wins two points.
- if the opponent has 33 or more eyes, the player wins one point.
If a player has ended the game by mistake, i.e. has fewer than 66 points, the game is over anyway. In this case the opponent wins as many points as the player would have won had the victory report been correct.
The last stitch
If no player has declared the game to be won before the last card was played, the last card must be played and the player who takes the last trick wins the game.
However, this rule does not apply in the event of a coupon suspension (see below).
The announcements
If a player has a king and a queen or queen of the same color, he can announce (report) this when it is his turn and receive points as follows.
- An announcement in trump counts 40 points, the announcement in Atout is therefore called forties .
- An announcement in a different color counts 20 eyes, this is called a twenty .
In order to avoid later disputes when counting the eyes, it is advisable to place the corresponding announcement keg with the tricks for each announcement .
An announcement as the first move from the forehand is possible.
Whoever makes an announcement must play one of the two cards for the next trick.
If the player who made an announcement did not score a trick in the entire game, the eyes scored by the announcement do not count, whereby the opponent receives three points. If the announcement card was stabbed and the player later scores a trick, the eyes scored by the announcement still count.
The king-queen couple is referred to in the games of the Bézique family but also in the Poch as a mariage . The term Mariage is of course only used or useful when playing with French cards.
Replacing the atout card
If a player holds the under or jack of the trump suit and it is his turn to move, he may "exchange" this card for the face up trump suit before his turn. The forehand may also exchange the trump card before the first card is played.
If there is only one card left on the open trump card as a talon, you can exchange , but not turn it off .
Locking the talon
If the player whose turn it is believes that he can reach the required number of 66 eyes without further lifting the talon, he can block the talon or close it . He then takes the open bottom card of the talon and places it face down across the rest of the pile.
From this point onwards, color and stitch are compulsory, as if the talon had been used up. If the player who blocked the talon manages to collect a total of 66 points in the further game and declare victory, he wins the game. Who can get the last trick does not matter in the case of a talon suspension. The number of victory points depends on the number of eyes of the opponent at the time of turning. Tricks and announcements by the opponent, which only take place after the opponent has turned, are not counted towards his eyes. With tournament schnapps, however, the following applies: The number of victory points depends on the number of points the opponent has at the end of the game; d. H. Tricks and announcements of the opponent, which only take place after the turn, are counted very well in his eyes during the tournament schnapps.
If the player who blocked the talon cannot score 66 points, or if his opponent can log out beforehand, the opponent wins
- three points if it was still without a stitch at the time it was turned off, otherwise
- two points
Is only one card as Talon on the open trump card, one must replace , but not turn .
Bummerl and games
A Bummerl is made up of several individual games; sharing changes after each game. The first player to score seven victory points wins, and the opponent notes a point in bold, also called Bummerl .
A specialty of the schnapps is the counting down from seven ; That means you don't count the victory points you have already achieved, but note the number of points that are still missing to win : Both players therefore start with seven points, if one player wins the first game with three victory points, his score is reduced to four.
The respective score is either traditionally written down with chalk on a small blackboard or displayed with the help of a bummer counter : the current status of the bummerl that has just been played is displayed on the outer arch with the help of seven large pearls, with the smaller pearls on the inner arch they are already over played Bummerl counted.
- If a player wins with the score 0: 7, the opponent is Schneider (Schneiderbummerl) and the loss counts twice, the loser notes two Bummerl - but this rule does not apply in tournament play.
- In all other cases the loser receives a bummerl.
A lot is depending on the agreement and Tournament bid on two or three played won Bummerl, that is, the player who first his opponent two or three Bummerl appends wins the game.
The phrase is derived from this: someone always gets the bummer.
The sharp schnapps
The above rules describe the so-called soft schnapps, with sharp or hard schnapps the following tightening apply:
- Stitches that have been stored may no longer be viewed, so you have to count your own eyes.
- If there is only one card left on the open trump card as a talon, you may not turn it off - just like with the soft schnapps - but you may not exchange any more.
- Replacing the forehand before the first lead is not permitted.
- An announcement (twenties, forties) may only be made after at least one trick has been taken.
- If you make an announcement, you must play the king for the next trick - you are not allowed to play the top or queen.
- You can only buy from the talon when the previous trick has been discarded face down.
The tournament game
Schnapsen is very popular in Austria and is played in many tournaments in particular. As a tournament format that is price Schnapsen prevalent, more rarely, after the Danish vote played.
In tournaments, two won bummerl are usually played: The winner of an encounter is the player who is the first to "attach" two bummerl to his opponent. If a game is won with a score of 7: 0, this does not count twice in the tournament game, but only once.
Depending on the tender, the drink is either soft or hot ( hard ).
The price snap
A price schnapps is a schnapps tournament organized according to a modified knockout system . This form of tournament is also used for wading as prize wadding . While in the usual knockout system a player is eliminated from the competition after his first defeat, this is not always the case with price snaps, as a player can purchase several participation cards in some tournaments.
Participation cards
Before the start of the tournament, participation cards are issued, the number of participation cards is always a power of two, for example 32, 64, 128 etc. and depends on the expected number of players. Each player is allowed to buy a certain number of participation cards ( tickets, life cards, stand cards) , for example up to three, as specified in the tournament announcement . Unsold participation cards are byes .
Raffles
The pairings for the first round are then drawn. The procedure for the draws is such that a player who has several participation cards does not have to play against himself if possible. However, this can happen in the higher rounds, in which case the player concerned must hand in a participation card and may advance to the next round with the other card.
How do you draw?
Assuming 64 participation cards are placed, 32 games are to be played in the first round of the tournament. For the draw you use two pots - a right and a left pot - in each of which 32 cards with the numbers 1 to 32 are placed. Now the individual participants draw according to the number of participation cards they have bought, starting with the left pot: if the first player bought three participation cards, he draws three cards from the left pot, and so on. Only when all cards have been drawn from the left pot will the right pot be drawn. If the left pot is empty and the player who drew the last card from it also has to draw from the right pot, it can happen that he draws a number on the right that he has already drawn from the left pot - in this case the player must draw one more time from the right pot.
The numbers that are left in the right pot after all players have drawn their round numbers are byes , i.e. the players who have drawn the corresponding numbers from the left pot advance to the next round without a fight. The participants who each drew the same number meet each other in the first round and play a game on mostly two won Bummerl.
Game rounds
Of course, not all games of a round can be played at the same time, as a player who has several participation cards has to compete against several opponents. It is not classified which player has to play when against which opponent. Each player looks for their own opponent - the tournament management is of course helpful. The winner of a game keeps his participation card and moves on to the next round, the loser must hand in a participation card - as long as he still has other participation cards, he remains in the tournament. When all games of a round have ended, the pairings for the next round are drawn, with the players who still have more than one participation card drawing first.
Prices
There are usually eight prices for price snaps:
- 1st prize: tournament winner
- 2nd prize: finalist
- 3rd and 4th prize: The losers of the two semi-finals play for third place.
- 5th to 8th prize: two losers from the quarter-finals each meet; the winners from these encounters then play for 5th and 6th place; the losers play for 7th and 8th place
A player who buys several entry cards can also win several prizes - unless the tournament conditions expressly state that a player can only win a maximum of one prize.
In the past, the winner of a schnapps prize usually received a goose as a prize.
Legal
According to Austrian law, Schnapsen does not count as a game of chance , but as a game of skill - in contrast to the various poker variants :
Related games
- Sixty-six
- Bauernschnapsen is a variant for four players
- Dreierschnapsen is a variant for three players
- Nuremberg filth
- Russian schnapps
literature
- Fritz Babsch: International and Austrian card game rules. Vienna 1983.
- Johannes Bamberger: Schnapps. The most beautiful variants. Perlen-Reihe vol. 639, 13th edition, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-99006-003-2 .
- Fritz Beck: Schnapsen - 66 - Price Schnapsen. Perlen-Reihe vol. 639, Vienna 1961.
- Helmuth Gugl: Master schnapps . Piatnik , Vienna 1971.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Georg August Galletti: Gallettiana. Nicolai, Berlin 1876, page 49.Digital full-text edition at Wikisource, URL: (Version from August 1, 2018)
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Finance - Frequently asked questions about the gambling monopoly