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[ Doppelkopf ]
Reprinted from
Pagat.com.
Doppelkopf is extremely popular in Germany,
mainly in the North. It developed from a version of Sheepshead using a
double pack of cards. Doppelkopf is a four player game with variable
partnerships; the objective is to capture valuable cards in tricks. It can
be played with five people, with dealer sitting out.
Although the Deustcher Doppelkopf-Verband
has developed standard rules for tournaments, in informal games there are
many variants and each group of players has their own house rules. Before
playing with a new group of players, it is therefore advisable to agree a
set of rules. Several variants are listed at the end of this description.
Contents
The pack is a double pack shortened by
removing cards below 9, each suit containing two each of A K Q J 10 9.
Doppelkopf packs are readily available in Germany and normally have standard
suits and cards with indices A K D (Dame) B (Bube) 10 9.
In most contracts, the cards rank, from high
to low:
- Trumps:
 10,
 Q,
 Q,
Q,
 Q,
J,
J,
J,
J,
A,
10,
K,
9
(26 cards)
- Clubs:
A,
10,
K,
9
- Spades:
A,
10,
K,
9
- Hearts:
A,
K,
9
The cards have the same values as in
Skat:
A = 11 10 = 10 K = 4 Q = 3 J = 2
making a total of 240 card points. The basic
object of the game is to take more than half of these card points in tricks.
The card points are used only to determine which team has won the hand -
they are not the same as game points written on the
score-sheet as a result of winning or losing.
Dealer shuffles and the cards are cut; then
all the cards are dealt out, three at a time starting on dealer's left and
continuing clockwise. The deal for the next hand passes to dealer's left. It
is usual to play a number of complete rounds of deals in a session, so it is
not important who deals first.
The bidding consists of a single round
starting with the player to dealer's left. Each player says either "Gesund"
(healthy), meaning that they are content to play a normal
game, or "Vorbehalt" (reservation) meaning that they want to play some
other type of game. If one or more players have said "Vorbehalt", they each
in turn say what type of game they wish to play. The possibilities, from
lowest to highest, are:
Whoever has the highest ranking Vorbehalt
plays their game. If more than one player has the same Vorbehalt - for
example more than one wanting to play a Solo, then the first of these
players in the bidding order plays their game.
In the normal game, when everyone says "Gesund",
the cards rank as above and the two players who hold the
queens of clubs (known as the old women) are partners
against the other two. The players with the queens of clubs do not
say who they are (except sometimes by means of specific announcements during
the play, which are explained later), so during the play you sometimes do
not know who your partner is.
If a player has both of the queens of clubs
but says "Gesund", along with everyone else, that player plays alone against
the other three players in partnership, though the other players will not
realise initially that they are all together. This is called a
silent solo.
Usually a player who has both queens of clubs
will not be strong enough to play a silent solo, and will want a partner.
This is achieved by saying "Vorbehalt" during the bidding, and announcing a
Hochzeit (marriage). If no one has a better Vorbehalt, a
normal game is played except that the first player other than the holder of
the marriage who wins a trick becomes the marriage holder's partner.
However, this must happen within the first three tricks - if you announce a
marriage and then win the first three tricks you play on your own against
the other three players.
A person with three or fewer trumps can say "Vorbehalt"
(reservation) and then announce Armut (poverty). If no one
has a better Vorbehalt, the person announcing Armut offers three cards which
must contain all their trumps to each player in turn starting with the
player to their left. Each player may pass or accept. The first player to
accept becomes the partner of the poverty, takes the three cards into their
hand, and then select an equal number which they give back (these may
contain trumps and may include cards originally passed). If nobody accepts
the cards the hand is redealt.
A solo is a game played alone, against the
other three playing as a team. There are several types:
- Trump Solo:
- Declarer names a trump suit. If it is
diamonds, the cards rank as normal. If the trump suit is not diamonds, the
A 10 K 9 of diamonds become a side suit, and the cards of
the suit named as trumps become part of the trump suit in their place. If
hearts are trumps the
10s
still rank as the highest trumps, and there are only 24 trumps.
- Queen (Damen) Solo:
- Only the 8 Queens are trumps, ranking
Q
Q
Q
Q
as usual. All four suits rank A 10 K J 9.
- Jack (Buben) Solo:
- Only the 8 Jacks are trumps, ranking
J
J
J
J
as usual. The suits rank A 10 K Q 9.
- Ace Solo:
- There are no trumps, all suits rank
A 10 K Q J 9. This contract is also called
Fleischloser (meat free or vegetarian solo).
The play is in tricks of four cards, with the
winner of each trick leading to the next. The player to the left of the
dealer leads to the first trick. You must follow suit if you can; if you
cannot follow suit, any card may be played. If there is a trump on the
trick, the highest one wins, otherwise the highest card in the suit led
wins. If there are two identical highest cards played, the first one played
wins.
The trumps are a suit of their own for suit
following purposes - for example, in a normal game, the queen of spades is a
trump, not a spade. You cannot play the queen of spades when spades are led
(unless you are out of genuine spades, in which case you can play anything).
Similarly, if the queen of spades is led, everyone must if possible play
trumps (not spades).
In a normal game, the team with the queens of
clubs are called the Re team. In case of a Vorbehalt, the
Re team is the team of the player who specifies the game (the marriage
holder, the team who exchange cards in Armut, or the lone player in a solo).
The basic aim of the Re team is to take at least 121 card
points in the cards they win in their tricks. The opposing team is
called the Kontra team; their basic aim is to take cards
worth at least 120 points.
A member of the Re team may at any time while
they have 11 or more cards in their hand announce "Re", which increases the
score for the game. Similarly, a member of the Kontra team may while they
have 11 or more cards in their hand announce "Kontra". If Re or Kontra has
been announced by the appropriate team, a member of the other side can
announce Kontra or Re while they have 10 or more cards in their hand. If
Kontra is announced but not Re, then the Re team only need 120 points to
win, rather than 121.
Note that announcements can be made at any
time during the play, provided that you have at least the requisite number
of cards, not just when it is your turn to play.
If one side fails to make 90 points the other
side wins an extra bonus for "no 90", similarly there are bonuses for "no
60", "no 30" and Schwarz (all the tricks). Each of these bonuses can be
increased in value by announcing it in advance. To make an announcement, the
player must have at least the number of cards shown below:
- "No 90" - 10 cards or more
- "No 60" - 9 cards or more
- "No 30" - 8 cards or more
- "Schwarz" - 7 cards or more
An announcement can only be made if all the
previous announcements have already been made (including Re or Kontra), so
for example "no 60" can only be announced by declarer's side if they have
already announced "Re" and "no 90".
When an announcement has been made, the other
side can announce "Re" or "Kontra" as appropriate (if they have not already
done so) as long as they still have a number of cards in their hand which is
1 fewer than the number of cards required to make the announcement. For
example if the Re team announce "Re", "no 90" and "no 60", a player of the
Kontra team can announce "Kontra" as long as they still hold at least 8
cards.
If a player has announced a marriage, no
announcements can be made until after the end of the trick on which the
partnership is determined, and the number of cards required to make a bid is
reduced by the number of tricks taken to determine the partnership. For
example, if person with the club queens wins the first trick but not the
second, then the partnerships are determined at trick 2, so Re or Kontra can
be declared from the end of trick 2, for as long as you have at least 9 (11
- 2) cards in hand.
The score is kept on a piece of paper, with a
column for each player, containing their cumulative total of points. The
scores always add up to zero, and can be thought of as the amount of money
won or lost by each player. When two play against two, each player pays to
or receives from one opponent; when one plays alone against three, the lone
player pays to or receives from all three opponents. Thus if the players are
A, B, C and D, and the team consisting of B and C wins 3 points, then B and
C each score plus 3 and A and D each score minus 3. In a solo, if (say) D is
the lone player and wins 4, then D actually scores plus 12, and A, B and C
score minus 4 each.
The basic score for the game is one point;
this is what the Re team win if they take at least 121 card
points and nothing else happens. If the Kontra team; take
at least 120 points, they win two points, one for the game and one for being
gegen die Alten (against the old women).
An announcement of "Re" or "Kontra" adds 2
further points to the score for the side that wins the game. If both are
announced, that makes 4 extra points in total. For example, if "Re" and "Kontra"
are annonced and the Kontra team win, they score 6 points altogether (game
1, against the old women 1, Re 2, Konra 2).
"No 90", "no 60", "no 30" and Schwarz are
worth an extra point each, and all the applicable items apply, so for
example if the Re team announce "Re" and the Kontra team take only 24 card
points, the Re team will score 6 points (1 for game, 2 for Re, 1 for no 90,
1 for no 60, 1 for no 30).
Announcements of "No 90", "no 60", "no 30"
and Schwarz increase the score by an extra point each. However, if the team
fails to fulfil the announcement, they lose the whole game, and the scores
for all the points they would have won. For example, if a side announces
"Re", "no 90" and "no 60" they need at least 181 card points to win. If they
take only 172 card points (i.e. the opponents take 68, which is more than
60) then the announcing side loses:
1 for game
1 for against the old women
2 for Re
1 for no 90
1 for no 90 announced
1 for no 60
1 for no 60 announced
Total: 8 game points (-8 to each of the Re side, +8 to each of the Kontra side)
If the "no 60" had not been announced the Re
side would instead have won 5 game points (Game, Re 2, no 90, no 90
announced). If they had only announced Re they would have won 4 (Game, Re 2,
no 90).
Another example: One side announces "Re" and
"no 90", the other "Kontra". The Re team take 88 card points (no 90). They
lose 9 (no 90 made by the Kontra side, game, women, Re 2, Kontra 2, no 90,
no 90 announced).
In addition to the points described above,
there are a number of game points that can be scored during play, which are
independent of the game and other points, and can be scored by either team
whether or not the game succeeds. These are:
- Catching a Fox
- A team which captures a "Fox" (Ace of
Diamonds) from the opponents - i.e. wins a trick which contains an
opponent's ace of diamonds - scores one game point. The Ace is left face
up in the pile of tricks to indicate the point. It may not be clear when
the trick is won whether the Ace came from the winner's partner or
opponent, in which case it is left face up and turned over if necessary
when the partnership becomes clear.
- Charlie Miller (Karlchen Müller)
- Winning the last trick with Jack of Clubs
scores one game point. Playing it to the last trick loses a point if the
trick is won by the opponents, there is no score either way if the trick
is won by the partner.
- Doppelkopf.
- Winning a trick where all four cards are
10s and Aces scores one game point. When this happens, one of the cards is
placed face up in the pile of tricks won to indicate the point.
All these points apply to the whole team -
for example if you win the last trick with a Charlie, your partner benefits
as well. It is possible for two or three points to be scored on one trick,
e.g. if an opponent's fox is beaten by the Charlie on the last trick.
Fox and Charlie cannot be scored in a solo.
Tournaments are normally played in a number
of sessions of 24 deals, each session consisting of 20 normal hands plus 4
compulsory solos (if their are five players rather than four, then 25 hands
with five solos).
Each player must bid one "compulsory" solo
during the session, and may bid other "lust" solos. The first solo each
player bids is counted as their compulsory solo, and they get the lead.
After the hand the same dealer deals again.
A compulsory solo ranks above a lust solo in
the bidding; if more than one player wants to play a compulsory solo the
earliest in the bidding order plays. If a player fails to bid a solo by the
end of a session, an additional hand is dealt on which they must bid solo.
The rule that the first of equal cards wins
makes it very important to lead your ace of a side suit before an opponent
can lead theirs, as the second round is almost certain to be trumped - there
are only 8 cards in a suit (6 in hearts). If you happen to have both aces in
a suit, then it is not urgent to lead one. Therefore, if on lead at the
start, you priorities are usually:
- lead a single black ace (shortest suit
first with two);
- lead a single ace of hearts;
- lead an ace from a pair.
After this, you normally try to give the lead
to your partner. If you are on the Re side you will normally lead a trump to
your partner's
Q.
If on the Kontra side you may lead a side suit (this is not always done, but
gives a good indication of which side the leader is on). However, if your
partner has said Kontra you should lead a trump as they should have at least
one
10
(and may well want you to lead trumps).
If you are trumping in, and there is a
possibility of being overtrumped, trump with at least a Jack so that the
fourth player cannot win with a Fox or 10 of trumps. Similarly, if trumps
are led then if you are the last player of your team to play to the trick,
with one or both opponents after you, play a Jack or higher if no high card
has been played so far.
It is important that you announce Re or
Kontra if things seem to be going well, not only to increase the score for
the game but also so that you can announce no 90 if things continue to go
well.
If you announce Re or Kontra earlier than you
need to, for example on your first play rather than your second, this
indicates a possession of additional strength (normally high trumps, which
are very important in play).
If on the opening lead the fourth player says
Re or Kontra before second hand plays, this indicates that they are going to
trump the lead and want their partner to put a valuable card on it.
It is almost always correct to announce a
marriage - rarely will you have a hand so good that it is profitable to go
solo instead. It is always desirable to become the partner of a player with
a marriage - you get a partner with at least 2 high trumps. Therefore, if on
lead against a marriage you might lead a
10
to win the trick; otherwise you could lead an ace in your shortest suit.
A game with Armut (poverty) is easier to win
than it sounds, because the poverty player can discard valuable cards on
partner's tricks, and also because the accepting player gets the chance to
create voids.
When considering a solo, possession of the
initial lead is a big advantage on most hands. Trump solos require a much
stronger hand than you might at first think, and these hands will also play
well in a normal game. For an Ace solo, a five card suit to A A 10
will normally capture over 60 points. For a Queen or Jack solo 4 trumps are
often sufficient, but you also need a reasonable number of aces.
Because announcing no 90/60/30 changes the
target, you are gambling 1 extra point against the possible loss of the
whole game, so you must be very certain of making the announcement.
It is often bad to lead the second round of
hearts, because of the danger of giving a ruff and discard to the opponents,
since there are only six cards in the suit.
In tournament play, it is very likely that a
player will not get a hand which warrants a solo bid during the session and
so a compulsory solo, particularly towards the end, should almost always
have Kontra said if declarer does not say Re.
Two of the commonest variants, both worth
trying, are:
1. The second 10 of hearts wins if both are
played to the same trick. This reduces the power of these cards, and
prevents the lead of one in order to become the partner of a marriage.
Variant: the second 10 of hearts wins except on the last
trick.
2. If several players want to bid a solo, a
player later in the bidding can announce "no 90". The first player may
either pass, letting the second solo play, or hold the bid and themselves
play in solo with no 90 announced; the second solo may then announce no 60,
and so on. The first player can hold this by making the same announcement,
which in turn can be outbid with a further announcement, and so on.
Some further variants are:
3. Many people remove all the nines and play
with a 40 card pack. This makes the trumps even more important and reduces
scope for play in the side suits.
4. Some play that Re and Kontra double the
score for the game, rather than adding two. Some play that the scores for
foxes and Charlie are also doubled.
5. Schmeißen. A player with particularly bad
cards can annul the hand and demand a redeal. There are various versions of
what you need to do this:
- At least five 9s
- At least 6 (or sometimes 5) Kings
- Four kings and four nines
- At least 8 cards that are tens or aces
- At most one trump
6. Some variations on Armut:
- Aces of diamonds do not count towards the
three trumps for Armut.
- The Armut player may only offer the trumps
they hold for exchange (and must offer all of them), ie they might have to
offer less than three cards.
- Trumps may not be passed back to the Armut
player.
- (Ralf Wirth's version) An Armut
player announces which team they belong to (Re or Kontra) according to
whether or not they hold a
Q;
the other player of that team must take the three cards. In this variation
two players on opposite teams can play Armut at once; if two players on
the same team have Armut the deal is annulled. An Armut can be played at
the same time as a Hochzeit - the Armut player is automatically on the Re
team and exchanges with the Hochzeit player. If the Hochzeit player also
announces Armut, or if two players other than the Hochzeit player announce
Armut, the deal is annulled.
- Some players do not allow Armut at all.
7. Variations on determining the partnerships
in a Hochzeit:
- A trick to which a trump is led cannot
determine the partnership in a marriage. If all of the first 3 tricks are
either trump tricks or won by the person with the marriage, the marriage
holder plays alone.
- (Ralf Wirth's version): the announcer of a
Hochzeit has a choice of three ways of choosing a partner - the choice
must be made before the first lead:
- First other player to win a trick;
- First other player to win a trump trick;
- First other player to win a non-trump
trick.
8. The number of cards required for each
announcement is 12 for Re or Kontra, 10 for no 90, 8 for no 60, 6 for no 30,
4 for schwarz. This remains the same even when a marriage has been
announced; in this case, a player who does not yet know which side they are
on may say "double" instead of "Re" or "Kontra".
9. Announcements can only be made when it is
your turn to play.
10. There is an extra bonus point for
capturing an opponent's 10 of hearts.
11. When playing with 40 cards, there is a
bonus point for a trick consisting of all 4 hearts (two aces and two kings).
12. A king solo is allowed - similar to the
queen and jack solos but with the four kings as trumps.
13. Schweinchen
- A person with the two Aces of diamonds
(variant, Aces of hearts) can announce Schweinchen
(piglets) before the start of the play and these cards become the top two
trumps, beating the tens of hearts.
- Some also play that after the two Aces of
diamonds have been announced as piglets, a call of
Hyperschweinchen (hyper-piglets) by a player with the two 9s of
diamonds causes them to become the top trumps, above the piglets. If you
play with 40 cards, the hyper-piglets are the 10s of diamonds.
- To add a further level of unpredictability
to the game, after Schweichen and Hyperschweinchen have been announced,
some allow a holder of both kings of diamonds to call Genscher,
making these the highest trumps, above the hyper-piglets.
14. A Doppelkopf, rather than being a trick
containing 40 or more points, is a trick which contains two pairs of
identical cards.
15. All solo contracts score double
(alternative: all solo contracts are automatically considered to announce
Re).
16. If several players want to bid solo, the
one latest in the bidding (rather than earliest) has
precedence.
17. There is a bonus score of 2 for winning
the last trick with a fox, or for catching a fox in the last trick. Some
also play that catching a fox on the first trick counts 2.
18. Although there is a point for winning the
last trick with a Charlie, there is no penalty for playing a Charlie to the
last trick, if the opponents win it.
19. Bockrounds. After certain events there is
a Bockround, in which all scores are doubled - this starts with the deal
after the event that caused the Bockround, and continues for one deal by
each player - i.e. 4 hands if there are 4 players. Events which may be
agreed to cause a Bockround include:
- a trick containing only hearts (if a 40
card pack is used)
- each team takes 120 card points
- the scores for the hand cancel out
- the Re team announce Re and lose
- the Kontra team announce Kontra and lose
20. Instead of the partnerships being
determined by the queens of clubs, it is the holders of the two kings of
diamonds who are partners and form the Re team.
21. The kings of diamonds are the highest
trumps instead of the tens of hearts. The tens of hearts are ordinary hearts
between the aces and the kings. This is not played at the same time as
variation 11 or 20.
22. The declarer in a solo makes the opening
lead, and afterwards the same dealer redeals the next hand.
23. Trump solos and Ace solos are not
allowed.
24. The 10s of hearts do not count as trumps,
but as ordinary hearts. The highest trumps are the queens of clubs. This was
the original rule but is rarely played nowadays.
25. Zwingen. If the first
trick contains 30 or more points the winner must say Re or
Kontra (as appropriate). If the trick winners team has already announced Re
or Kontra, the trick winner must announce "no 90".
- The
Deutscher Doppelkofverband (DDV) web site
- The DDV has published a series of articles
on the Essen system - a system of signalling for tournament use. Here are
parts I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX. The system
involves choice of lead, timing of announcements and deliberate hesitation
during the play (Bridge players may be shocked by this last idea, but in
Doppelkopf it is legal to hesitate deliberately, for example when waiting
to see whether your partner wants to make an announcement).
- Ralf Wirth's
rules in German.
- Matthias Nölting's
rules in German.
From this page you can also dowload a Doppelkopf Shareware Program
by Jan Spiess.
- Home page of the
Doppelkopfverein Niederkassel
- Home page of the
Doppelkopfclub
Drubbelcharlies '96
The computer program Doppelkopf
Professionell can be obtained from the
Spielebox home page.
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