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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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