House rules: in a Geier only the Obers are trumps, in a Farbwenz the Unters plus one suit. Both pay like a Solo.
How to play
- The deck: acorns, leaves, hearts and bells, each with Ace (Sau), Ten, King, Ober, Unter, Nine, Eight and Seven. Points: Ace 11, Ten 10, King 4, Ober 3, Unter 2 – 120 in total.
- Trumps from the top: the four Obers (acorns, leaves, hearts, bells), then the four Unters, then the hearts from Ace down to Seven. In a Wenz only the Unters are trumps, in a suit solo the announced suit replaces hearts.
- Bidding: starting left of the dealer, everyone says “Pass” or “I play” once. If several want to play, each bids once: Sauspiel < Wenz < Solo < Wenz Tout < Solo Tout. A later player must bid higher.
- Sauspiel: you call an Ace (acorns, leaves or bells) you do not hold but whose suit you have. Whoever holds it is secretly your partner. When that suit is led, the called Ace must be played.
- In a Wenz or Solo you play alone against everyone. Tout means you take every trick – then the game counts double.
- If everyone passes, Ramsch is played: everyone for themselves, whoever takes the most points loses. Whoever takes no trick at all (Jungfrau) doubles the value.
- You must follow: trump on trump, otherwise the suit that was led. If you cannot follow, you may trump or discard. The declaring side needs 61 points.
- Scoring: Sauspiel 10, Wenz and Solo 50. Schneider (under 31 points) and Schwarz (no trick) +10 each, runners from three (in a Wenz or Geier from two) +10 each. Kontra and Re double.
- With three: short deck without eights and sevens, no Sauspiel – whoever plays, plays alone against the other two.
- House rules, only if switched on when the game was created: in a Geier only the four Obers are trumps, the Unters rank in their suit between King and Nine. In a Farbwenz the four Unters and one announced suit are trumps, the Obers stay in their suit. You play both alone, they pay like a Solo. Bidding order then: Sauspiel < Farbwenz < Geier < Wenz < Solo, every Tout above.
- Legen (house rule, can be switched on when creating the game): everyone first gets four cards. Starting left of the dealer, each player says once whether they double – every double doubles the following game, Ramsch included. Then the other four cards are dealt.
Card images: Gunter Gerhardt (xskat), Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 3.0, renamed and minified.